Epress.am News from Armenia
Freedom of expression in Armenia is on the threshold of moving from partly free to not free, said representatives of the country’s media sector, speaking to journalists today on World Press Freedom Day.
Head of the Yerevan-based Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression Ashot Melikyan said there’s been both upsurges and regress in the work of news outlets in the post-Soviet period; however, in recent times, regressive trends are observed.
“In particular, the outstanding representatives of political circles have been taking active steps against the print media,” he said, adding that with such moves, they want news outlets to be more controllable and they prove that they don’t accept criticism.
President of Investigative Journalists NGO and Hetq Online‘s chief editor Edik Baghdasaryan, also present at today’s press conference, said no one defines the limits of freedom.
“That is in each journalist and everyone decides for himself the limits of his freedom, and no one can oblige a journalist to write a piece,” he said.
Baghdasaryan considered it a serious issue that the doors of state agencies, of the government are closed to news outlets and they can’t receive information, for example, about corruption. The other problem, said Baghdasaryan, is the issue of placing ads in the media, which again is mainly done as a result of a political decision.
The most serious problem for the journalistic community today, continued the Hetq Online chief editor, is that the vast majority of news outlets have become a part of the political system and serve various political circles.