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YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 10-20, 2011
HIGHLIGHTS:
"E-CLUB" LAUNCHED ON "A1+" ONLINE BROADCAST
CAR OF HEAD OF "LORI" TV COMPANY SET ON FIRE
MPs SUE OWNER OF "HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK"
NCTR PROVIDED "A1+" WITH THE REQUESTED INFORMATION
"ASPAREZ" MONITORING: DURING NEW YEAR HOLIDAYS PUBLIC TELEVISION FIRST
CHANNEL EXCEEDED PERMISSIBLE ADVERTISING VOLUME
APPEAL OF "INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS" PARTIALLY SECURED
"E-CLUB" LAUNCHED ON "A1+" ONLINE BROADCAST
On January 18, 2011 the first program from "E-Club" cycle launched on the
online broadcast of "A1+" TV company (www.a1plus.am). The "E-Club" is
produced by Yerevan Press Club in cooperation with "A1+" TV company under
"Alternative Resources in Media" project, supported by USAID.
The "E-Club" is aired weekly, on Tuesdays, with several blocs, right after
the "Ayb-Fe" newscasts. The blocs are of information and education profile:
news from and about the Internet; pieces on some hints of using the Global
Network, on the advantages and potential risks for the users; plots on the
weekly sites and blogs ratings, as well as the web headlines for the last
week. The final, discussion bloc, reflects different viewpoints on the
alternative media situation and its development. The host of this part is
Lilit Bleyan, "A1+" Correspondent.
On January 18 the guests of the "E-Club" discussion bloc, Ruzan Khachatrian,
Observer of Public Radio of Armenia, and Sergey Sargsian, Editor of
"Armenian Comedy News Network", considered the WikiLeaks phenomenon.
The next "E-Club" will be aired on "A1+" on January 25.
CAR OF HEAD OF "LORI" TV COMPANY SET ON FIRE
In the early morning of January 17, 2011 in Vanadzor (Lori region) the car
of the Chief Editor of "Lori" TV company Narineh Avetisian was set on fire.
The journalist found this out in the morning, when she opened the doors of
the garage. According to her, there were rags on the burnt body of the car,
which were allegedly thrown through the ventilation hole of the wall. The
head of "Lori" did not express any possible versions on the incident reason.
Vanadzor Department of the RA Police of Lori region has instituted criminal
proceedings on the case by Article 185 of RA Criminal Code ("Premeditated
destruction or spoilage of property").
On January 17 the Vanadzor Branch of Helsinki Citizens Assembly released a
statement, considering the incident with Narineh Avetisian as another
infringement upon a journalist, and demanded to find and punish the
criminals.
It is already the third incident with Narineh Avetisian for the last years.
On February 23, 2006 she was threatened by the owner of two lines of the
city mini buses. The discontent of the entrepreneur was caused by the topic
on ungrounded increase of city transportation fees, constantly raised by the
journalist on the air of "Lori" TV. While, in the early morning of May 16,
2006 in Vanadzor her car was pelt with stones (see details in Report "On
Freedom of Speech in Armenia" for 2006 on www.ypc.am).
MPs SUE OWNER OF "HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK"
On January 17, 2011 the court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and
Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan started hearing the case on
the suit of RA National Assembly MPs Samvel Aleksanian (unaffiliated), Levon
Sargsian and Ruben Hayrapetian (members of Republican Party of Armenia
faction) versus the founder of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily, "Dareskizb" LLC.
The reason for the suit became the piece "Seven of the Eight Are in the
List", published in "Haykakan Zhamanak" on October 14, 2010. The article
told that some of the Armenian officials and businessmen, including the
abovementioned RA NA deputies (who are at the same time major
entrepreneurs), appear in a number of criminal cases, instituted by the
Russian law enforcement bodies. The MPs demanded to refute the information
that discredits their honor, dignity and business reputation, as well as to
compensate the moral loss in the amount of 2 million AMD each. Besides, each
of the plaintiffs assessed its' court expenses with 500,000 AMD. Thus, the
overall amount of the financial claims versus the defendant makes 7.5
million AMD (about $ 16,600).
At the session of January 17 the court secured the petition of "Dareskizb"
attorney, who demanded to provide time for examining the case materials.
The next session will take place on January 24.
NCTR PROVIDED "A1+" WITH THE REQUESTED INFORMATION
On January 11, 2011 the RA Administrative Court started hearing the suit of
"A1+" founder, "Meltex" LLC, versus the National Commission on Television
and Radio. As it has been reported, on December 1, 2010 "Meltex" made a
request to the NCTR, demanding to grant the copies of the applications of
"ArmNews" CJSC and "Armenia TV" CJSC, submitted for the licensing
competitions in the digital network, announced by NCTR on July 20, 2010. On
December 6 NCTR replied that the copies can be provided only after January
20, 2011. The results of the competitions were announced on December 16. The
winner of competition No.11, which was attended by "Meltex" LLC and
"ArmNews" CJSC, became the founder of "ArmNews" TV company. Thus, NCTR
members denied a broadcast license to "A1+" for the thirteenth time. On
December 20 the "A1+" founder filed the court requiring to bind NCTR to
provide with the requested information (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, December
17-23, 2010).
At the court session of January 11 the NCTR representative expressed his
readiness of granting the plaintiff with the copies of the competition
applications of "ArmNews" and "Armenia" on January 20. On the date agreed
the requested information was provided, and at the court session, held on
the same day, the suit was revoked.
"ASPAREZ" MONITORING: DURING NEW YEAR HOLIDAYS PUBLIC TELEVISION FIRST
CHANNEL EXCEEDED PERMISSIBLE ADVERTISING VOLUME
Levon Barseghian, the Board Chairman of "Asparez" Journalists' Club of
Gyumri, addressed letters to Grigor Amalian, Chairman of the National
Commission on Television and Radio (NCTR), informing about the legislation
violations by the First Channel of the Public Television of Armenia on the
air of December 31, 2010 and January 1, 2011. The reason for inquiring NCTR,
the broadcast regulatory body, was the monitoring results of the PTA First
Channel, administered by "Asparez" on the New Year days. The letters were
attended by detailed tables on the monitoring findings.
The letter of Levon Barseghian of January 10, 2011, particularly, noted that
on December 31, 2010 commercial advertising on the air of PTA First Channel
exceeded the legislative limits. Thus, in TV programs of overall duration of
16 hours 7 minutes and 34 seconds (since 07:52:26 till 24:00:00) the
advertising made 2 hours 1 minute and 57 seconds, or the 12.6% of the total
airtime. Hence, the provision of the RA Law "On Television and Radio",
defining a 7% restriction on the advertising volume for the total airtime,
was violated: the limit was exceeded by 80% of the permissible maximum.
Besides, the "Retro-22:30" TV program, aired since 22:50:41 till 23:44:29,
was four times interrupted by advertising blocs and/or sponsor references.
Thus, the requirement of Point 2 of Article 9 of the RA Law "On Advertising"
was also violated (a TV program can be interrupted by an advertisement only
every 20 minutes).
Similar cases were fixed by "Asparez" on the air of the First Channel on
January 1, 2011. The "Asparez" letter addressed to NCTR on January 14, 2011,
particularly, notes that on the 24-hour air of the New Year first day (since
00:00:00 till 24:00:00) the duration of commercial advertising made 2 hours
20 minutes and 28 seconds, or 9.8% of the total air, given the restriction
of 7%. The requirement of Point 2 of Article 9 of the RA Law "On
Advertising" was violated in several programs: "Concert", "22:30", "Anna"
soap opera.
In the letters to the NCTR head "Asparez" demanded to consider the presented
findings, call the lawbreakers to account, as well as to inform about the
measures taken. The copies of the letters were sent to the Chairman of the
Council of the Public TV and Radio Company Alexan Harutiunian and the Head
of RA President's Control Service Hovhannes Hovsepian.
APPEAL OF "INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS" PARTIALLY SECURED
On December 27, 2010 the RA Civil Court of Appeal partially secured the
application of the "Investigative Journalists" NGO, which had appealed the
July 9, 2010 decision of the court of general jurisdiction versus Ijevan
municipality (Tavush region). As it has been reported, the reason of more
than a two-year litigation became the articles "Whose Pocket Receives Money
from Sand Mine?" and "Will the Three Commissions Notice the Illegal Use of
Sand?". The pieces were published in "Hetq" online, founded by
"Investigative Journalists", on May 5, and June 23, 2008, and also printed
on May 20 and July 9, 2008, respectively, in the supplement to "Azg" daily,
"Transparent Local Self-Government". The information reflected in the
articles discredited the honor, dignity and business reputation of Ijevan
Mayor Varuzhan Nersisian - as seen by the city administration. Passing
through several court hearings (see details in Yerevan Press Club Reports
"On Freedom of Speech in Armenia" for 2008 and 2009 on www.ypc.am), the case
was redirected to reconsideration by the court of general jurisdiction of
Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan. On July 9, 2010
the court bound the "Investigative Journalists" to refute the information
and to compensate the expenses of 930 thousand AMD (about $ 2,500) made for
the attorney services, as well as to pay the state duty for filling the
court by Ijevan municipality (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, July 9-15, 2010).
At the session of December 27, 2010 the Civil Court of Appeal reduced the
amount to be compensated by the "Investigative Journalists" to 450 thousand
AMD, upholding the other parts of the decision of the court of general
jurisdiction.
