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Media Groups Protest Restricted Access to Gyumri Event
hetq
12:30, September 9, 2012
On September 4 during the RA President's visit to Gyumri, the
representatives of the office of the head of the state restricted the
local journalists from participating in the brief, held at the Gyumri
Mother and Child Care Hospital.
The clarifications on the incident provided by the Department of
Public Relations and Mass Media of RA President's Office were not
convincing. One can imply from them that the administration of the
President sorts out a certain class of media outlets, where the
coverage of activities of the head of the state is preferred more than
it is on other outlets. This was most vividly demonstrated in Gyumri,
where the local media has a quite big audience. Hence, in this case,
when visiting the city, the RA President should have been particularly
interested in communicating with Gyumri citizens.
In general, an unwritten rule is observed at the governing elite.
According to this rule, when dealing with media outlets, preference is
first given to foreign media, then - to some `favorite' national and
capital based broadcasters, and at the very end - to regional media.
This is an extremely vicious phenomenon, especially in those cases,
when the information or the message are, in fact, intended for the
audience of those media, which fall out of `favorites' list'. This
sort of conduct of the state officials impedes the ensuring of fair
competition among media, as well as the right to receive and
disseminate information. Hence, we call to revise such an approach.
As regards the incident in Gyumri, we expect the Department of Public
Relations and Mass Media of the Office of the RA President to bring
apologies to all those accredited journalists, who did not get the
chance to carry out their professional commitment towards their
audience.
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
INTERNEWS MEDIA SUPPORT NGO
`ASPAREZ' JOURNALISTS' CLUB
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE-ARMENIA
`JOURNALISTS' TEAM FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE' NGO
September 8, 2012
hetq
12:30, September 9, 2012
On September 4 during the RA President's visit to Gyumri, the
representatives of the office of the head of the state restricted the
local journalists from participating in the brief, held at the Gyumri
Mother and Child Care Hospital.
The clarifications on the incident provided by the Department of
Public Relations and Mass Media of RA President's Office were not
convincing. One can imply from them that the administration of the
President sorts out a certain class of media outlets, where the
coverage of activities of the head of the state is preferred more than
it is on other outlets. This was most vividly demonstrated in Gyumri,
where the local media has a quite big audience. Hence, in this case,
when visiting the city, the RA President should have been particularly
interested in communicating with Gyumri citizens.
In general, an unwritten rule is observed at the governing elite.
According to this rule, when dealing with media outlets, preference is
first given to foreign media, then - to some `favorite' national and
capital based broadcasters, and at the very end - to regional media.
This is an extremely vicious phenomenon, especially in those cases,
when the information or the message are, in fact, intended for the
audience of those media, which fall out of `favorites' list'. This
sort of conduct of the state officials impedes the ensuring of fair
competition among media, as well as the right to receive and
disseminate information. Hence, we call to revise such an approach.
As regards the incident in Gyumri, we expect the Department of Public
Relations and Mass Media of the Office of the RA President to bring
apologies to all those accredited journalists, who did not get the
chance to carry out their professional commitment towards their
audience.
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
INTERNEWS MEDIA SUPPORT NGO
`ASPAREZ' JOURNALISTS' CLUB
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE-ARMENIA
`JOURNALISTS' TEAM FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE' NGO
September 8, 2012