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YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 9-15, 2012
HIGHLIGHTS:
"PRESS CLUB" TALK SHOW: REPORTING INACCURATE INFORMATION
INFORMATION DISPUTES COUNCIL'S OPINION ON CASE OF LERNAPAT VILLAGE ELDER
VERSUS "HETQ" CORRESPONDENT
RA CIVIL COURT OF APPEALS REVOKED THE COMPLAINT OF WORD OF LIFE
"ASPAREZ" COMPARES RESULTS OF TWO-YEAR MONITORING THE ADVERTISING ON PTA
FIRST CHANNEL
INTERNEWS PUBLISHED ARMENIAN VERSION OF "MEDIA LAW" HANDBOOK BY JANE KIRTLEY
"PRESS CLUB" TALK SHOW: REPORTING INACCURATE INFORMATION
On November 12, another program of "Press Club" cycle, dealing with
journalistic ethics, went on "Yerkir Media" TV channel. The TV shows' series
are produced by Yerevan Press Club in the frames of the "Promoting Freedom,
Professionalism and Pluralism of the Media in the South Caucasus and
Moldova" programme, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of
Europe.
The talk show participants debated about the publication of inaccurate
information, specifically, the false reports about the intended
deterioration of Fernando Botero's "Roman Soldier" statue. Several Armenian
media disseminated this information, without any prior verification of its
truthfulness, though it was not so hard to do this: the statue is situated
in a public square in downtown Yerevan. As discussants of the program were
invited media expert Samvel Martirosian, author of a piece on this pressing
issue, "When Armenia's Press Becomes Paralyzed"
(http://www.media.am/en/Roman-soldier-of-Botero-disinformation), and Hakob
Avetikian, Chief Editor of "Azg" daily, which had published the inaccurate
information in the piece "New Vandalism against Statues"
(http://www.azg.am/AM/2012102503). Since "Azg" Chief Editor did not come to
the talk show at the very last moment, he was replaced by Tatevik Ayvazian,
Assistant to Director of "Yerkir Media" TV company. The experts of the
program were Astghik Gevorgian, Chairwoman of Journalists Union of Armenia,
Shushan Doydoyan, President of Freedom of Information Center, media expert
Mesrop Harutiunian and lawyer Ara Ghazarian. YPC President Boris Navasardian
hosted the talk show.
The next "Press Club" will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on Monday, November 19
at 18.00 (rerun - on Saturday, November 24 at 12.50).
Watch "Press Club" of November 12, 2012 here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc16qtjMjhs
INFORMATION DISPUTES COUNCIL'S OPINION ON CASE OF LERNAPAT VILLAGE ELDER
VERSUS "HETQ" CORRESPONDENT
On November 12, Information Disputes Council released an opinion on the
court case, filed by Lernapat Village Elder Vano Yeghiazarian versus Adrineh
Torosian, correspondent of "Hetq" online (Hetq" was involved in the case as
a third party). As we have reported, Vano Yeghiazarian contested the piece
by Adrineh Torosian, "The Word "Graze" about Village Elder Is Worth 1 Mln",
published in "Hetq" on August 23, 2011. Initially, in addition to the
demands of a refutation and apologies, the Lernapat Elder claimed in his
suit on the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation moral
damages in the amount of 1 million AMD (about $ 2,600). Later, the plaintiff
virtually abandoned his financial claims versus the respondent and demanded
only 1 Luma (the smallest Armenian currency). On May 29, 2012, the Court of
General Jurisdiction of Lori Region revoked the suit, binding Vano
Yeghiazarian to pay off the respondent's court costs in the amount of
150,000 AMD (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, May 25-31, 2012).
The IDC noted that the contested piece reported about an ongoing civil case.
The wordings, assessed as insult by the plaintiff and used in the article
and its title, are a good-faith reproduction of public statements, made at
court proceedings, thus, the journalist is exempt from responsibility for
them, the IDC emphasized.
Referring to the decision of the European Court on Human Rights, Jersild v.
Denmark, September 23, 1994, the IDC reminded that the journalist is free to
adopt the technique of reporting. Nevertheless, there are some professional
requirements for choosing an article's title. The title should attract the
readers' attention and express the contents of the piece. In this particular
case, when reading the article's title, a reader could have the wrong
impression that the main subject of the court dispute is the statement
included in the title and could have an overall impression about the
journalist as being biased, the IDC stressed.
The opinion of the Information Disputes Council is available in Armenian and
in English at http://www.ypc.am/expert/ln/eng.
