Armenian Journalists Defend Colleagues Who Were Fired Over a Typo

A group of Armenian journalists intends to appeal to Armenia TV to ask the TV station to reinstate the reporter and editor who were dismissed for a typo in the newly appointed prime minister's name on screen.

Head of the Armenia TV news program "Zham" Gagik Mkrtchyan this morning confirmed that the reporter and editor (their names were withheld) were fired for misspelling the Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan's name as "Havik" (which translates to "small chicken" in Armenian). Mkrtchyan said there is no political subtext; it was a typo, and those responsible were fired. 

A group of journalists wrote a preliminary statement and published it in the Facebook groups "In the name of scrupulous journalism" and "Armenian journalists":

"In itself, it is clear that what was disseminated online was an unwanted and unpleasant phenomenon, but also more unpleasant is the phenomenon that some people are trying to assert themselves over people's mistakes. Being aware of your professionalism, your personnel, and the journalism you produce, we have no doubt that this was not intentional and was not planned in advance and thought out by neither Armenia TV's 'Zham' news program's management nor the employees who were dismissed. We don't want to interfere in your internal affairs, but please review your decision and punish people not through dismissal but through other methods that you will consider right."

Journalists continue to discuss the actual content of the statement, offering various amendments, prior to sending it to the TV station.