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
From: A. Papazian
JANUARY 10-20, 2011
HIGHLIGHTS:
"E-CLUB" LAUNCHED ON "A1+" ONLINE BROADCAST
CAR OF HEAD OF "LORI" TV COMPANY SET ON FIRE
MPs SUE OWNER OF "HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK"
NCTR PROVIDED "A1+" WITH THE REQUESTED INFORMATION
"ASPAREZ" MONITORING: DURING NEW YEAR HOLIDAYS PUBLIC TELEVISION FIRST
CHANNEL EXCEEDED PERMISSIBLE ADVERTISING VOLUME
APPEAL OF "INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS" PARTIALLY SECURED
"E-CLUB" LAUNCHED ON "A1+" ONLINE BROADCAST
On January 18, 2011 the first program from "E-Club" cycle launched on the
online broadcast of "A1+" TV company (www.a1plus.am). The "E-Club" is
produced by Yerevan Press Club in cooperation with "A1+" TV company under
"Alternative Resources in Media" project, supported by USAID.
The "E-Club" is aired weekly, on Tuesdays, with several blocs, right after
the "Ayb-Fe" newscasts. The blocs are of information and education profile:
news from and about the Internet; pieces on some hints of using the Global
Network, on the advantages and potential risks for the users; plots on the
weekly sites and blogs ratings, as well as the web headlines for the last
week. The final, discussion bloc, reflects different viewpoints on the
alternative media situation and its development. The host of this part is
Lilit Bleyan, "A1+" Correspondent.
On January 18 the guests of the "E-Club" discussion bloc, Ruzan Khachatrian,
Observer of Public Radio of Armenia, and Sergey Sargsian, Editor of
"Armenian Comedy News Network", considered the WikiLeaks phenomenon.
The next "E-Club" will be aired on "A1+" on January 25.
CAR OF HEAD OF "LORI" TV COMPANY SET ON FIRE
In the early morning of January 17, 2011 in Vanadzor (Lori region) the car
of the Chief Editor of "Lori" TV company Narineh Avetisian was set on fire.
The journalist found this out in the morning, when she opened the doors of
the garage. According to her, there were rags on the burnt body of the car,
which were allegedly thrown through the ventilation hole of the wall. The
head of "Lori" did not express any possible versions on the incident reason.
Vanadzor Department of the RA Police of Lori region has instituted criminal
proceedings on the case by Article 185 of RA Criminal Code ("Premeditated
destruction or spoilage of property").
On January 17 the Vanadzor Branch of Helsinki Citizens Assembly released a
statement, considering the incident with Narineh Avetisian as another
infringement upon a journalist, and demanded to find and punish the
criminals.
It is already the third incident with Narineh Avetisian for the last years.
On February 23, 2006 she was threatened by the owner of two lines of the
city mini buses. The discontent of the entrepreneur was caused by the topic
on ungrounded increase of city transportation fees, constantly raised by the
journalist on the air of "Lori" TV. While, in the early morning of May 16,
2006 in Vanadzor her car was pelt with stones (see details in Report "On
Freedom of Speech in Armenia" for 2006 on www.ypc.am).
MPs SUE OWNER OF "HAYKAKAN ZHAMANAK"
On January 17, 2011 the court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and
Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan started hearing the case on
the suit of RA National Assembly MPs Samvel Aleksanian (unaffiliated), Levon
Sargsian and Ruben Hayrapetian (members of Republican Party of Armenia
faction) versus the founder of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily, "Dareskizb" LLC.
The reason for the suit became the piece "Seven of the Eight Are in the
List", published in "Haykakan Zhamanak" on October 14, 2010. The article
told that some of the Armenian officials and businessmen, including the
abovementioned RA NA deputies (who are at the same time major
entrepreneurs), appear in a number of criminal cases, instituted by the
Russian law enforcement bodies. The MPs demanded to refute the information
that discredits their honor, dignity and business reputation, as well as to
compensate the moral loss in the amount of 2 million AMD each. Besides, each
of the plaintiffs assessed its' court expenses with 500,000 AMD. Thus, the
overall amount of the financial claims versus the defendant makes 7.5
million AMD (about $ 16,600).
At the session of January 17 the court secured the petition of "Dareskizb"
attorney, who demanded to provide time for examining the case materials.
The next session will take place on January 24.
NCTR PROVIDED "A1+" WITH THE REQUESTED INFORMATION
On January 11, 2011 the RA Administrative Court started hearing the suit of
"A1+" founder, "Meltex" LLC, versus the National Commission on Television
and Radio. As it has been reported, on December 1, 2010 "Meltex" made a
request to the NCTR, demanding to grant the copies of the applications of
"ArmNews" CJSC and "Armenia TV" CJSC, submitted for the licensing
competitions in the digital network, announced by NCTR on July 20, 2010. On
December 6 NCTR replied that the copies can be provided only after January
20, 2011. The results of the competitions were announced on December 16. The
winner of competition No.11, which was attended by "Meltex" LLC and
"ArmNews" CJSC, became the founder of "ArmNews" TV company. Thus, NCTR
members denied a broadcast license to "A1+" for the thirteenth time. On
December 20 the "A1+" founder filed the court requiring to bind NCTR to
provide with the requested information (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, December
17-23, 2010).