RA CIVIL COURT OF APPEALS REVOKED THE COMPLAINT OF WORD OF LIFE
On November 8, RA Civil Court of Appeals revoked the complaint of the
Armenian Word of Life Religious Community of Christian Evangelic Church and
its Head, Senior Pastor Artur Simonian regarding the decision of court of
general jurisdiction on the suit versus "Iravunk Media" LLC, founder of
"Iravunk-Investigation" and "Argumenti Nedeli v Armenii" weeklies. As we
have reported, the basis for the suit became the articles and collages,
published in the weeklies in October 2011. The pieces spoke negatively about
the Word of Life and the Senior Pastor. The plaintiffs demanded to publish a
refutation and to bring apologies in both newspapers. On July 31, 2012 the
Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative
Districts of Yerevan revoked the suit (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, September
3-6, 2012). The plaintiffs contested this ruling at the RA Civil Court of
Appeals, which took the complaint into consideration on September 29. The
hearings at the second court instance were held on October 25.
On November 8, Civil Court of Appeals upheld the ruling of the court of
general jurisdiction. At the same time, the Court of Appeals revised the
size of the respondent's lawyer costs to be paid off by the plaintiffs.
Initially, the court of first instance had defined them in the amount of
300,000 AMD (about $ 730), but the Court of Appeals considered 100,00 AMD as
a more reasonable sum.
"ASPAREZ" COMPARES RESULTS OF TWO-YEAR MONITORING THE ADVERTISING ON PTA
FIRST CHANNEL
On November 13, at "Urbat" Club, "Asparez" Journalists Club of Gyumri
presented the comparative analysis of the results of monitoring the volume
and distribution of commercial advertising on PTA First Channel within
2011-2012. According to "Asparez" study, throughout the whole monitoring
violations of the current legislation, specifically, exceeding of
advertising volume, were made by PTA First Channel.
At the meeting with journalists Levon Barseghian, Board Chairman of
"Asparez", restated his suggestion of introducing a legal ban on commercial
advertising on the Public Television of Armenia, and increasing the
budgetary allocations to PTA in the amount of 1 billion AMD (about $
2,440,000). As we have reported, on October 31, the Head of "Asparez" sent a
letter on this matter to RA National Assembly deputies (see YPC Weekly
Newsletter, October 26 - November 1, 2012).
The results of "Asparez" monitoring are available at http://www.asparez.am/.
INTERNEWS PUBLISHED ARMENIAN VERSION OF "MEDIA LAW" HANDBOOK BY JANE KIRTLEY
On November 9, at "Bureaucrat" bookstore of Yerevan, Internews Media Support
NGO presented the Armenian version of the "Media Law" handbook by Jane
Kirtley, Professor of Michigan University. The Armenian translation of the
book and its publication was done by Internews. The original version of
"Media Law" was published in 2010 by the Bureau of International Information
Programs of United States Department of State.
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: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
NOVEMBER 9-15, 2012
HIGHLIGHTS:
"PRESS CLUB" TALK SHOW: REPORTING INACCURATE INFORMATION
INFORMATION DISPUTES COUNCIL'S OPINION ON CASE OF LERNAPAT VILLAGE ELDER
VERSUS "HETQ" CORRESPONDENT
RA CIVIL COURT OF APPEALS REVOKED THE COMPLAINT OF WORD OF LIFE
"ASPAREZ" COMPARES RESULTS OF TWO-YEAR MONITORING THE ADVERTISING ON PTA
FIRST CHANNEL
INTERNEWS PUBLISHED ARMENIAN VERSION OF "MEDIA LAW" HANDBOOK BY JANE KIRTLEY
"PRESS CLUB" TALK SHOW: REPORTING INACCURATE INFORMATION
On November 12, another program of "Press Club" cycle, dealing with
journalistic ethics, went on "Yerkir Media" TV channel. The TV shows' series
are produced by Yerevan Press Club in the frames of the "Promoting Freedom,
Professionalism and Pluralism of the Media in the South Caucasus and
Moldova" programme, co-funded by the European Union and the Council of
Europe.
The talk show participants debated about the publication of inaccurate
information, specifically, the false reports about the intended
deterioration of Fernando Botero's "Roman Soldier" statue. Several Armenian
media disseminated this information, without any prior verification of its
truthfulness, though it was not so hard to do this: the statue is situated
in a public square in downtown Yerevan. As discussants of the program were
invited media expert Samvel Martirosian, author of a piece on this pressing
issue, "When Armenia's Press Becomes Paralyzed"
(http://www.media.am/en/Roman-soldier-of-Botero-disinformation), and Hakob
Avetikian, Chief Editor of "Azg" daily, which had published the inaccurate
information in the piece "New Vandalism against Statues"
(http://www.azg.am/AM/2012102503). Since "Azg" Chief Editor did not come to
the talk show at the very last moment, he was replaced by Tatevik Ayvazian,
Assistant to Director of "Yerkir Media" TV company. The experts of the
program were Astghik Gevorgian, Chairwoman of Journalists Union of Armenia,
Shushan Doydoyan, President of Freedom of Information Center, media expert
Mesrop Harutiunian and lawyer Ara Ghazarian. YPC President Boris Navasardian
hosted the talk show.
The next "Press Club" will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on Monday, November 19
at 18.00 (rerun - on Saturday, November 24 at 12.50).
