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ARMENIA IMPROVES ITS POSITION IN INTERNATIONAL REPORT ON FREEDOM OF PRESS
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
26.01.12 | 15:56
The Reporters without Borders (RWB) media watchdog's annual report on
press freedom for 2011-2012 states that as compared to 2010 Armenia
has improved its position by 24 points, enjoying the 77th position
instead of the previous 101st. RWB, however, does not consider this
to be great progress.
"Armenia's 24-place rise in the index seems spectacular, but in fact
it has just gone back to where it was three years ago, before the
brutal crackdown after the disputed 2008 elections. The media are,
nonetheless, subject to constant judicial harassment and the size of
the damages demanded in lawsuits is intimidating. Self-regulation is
a major challenge that still needs to be tackled," the report reads.
During the recent years Armenia has had regress in human rights
related reports, which is caused by the post-election bloody clashes
in 2008, when ten citizens of Armenia died and hundreds of people were
arrested. RWB believes that opposition mass media, which used to be
targets of assaults quite often in years of Armenia's former President
Robert Kocharyan's regime, now enjoy more freedom. Nevertheless,
according to the report, independent and opposition press continues
to face censorship; however now the censorship is exercised through
more civilized, judicial pressures.
Armenia's neighbor Azerbaijan is currently the 162nd among 179
countries included in the report with its press freedom index (in 2010
Azerbaijan was the 152nd), Georgia is in the 104th place (it was the
100th in 2010), Iran is the 175th, keeping its position unchanged,
Turkey is in the 148th place (it was the 138th in 2010).
"There was a dramatic rise in the number of arrests in Azerbaijan where
Ilham Aliyev's autocratic government did not hesitate to jail netizens
(derived from 'net' and 'citizen' words), abduct opposition journalists
and bar foreign reporters in order to impose a news blackout on the
unrest," the report says.
In terms of press freedom the list of the countries is headed by
Finland, Norway, Estonia and the Netherlands.
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow
26.01.12 | 15:56
The Reporters without Borders (RWB) media watchdog's annual report on
press freedom for 2011-2012 states that as compared to 2010 Armenia
has improved its position by 24 points, enjoying the 77th position
instead of the previous 101st. RWB, however, does not consider this
to be great progress.
"Armenia's 24-place rise in the index seems spectacular, but in fact
it has just gone back to where it was three years ago, before the
brutal crackdown after the disputed 2008 elections. The media are,
nonetheless, subject to constant judicial harassment and the size of
the damages demanded in lawsuits is intimidating. Self-regulation is
a major challenge that still needs to be tackled," the report reads.
During the recent years Armenia has had regress in human rights
related reports, which is caused by the post-election bloody clashes
in 2008, when ten citizens of Armenia died and hundreds of people were
arrested. RWB believes that opposition mass media, which used to be
targets of assaults quite often in years of Armenia's former President
Robert Kocharyan's regime, now enjoy more freedom. Nevertheless,
according to the report, independent and opposition press continues
to face censorship; however now the censorship is exercised through
more civilized, judicial pressures.
Armenia's neighbor Azerbaijan is currently the 162nd among 179
countries included in the report with its press freedom index (in 2010
Azerbaijan was the 152nd), Georgia is in the 104th place (it was the
100th in 2010), Iran is the 175th, keeping its position unchanged,
Turkey is in the 148th place (it was the 138th in 2010).
"There was a dramatic rise in the number of arrests in Azerbaijan where
Ilham Aliyev's autocratic government did not hesitate to jail netizens
(derived from 'net' and 'citizen' words), abduct opposition journalists
and bar foreign reporters in order to impose a news blackout on the
unrest," the report says.
In terms of press freedom the list of the countries is headed by
Finland, Norway, Estonia and the Netherlands.