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YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 5, 2009
HIGHLIGHTS:
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: PENITENTIARY SYSTEM OF ARMENIA
AMENDMENTS TO THE BROADCAST LAW ARE NONSENSE - TO SAY THE LEAST
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RESTRICTS THE MOVEMENT OF TV CAMERAS
THE BOOK "ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN 2005-2008: OPINIONS OF IMPORTANCE"
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: PENITENTIARY SYSTEM OF ARMENIA
On January 31 on "Yerkir Media" TV company another "Press Club" show was
aired. The cycle is produced under Yerevan Press Club project, supported by
the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program of Open Society Institute.
The guests of the TV program host, YPC President Boris Navasardian were the
head of the Court and Legal Reforms Department of the RA Ministry of Justice
Arthur Hovhannisian, the head of Civil Society Institute Arman Danielian and
writer Sergey Galoyan. The discussion subject was the reform of the
penitentiary system of Armenia.
The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on Saturday,
February 7, at 17.40.
AMENDMENTS TO THE BROADCAST LAW ARE NONSENSE - TO SAY THE LEAST
The agenda of the first four-day session of the RA National Assembly
included the package of amendments to the RA Laws "On Television and Radio",
"Statutes of the RA National Assembly", "Statutes of the RA National
Commission on Television and Radio", "On State Duty". Yet the documents
submitted to the consideration of the parliament, similarly to the previous
versions of this legislative package, did not address any of such key issues
of the broadcast sphere as ensuring plurality of the regulatory body,
transparency of broadcast licensing competitions, distinct criteria for the
decision-making of the National Commission on Television and Radio in
licensing process, development of the mechanisms of the regulation of the
activities of Public TV and Radio Company, the digitalization of
broadcasting in the context of Armenia's commitments to the Council of
Europe. It is the need to solve these issues that the journalistic
associations of the country and international experts have been insisting on
for many years already. Moreover, the renewed package displays a number of
other shortcomings as well.
On February 3 Yerevan Press Club, "Internews" Media Support NGO, the
Committee to protect Freedom of Expression and the Media Diversity Institute
Armenia released the following statement:
"Discussion of the updated package of amendments to broadcast legislation is
on the agenda of the regular session of National Assembly of Armenia. The
quality of that document has exceeded our worst expectations: the number of
lexical, logical and legal lapses has made it useless to subject it to
detailed analysis especially since our organizations, for the last years,
have been consistently and constructively responding to all the legislative
initiatives in the area of the mass media, comprehensively assessing all the
official legislative drafts and promoting their own suggestions. In
particular, in December, 2008 Yerevan Press Club and Internews submitted
their detailed comments on the previous version of that legislative package
to the relevant parliamentary commission. Virtually, none of our crucial
remarks were taken into consideration. Instead, new provisions appeared in
the draft amendments to the RA Law "On Television and Radio", a part of them
deserving to be called nothing more than "nonsense".
In November, 2008 representatives of our organizations were invited to
become members of the working group on media legislation at the Standing
Commission of NA on Science, Education, Youth issues and Sport. The first
meeting of the group took place on November 20. On December 19, 2008 the
National Assembly organized hearings on some aspects of broadcast media
regulation. However, those undertakings, apparently, were of no benefit. As
for the new version of the legislative package, NA did not even find it
necessary to present it to the working group. In that case, why the group
was formed for at all? Once again, we have to state that various civilized
forms of legislative process have an exclusively "decorative" function here.
In such a situation, and taking into consideration the quality of the
document that was proposed for discussion at the parliamentary session,
further serious work at that document would mean expressing disrespect to
our own professional dignity.
Not going into the details, indicative of the drafters' incompetence and
negligence, we will take the liberty of pointing at the main methodological
mistakes (or deliberate tricks?) that have appeared in the updated package,
in addition to the already-existing ones. To begin with, it is a matter of
crude substitution of concepts. Since the first day of the adoption of the
Law "On Television and Radio" in 2000, local experts and representatives of
international organizations have been talking about the need for legislative
guarantees of social-political diversity at the Council of Public Television
and Radio Company. Instead, the drafters suggest professional diversity
(expert in journalism, expert in broadcasting or telecommunications,
business or finance manager, etc.) Secondly, the drafters have invented an
oath for the members of the Council, as well as the National Commission on
Television and Radio, without devising any real guarantees for the
independence of those bodies, the necessity of which is being constantly
talked about. The demand to take an oath of devotion to civil society,
freedom of information and other lofty principles, in the absence of
reliable mechanisms contributing to independence, pluralism and
accountability to the society, only increases the concentration of hypocrisy
that is already a big problem in our public life. Once again, the two
above-mentioned crucial shortcomings of the legislative package are but a
small part of unacceptable provisions and absurdities contained in it.
In its Resolution 1643 (2009), Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe
calls upon the authorities of Armenia "to fully implement the forthcoming
recommendations of the Council of Europe experts" in regard to the
independence of the media regulatory bodies in the country. We don't know
about the contents of the latest recommendations of CE experts, although the
members of the above-mentioned working group, probably, should have been
notified of them (otherwise, how can they help the specialized commission?)
However, there is no doubt about the fact that PACE Resolutions 1609 (2008)
and 1620 (2008), as well as the numerous appeals of the OSCE Representative
on Freedom of the Media concerning broadcast legislation, have not been
adequately reflected in the draft laws proposed for discussion.
Besides, the provision of Resolution 1643 on canceling all tenders for
broadcasting frequencies until July 20, 2010 has been totally ignored. PACE
emphasized that "the technical requirements for the introduction of digital
broadcasting should not be used by the authorities to unduly delay the
holding of an open, fair and transparent tender for broadcasting licenses,
as demanded by the Assembly." Meanwhile, the related amendment to the Law
"On Television and Radio", adopted on September 10, 2008 in defiance of all
the democratic and procedural norms, underwent no changes by the package
drafters.
Unfortunately, everything happening around broadcast legislation indicates
that NA deputies simply have not realized the necessity of learning a lesson
from the situation when the delegation of Armenian parliamentarians faced
the real threat of losing the right to vote at PACE. Reassuring themselves
and people around them with exorcisms about gradualness of reforms,
including in the area of freedom of speech, as well as the impossibility of
approaching European standards in a brief period of time, they continue to
discredit the very concept of reforms in the sphere of information, harming
the reputation of the country and the prospects of its democratic
development.
Here are some facts to back up our statement. The first version of the
legislative package that gave rise to this statement emerged in June, 2008.
Since then, the apparent shortcomings in the draft laws not only have not
been removed but have been supplemented with new, more glaring lapses. Not
to mention that drastic improvement of broadcast legislation has been on the
agenda for more than eight years. Is it what we call gradual reforms?
Under the circumstances we have no choice but to urge the deputies of the
National Assembly to quickly forget the package proposed for discussion for
the current four-day session, return to one of its previous versions and
work at the fundamental revision of the document, taking into account the
numerous remarks and suggestions of the working group members, as well as
the recommendations of international organizations and their experts", - the
statement of four journalistic organizations says.
Discussion on the package of amendments to the broadcast law was postponed
to the next four-day session of the National Assembly.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RESTRICTS THE MOVEMENT OF TV CAMERAS
Since February 2, the start of the spring session of the RA National
Assembly, restrictions have been introduced on TV camera movement in the
parliament session hall. As YPC was told at the parliament, this was done in
accordance with the instructions from the recently appointed Chief of Staff
of RA National Assembly Gegham Gharibjanian. Now the cameramen are allowed
to make shootings freely during 30 minutes from the start of the sessions,
after which the work of the TV cameras is allowed only from certain spots in
the back end of the session hall. The restriction does not apply to the
sessions devoted to the statements by the deputies as well as question and
answer sessions with the Government. Restrictions of TV camera movement are
common in the international practice, yet the use of such measures must be
strictly defined in the accreditation procedure or the NA Regulations.
Otherwise they may be seen as voluntary restrictions of the media freedom.
THE BOOK "ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN 2005-2008: OPINIONS OF IMPORTANCE"
Presentation of the book "Armenia-Azerbaijan 2005-2008: opinions of
importance" took place on February 5 in Yerevan. The book is published by
"Region" Research Center of the "Investigative Journalists" NGO. It contains
a collection of analytical articles and interviews with politicians,
journalists, experts, artists from Armenia and Azerbaijan on the impact of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the society in both countries. The attitude
of international organizations towards the conflict and its connection with
geopolitical processes is also examined. The articles and interviews were
prepared by the "Region" Research Center and its partner in Azerbaijan -
Institute of Peace and Democracy under the joint project "Breaking the
stereotypes and forming a united information space" supported by the British
organization Conciliation Resources. The materials contained in the book
have been published in "Azg", "168 Zham" (Armenia) and "Novoye Vremya"
(Azerbaijan) newspapers and also being posted on some internet sites. The
book is bilingual, containing Armenian and Russian versions of included
materials.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]
Subscription for the Newsletter is free. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this mailing list, please send a message to: [email protected]
Editor of YPC Newsletter - Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
____________________________________ ________
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.ypc.am
JANUARY 30 - FEBRUARY 5, 2009
HIGHLIGHTS:
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: PENITENTIARY SYSTEM OF ARMENIA
AMENDMENTS TO THE BROADCAST LAW ARE NONSENSE - TO SAY THE LEAST
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RESTRICTS THE MOVEMENT OF TV CAMERAS
THE BOOK "ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN 2005-2008: OPINIONS OF IMPORTANCE"
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: PENITENTIARY SYSTEM OF ARMENIA
On January 31 on "Yerkir Media" TV company another "Press Club" show was
aired. The cycle is produced under Yerevan Press Club project, supported by
the Human Rights and Governance Grants Program of Open Society Institute.
The guests of the TV program host, YPC President Boris Navasardian were the
head of the Court and Legal Reforms Department of the RA Ministry of Justice
Arthur Hovhannisian, the head of Civil Society Institute Arman Danielian and
writer Sergey Galoyan. The discussion subject was the reform of the
penitentiary system of Armenia.
The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on Saturday,
February 7, at 17.40.
AMENDMENTS TO THE BROADCAST LAW ARE NONSENSE - TO SAY THE LEAST
The agenda of the first four-day session of the RA National Assembly
included the package of amendments to the RA Laws "On Television and Radio",
"Statutes of the RA National Assembly", "Statutes of the RA National
Commission on Television and Radio", "On State Duty". Yet the documents
submitted to the consideration of the parliament, similarly to the previous
versions of this legislative package, did not address any of such key issues
of the broadcast sphere as ensuring plurality of the regulatory body,
transparency of broadcast licensing competitions, distinct criteria for the
decision-making of the National Commission on Television and Radio in
licensing process, development of the mechanisms of the regulation of the
activities of Public TV and Radio Company, the digitalization of
broadcasting in the context of Armenia's commitments to the Council of
Europe. It is the need to solve these issues that the journalistic
associations of the country and international experts have been insisting on
for many years already. Moreover, the renewed package displays a number of
other shortcomings as well.
On February 3 Yerevan Press Club, "Internews" Media Support NGO, the
Committee to protect Freedom of Expression and the Media Diversity Institute
Armenia released the following statement:
"Discussion of the updated package of amendments to broadcast legislation is
on the agenda of the regular session of National Assembly of Armenia. The
quality of that document has exceeded our worst expectations: the number of
lexical, logical and legal lapses has made it useless to subject it to
detailed analysis especially since our organizations, for the last years,
have been consistently and constructively responding to all the legislative
initiatives in the area of the mass media, comprehensively assessing all the
official legislative drafts and promoting their own suggestions. In
particular, in December, 2008 Yerevan Press Club and Internews submitted
their detailed comments on the previous version of that legislative package
to the relevant parliamentary commission. Virtually, none of our crucial
remarks were taken into consideration. Instead, new provisions appeared in
the draft amendments to the RA Law "On Television and Radio", a part of them
deserving to be called nothing more than "nonsense".
In November, 2008 representatives of our organizations were invited to
become members of the working group on media legislation at the Standing
Commission of NA on Science, Education, Youth issues and Sport. The first
meeting of the group took place on November 20. On December 19, 2008 the
National Assembly organized hearings on some aspects of broadcast media
regulation. However, those undertakings, apparently, were of no benefit. As
for the new version of the legislative package, NA did not even find it
necessary to present it to the working group. In that case, why the group
was formed for at all? Once again, we have to state that various civilized
forms of legislative process have an exclusively "decorative" function here.
In such a situation, and taking into consideration the quality of the
document that was proposed for discussion at the parliamentary session,
further serious work at that document would mean expressing disrespect to
our own professional dignity.
Not going into the details, indicative of the drafters' incompetence and
negligence, we will take the liberty of pointing at the main methodological
mistakes (or deliberate tricks?) that have appeared in the updated package,
in addition to the already-existing ones. To begin with, it is a matter of
crude substitution of concepts. Since the first day of the adoption of the
Law "On Television and Radio" in 2000, local experts and representatives of
international organizations have been talking about the need for legislative
guarantees of social-political diversity at the Council of Public Television
and Radio Company. Instead, the drafters suggest professional diversity
(expert in journalism, expert in broadcasting or telecommunications,
business or finance manager, etc.) Secondly, the drafters have invented an
oath for the members of the Council, as well as the National Commission on
Television and Radio, without devising any real guarantees for the
independence of those bodies, the necessity of which is being constantly
talked about. The demand to take an oath of devotion to civil society,
freedom of information and other lofty principles, in the absence of
reliable mechanisms contributing to independence, pluralism and
accountability to the society, only increases the concentration of hypocrisy
that is already a big problem in our public life. Once again, the two
above-mentioned crucial shortcomings of the legislative package are but a
small part of unacceptable provisions and absurdities contained in it.
In its Resolution 1643 (2009), Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe
calls upon the authorities of Armenia "to fully implement the forthcoming
recommendations of the Council of Europe experts" in regard to the
independence of the media regulatory bodies in the country. We don't know
about the contents of the latest recommendations of CE experts, although the
members of the above-mentioned working group, probably, should have been
notified of them (otherwise, how can they help the specialized commission?)
However, there is no doubt about the fact that PACE Resolutions 1609 (2008)
and 1620 (2008), as well as the numerous appeals of the OSCE Representative
on Freedom of the Media concerning broadcast legislation, have not been
adequately reflected in the draft laws proposed for discussion.
Besides, the provision of Resolution 1643 on canceling all tenders for
broadcasting frequencies until July 20, 2010 has been totally ignored. PACE
emphasized that "the technical requirements for the introduction of digital
broadcasting should not be used by the authorities to unduly delay the
holding of an open, fair and transparent tender for broadcasting licenses,
as demanded by the Assembly." Meanwhile, the related amendment to the Law
"On Television and Radio", adopted on September 10, 2008 in defiance of all
the democratic and procedural norms, underwent no changes by the package
drafters.
Unfortunately, everything happening around broadcast legislation indicates
that NA deputies simply have not realized the necessity of learning a lesson
from the situation when the delegation of Armenian parliamentarians faced
the real threat of losing the right to vote at PACE. Reassuring themselves
and people around them with exorcisms about gradualness of reforms,
including in the area of freedom of speech, as well as the impossibility of
approaching European standards in a brief period of time, they continue to
discredit the very concept of reforms in the sphere of information, harming
the reputation of the country and the prospects of its democratic
development.
Here are some facts to back up our statement. The first version of the
legislative package that gave rise to this statement emerged in June, 2008.
Since then, the apparent shortcomings in the draft laws not only have not
been removed but have been supplemented with new, more glaring lapses. Not
to mention that drastic improvement of broadcast legislation has been on the
agenda for more than eight years. Is it what we call gradual reforms?
Under the circumstances we have no choice but to urge the deputies of the
National Assembly to quickly forget the package proposed for discussion for
the current four-day session, return to one of its previous versions and
work at the fundamental revision of the document, taking into account the
numerous remarks and suggestions of the working group members, as well as
the recommendations of international organizations and their experts", - the
statement of four journalistic organizations says.
Discussion on the package of amendments to the broadcast law was postponed
to the next four-day session of the National Assembly.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY RESTRICTS THE MOVEMENT OF TV CAMERAS
Since February 2, the start of the spring session of the RA National
Assembly, restrictions have been introduced on TV camera movement in the
parliament session hall. As YPC was told at the parliament, this was done in
accordance with the instructions from the recently appointed Chief of Staff
of RA National Assembly Gegham Gharibjanian. Now the cameramen are allowed
to make shootings freely during 30 minutes from the start of the sessions,
after which the work of the TV cameras is allowed only from certain spots in
the back end of the session hall. The restriction does not apply to the
sessions devoted to the statements by the deputies as well as question and
answer sessions with the Government. Restrictions of TV camera movement are
common in the international practice, yet the use of such measures must be
strictly defined in the accreditation procedure or the NA Regulations.
Otherwise they may be seen as voluntary restrictions of the media freedom.
THE BOOK "ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN 2005-2008: OPINIONS OF IMPORTANCE"
Presentation of the book "Armenia-Azerbaijan 2005-2008: opinions of
importance" took place on February 5 in Yerevan. The book is published by
"Region" Research Center of the "Investigative Journalists" NGO. It contains
a collection of analytical articles and interviews with politicians,
journalists, experts, artists from Armenia and Azerbaijan on the impact of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the society in both countries. The attitude
of international organizations towards the conflict and its connection with
geopolitical processes is also examined. The articles and interviews were
prepared by the "Region" Research Center and its partner in Azerbaijan -
Institute of Peace and Democracy under the joint project "Breaking the
stereotypes and forming a united information space" supported by the British
organization Conciliation Resources. The materials contained in the book
have been published in "Azg", "168 Zham" (Armenia) and "Novoye Vremya"
(Azerbaijan) newspapers and also being posted on some internet sites. The
book is bilingual, containing Armenian and Russian versions of included
materials.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]
Subscription for the Newsletter is free. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this mailing list, please send a message to: [email protected]
Editor of YPC Newsletter - Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
____________________________________ ________
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.ypc.am