At the court session of January 11 the NCTR representative expressed his
readiness of granting the plaintiff with the copies of the competition
applications of "ArmNews" and "Armenia" on January 20. On the date agreed
the requested information was provided, and at the court session, held on
the same day, the suit was revoked.
"ASPAREZ" MONITORING: DURING NEW YEAR HOLIDAYS PUBLIC TELEVISION FIRST
CHANNEL EXCEEDED PERMISSIBLE ADVERTISING VOLUME
Levon Barseghian, the Board Chairman of "Asparez" Journalists' Club of
Gyumri, addressed letters to Grigor Amalian, Chairman of the National
Commission on Television and Radio (NCTR), informing about the legislation
violations by the First Channel of the Public Television of Armenia on the
air of December 31, 2010 and January 1, 2011. The reason for inquiring NCTR,
the broadcast regulatory body, was the monitoring results of the PTA First
Channel, administered by "Asparez" on the New Year days. The letters were
attended by detailed tables on the monitoring findings.
The letter of Levon Barseghian of January 10, 2011, particularly, noted that
on December 31, 2010 commercial advertising on the air of PTA First Channel
exceeded the legislative limits. Thus, in TV programs of overall duration of
16 hours 7 minutes and 34 seconds (since 07:52:26 till 24:00:00) the
advertising made 2 hours 1 minute and 57 seconds, or the 12.6% of the total
airtime. Hence, the provision of the RA Law "On Television and Radio",
defining a 7% restriction on the advertising volume for the total airtime,
was violated: the limit was exceeded by 80% of the permissible maximum.
Besides, the "Retro-22:30" TV program, aired since 22:50:41 till 23:44:29,
was four times interrupted by advertising blocs and/or sponsor references.
Thus, the requirement of Point 2 of Article 9 of the RA Law "On Advertising"
was also violated (a TV program can be interrupted by an advertisement only
every 20 minutes).
Similar cases were fixed by "Asparez" on the air of the First Channel on
January 1, 2011. The "Asparez" letter addressed to NCTR on January 14, 2011,
particularly, notes that on the 24-hour air of the New Year first day (since
00:00:00 till 24:00:00) the duration of commercial advertising made 2 hours
20 minutes and 28 seconds, or 9.8% of the total air, given the restriction
of 7%. The requirement of Point 2 of Article 9 of the RA Law "On
Advertising" was violated in several programs: "Concert", "22:30", "Anna"
soap opera.
In the letters to the NCTR head "Asparez" demanded to consider the presented
findings, call the lawbreakers to account, as well as to inform about the
measures taken. The copies of the letters were sent to the Chairman of the
Council of the Public TV and Radio Company Alexan Harutiunian and the Head
of RA President's Control Service Hovhannes Hovsepian.
APPEAL OF "INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS" PARTIALLY SECURED
On December 27, 2010 the RA Civil Court of Appeal partially secured the
application of the "Investigative Journalists" NGO, which had appealed the
July 9, 2010 decision of the court of general jurisdiction versus Ijevan
municipality (Tavush region). As it has been reported, the reason of more
than a two-year litigation became the articles "Whose Pocket Receives Money
from Sand Mine?" and "Will the Three Commissions Notice the Illegal Use of
Sand?". The pieces were published in "Hetq" online, founded by
"Investigative Journalists", on May 5, and June 23, 2008, and also printed
on May 20 and July 9, 2008, respectively, in the supplement to "Azg" daily,
"Transparent Local Self-Government". The information reflected in the
articles discredited the honor, dignity and business reputation of Ijevan
Mayor Varuzhan Nersisian - as seen by the city administration. Passing
through several court hearings (see details in Yerevan Press Club Reports
"On Freedom of Speech in Armenia" for 2008 and 2009 on www.ypc.am), the case
was redirected to reconsideration by the court of general jurisdiction of
Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan. On July 9, 2010
the court bound the "Investigative Journalists" to refute the information
and to compensate the expenses of 930 thousand AMD (about $ 2,500) made for
the attorney services, as well as to pay the state duty for filling the
court by Ijevan municipality (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, July 9-15, 2010).
At the session of December 27, 2010 the Civil Court of Appeal reduced the
amount to be compensated by the "Investigative Journalists" to 450 thousand
AMD, upholding the other parts of the decision of the court of general
jurisdiction.
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
From: A. Papazian