Watch "Press Club" of November 12, 2012 here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc16qtjMjhs
INFORMATION DISPUTES COUNCIL'S OPINION ON CASE OF LERNAPAT VILLAGE ELDER
VERSUS "HETQ" CORRESPONDENT
On November 12, Information Disputes Council released an opinion on the
court case, filed by Lernapat Village Elder Vano Yeghiazarian versus Adrineh
Torosian, correspondent of "Hetq" online (Hetq" was involved in the case as
a third party). As we have reported, Vano Yeghiazarian contested the piece
by Adrineh Torosian, "The Word "Graze" about Village Elder Is Worth 1 Mln",
published in "Hetq" on August 23, 2011. Initially, in addition to the
demands of a refutation and apologies, the Lernapat Elder claimed in his
suit on the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation moral
damages in the amount of 1 million AMD (about $ 2,600). Later, the plaintiff
virtually abandoned his financial claims versus the respondent and demanded
only 1 Luma (the smallest Armenian currency). On May 29, 2012, the Court of
General Jurisdiction of Lori Region revoked the suit, binding Vano
Yeghiazarian to pay off the respondent's court costs in the amount of
150,000 AMD (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, May 25-31, 2012).
The IDC noted that the contested piece reported about an ongoing civil case.
The wordings, assessed as insult by the plaintiff and used in the article
and its title, are a good-faith reproduction of public statements, made at
court proceedings, thus, the journalist is exempt from responsibility for
them, the IDC emphasized.
Referring to the decision of the European Court on Human Rights, Jersild v.
Denmark, September 23, 1994, the IDC reminded that the journalist is free to
adopt the technique of reporting. Nevertheless, there are some professional
requirements for choosing an article's title. The title should attract the
readers' attention and express the contents of the piece. In this particular
case, when reading the article's title, a reader could have the wrong
impression that the main subject of the court dispute is the statement
included in the title and could have an overall impression about the
journalist as being biased, the IDC stressed.
The opinion of the Information Disputes Council is available in Armenian and
in English at http://www.ypc.am/expert/ln/eng.
RA CIVIL COURT OF APPEALS REVOKED THE COMPLAINT OF WORD OF LIFE
On November 8, RA Civil Court of Appeals revoked the complaint of the
Armenian Word of Life Religious Community of Christian Evangelic Church and
its Head, Senior Pastor Artur Simonian regarding the decision of court of
general jurisdiction on the suit versus "Iravunk Media" LLC, founder of
"Iravunk-Investigation" and "Argumenti Nedeli v Armenii" weeklies. As we
have reported, the basis for the suit became the articles and collages,
published in the weeklies in October 2011. The pieces spoke negatively about
the Word of Life and the Senior Pastor. The plaintiffs demanded to publish a
refutation and to bring apologies in both newspapers. On July 31, 2012 the
Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative
Districts of Yerevan revoked the suit (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, September
3-6, 2012). The plaintiffs contested this ruling at the RA Civil Court of
Appeals, which took the complaint into consideration on September 29. The
hearings at the second court instance were held on October 25.
On November 8, Civil Court of Appeals upheld the ruling of the court of
general jurisdiction. At the same time, the Court of Appeals revised the
size of the respondent's lawyer costs to be paid off by the plaintiffs.
Initially, the court of first instance had defined them in the amount of
300,000 AMD (about $ 730), but the Court of Appeals considered 100,00 AMD as
a more reasonable sum.
"ASPAREZ" COMPARES RESULTS OF TWO-YEAR MONITORING THE ADVERTISING ON PTA
FIRST CHANNEL
On November 13, at "Urbat" Club, "Asparez" Journalists Club of Gyumri
presented the comparative analysis of the results of monitoring the volume
and distribution of commercial advertising on PTA First Channel within
2011-2012. According to "Asparez" study, throughout the whole monitoring
violations of the current legislation, specifically, exceeding of
advertising volume, were made by PTA First Channel.
At the meeting with journalists Levon Barseghian, Board Chairman of
"Asparez", restated his suggestion of introducing a legal ban on commercial
advertising on the Public Television of Armenia, and increasing the
budgetary allocations to PTA in the amount of 1 billion AMD (about $
2,440,000). As we have reported, on October 31, the Head of "Asparez" sent a
letter on this matter to RA National Assembly deputies (see YPC Weekly
Newsletter, October 26 - November 1, 2012).
The results of "Asparez" monitoring are available at http://www.asparez.am/.
INTERNEWS PUBLISHED ARMENIAN VERSION OF "MEDIA LAW" HANDBOOK BY JANE KIRTLEY
On November 9, at "Bureaucrat" bookstore of Yerevan, Internews Media Support
NGO presented the Armenian version of the "Media Law" handbook by Jane
Kirtley, Professor of Michigan University. The Armenian translation of the
book and its publication was done by Internews. The original version of
"Media Law" was published in 2010 by the Bureau of International Information
Programs of United States Department of State.
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: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress