NOT FREE, AGAIN: ARMENIA GETS COTE D’IVOIRE, GUINEA AS NEIGHBORS IN LATEST PRESS FREEDOM RANKINGS
In advance of World Press Freedom Day, May 3, New-York-based Freedom House this week released data from its annual survey of global press freedom, evaluating Armenia as “Not Free” and ranking it 144th-149th among 195 nations. Armenia’s current ranking in the list topped by Finland and several other Nordic countries is a rollback over the previously held position (137th-140th). Countries in the survey are given scores from 0 (best) to 100 (worst) on the basis of a set of 23 methodology questions divided into three subcategories, including legal environment,political environment, and economic environment. With a total score of 66 (with scores of 21, 25, 20 for the respective subcategories) Armenia found itself in the neighborhood of such countries as Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Maldives, Moldova and Pakistan. Yerevan Press Club President Boris Navasardyan links this regression with persecutions against Gyumri-based GALA TV station, discontinued broadcasts of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Public Radio airwaves as well as Public Television’s imbalanced election coverage. Since 2002, when A1 Plus was taken off the air, Armenia has been relegated from the group of countries with Party Free press to that of Not Free. This year’s report again makes a reference to the case of A1 Plus, RFE/RL (which now continues transmission on private frequencies), pressures against GALA TV, which was effectively made to discontinue broadcast this year. It also points out that there was a strong bias in coverage for the two top presidential candidates, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and former President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, with Sargsyan receiving mostly positive coverage, and the coverage of Ter-Petrosyan being highly critical. Other observations include the imprisonment of Zhamanak Yerevan daily editor Arman Babajanyan since June 2006, an explosion at the office of the opposition newspaper Chorrord Ishkhanutyun last December, and a number of other cases. “Our problems began with A1 Plus,” says Navasardyan. “In the years when A1 Plus participated in tenders for a license and lost Armenia’s standing got worse. And in election years Armenia has no chance to improve its ranking.” Navasardyan says that restrictions of media activities and illegal censorship in conditions of the 20-day state of emergency (imposed in the aftermath of post-election violence in March) will further worsen Armenia’s positions in next year’s report (covering 2008) unless drastic improvements are achieved in the course of the year.
- Vahan Ishkhanyan
REMEMBRANCE DAY: NOT JUST GENOCIDE
We marked Thursday the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. It is a dull number, 93. It is a good number to forget, or else to spend on old arguments, old parallels and that famous quote from Hitler ...STRASBOURG LESSONS FOR ARMENIA: COURT DECISION SPARKS PM CALL FOR CAUTION
Vahan IshkhanyanThe European Court of Human Rights has ruled against an Armenian court in a four-year old dispute between a citizen and the state tax service. While it is the fifth time the Strasbourg court has overruled ...JUDGE ORDERS RESUMED INQUEST INTO APPEAL IN DISMISSED “DEATH IN POLICE CUSTODY” CASE
Vahan Ishkhanyan
A Yerevan lower court on Tuesday ordered a resumed judicial inquest into the appeal in a case of a death in police custody that prosecutors had dismissed for lack of evidence suggesting a violent cause. ...PARTNERS FOR AWARENESS: GENOCIDE MUSEUMS OF AMERICA AND ARMENIA ENTER AGREEMENT
The Armenian Genocide Museum of America (AGMA) and the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) at the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex in Yerevan, Armenia, announced the signing in Yerevan of a permanent ...NOT FREE, AGAIN: ARMENIA GETS COTE D’IVOIRE, GUINEA AS NEIGHBORS IN LATEST PRESS FREEDOM RANKINGS
Vahan IshkhanyanIn advance of World Press Freedom Day, May 3, New-York-based Freedom House this week released data from its annual survey of global press freedom, evaluating Armenia as “Not Free” and ranking it 144th-149th ...FEELING THE WORLD’S PAIN: ARMENIA PART OF INTERNATIONAL TREND IN FOOD COSTS
Gayane Mkrtchyan
As reported worldwide in recent weeks, the United Nations and World Bank warn that a world food crisis is possible. The rise in prices for food and foodstuffs jeopardizes many countries’ stability and ...CHALLENGE: CONCERN LINGERS OVER MILLENNIUM ACCOUNT FUNDING
Gayane AbrahamyanAmong concerns since the February 19 presidential election has been whether Armenia can meet requirements of the Millennium Challenge Account and earn the balance of $235 million earmarked for Armenia ...REVIEW AND DISSENT: OMBUDSMAN’S REPORT CONTINUES MARCH 1 DEBATE OF CIRCUMSTANCES
Marianna Grigoryan
Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Armen Harutyunyan, who until recently was not distinguished by a particularly critical attitude to the internal political situation in the country, triggered considerable ...CURE OR CRIME?: ARMENIAN LAWMAKERS REVISE PUNISHMENT FOR DRUG ABUSERS
Naira Bulghadaryan
A new amendment to Armenia’s Criminal Code will reduce illegal drug use and possession to a civil crime rather than a felony. If the amendment goes into force (the amendment was approved by first reading ...SPORT: ARMENIAN BOXING STAR ON THE DEFENSIVE AFTER RAPE ALLEGATIONS MADE BY GERMAN TABLOID
Suren Musayelyan
Boxing Boxing champ Arthur Abraham has found himself at the center of a tabloid-driven sex scandal after a German newspaper spread information alleging that the 28-year-old performing for Germany had ...FAITH AND REMEMBRANCE: GOOFY WHITE GUY’S MENTAL MELTDOWN WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE
John Hughes
Let’s go ‘round one more time Harry ...CATCHING UP TO CONTEMPORARY COMMERCE: HSBC ARMENIA LEADING THE WAY FOR PROGRESSIVE BANKING
Sara Khojoyan
The Armenian banking market’s rapid development is an indication of the economic strengthening of the country heralded during the Kocharyan years. In total, there are 22 banks with offices here, a remarkable ...ICHTHUSIASM?: RELEASE OF FINGER FISH AIMS TO REPOPULATE JEWEL OF ARMENIA
Arpi Harutyunyan
For several days shooting has been the Lake Sevan basin. It is not, though, hunters who are disturbing the peace, but rather fish-friendly environmentalists engaged by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. ...GAP: ARMENIA LACKS A PUBLIC DIPLOMACY STRATEGY
In an earlier commentary I had characterized as “less than significant” the passage of the Azerbaijani sponsored U.N. Assembly resolution asserting its territorial integrity and demanding the withdrawal ...ALTERNATIVE APPROACH: KARABAKH AND AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS MEDIATE FOR PEACE-PROCESS BY MEANS OF DOCUMENTARY
Naira Hayrumyan
Last week reporters from Karabakh and Azerbaijan met again in Tbilisi to exchange opinions about an unprecedented project between the two countries: joint documentaries by Karabakhi and Azeri journalists. ...NEW PITS, OLD PROBLEM: GYUMRI RESIDENTS DREAM OF NO-HOLES TOWN
Ani Hakobyan
Walking along some streets in Gyumri may become an adventure, especially at night or during rainy weather. City streets are marked by ditches, dug for installing or restoring water pipes, fixing the ...CHILDREN’S JOY: A CENTER IN KAPAN OFFERS NEW MODEL FOR EDUCATION
Armine Avagyan
A pre-school educational center in Kapan is unique for the genre in Armenia. It is not a nursery school, does not include meals, does not have sleeping period, typical of Armenian kindergartens. In Kapan, ...KICKING FOR KIDS: BRAZILIAN EMBASSY, ENTHUSIASTS HOLD SOCCER TOURNAMENT FOR ARMENIAN ORPHANS
Suren Musayelyan
Yerevan’s Hrazdan Stadium that saw FC Ararat rising to international eminence in the 1970s became a venue for an afternoon fun for Armenian kids and teenagers deprived of parental care. A soccer tournament ...
SAFE AMID DANGER: ARMENIANS UNSCATHED IN LATEST ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE IN LEBANON
Sara KhojoyanCOURT CLAIM: FIRED DIPLOMATS SURE OF IMMINENT REINSTATEMENT IN JOBS
Sara Khojoyan“FREEDOM FIGHTERS” FACE FIGHT FOR THEIR OWN FREEDOM: NKR WAR VETERANS AMONG “POLITICAL PRISONERS”
Gayane MkrtchyanMINING FOR MOLYBDENUM?: ENVIRONMENTALISTS RAISE MORE PROTESTS OVER TEGHUT IMPACT
Sara Khojoyan
NEW/OLD CABINET: SARGSYAN BRINGS IN SIX NEW NAMES IN 17-MEMBER CABINET
Sara KhojoyanJUDGE ORDERS RESUMED INQUEST INTO APPEAL IN DISMISSED “DEATH IN POLICE CUSTODY” CASE
Vahan IshkhanyanAN APPEAL TO “NEVER FORGET”: A JEWISH LEADER SPEAKS OUT ON THE NEED TO REMEMBER THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PARTNERS FOR AWARENESS: GENOCIDE MUSEUMS OF AMERICA AND ARMENIA ENTER AGREEMENT
PUBLIC APPEAL: WOMEN LEAD FIRST RALLY AFTER MARCH 1 CLAMPDOWN ON ASSEMBLY
Sara KhojoyanSPORT: ARMENIAN BOXING STAR ON THE DEFENSIVE AFTER RAPE ALLEGATIONS MADE BY GERMAN TABLOID
Suren MusayelyanSTRASBOURG LESSONS FOR ARMENIA: COURT DECISION SPARKS PM CALL FOR CAUTION
Vahan IshkhanyanFROM SIERRA VISTA TO VANADZOR: AMERICAN TEACHER SHARES KNOWLEDGE AND GAINS EXPERIENCE IN ARMENIA
Naira BulghadaryanFEELING THE WORLD’S PAIN: ARMENIA PART OF INTERNATIONAL TREND IN FOOD COSTS
Gayane MkrtchyanNOT FREE, AGAIN: ARMENIA GETS COTE D’IVOIRE, GUINEA AS NEIGHBORS IN LATEST PRESS FREEDOM RANKINGS
Vahan Ishkhanyan
- 1219 Death of Armenian King Levon the Second (Kingdom of Cilicia).
- 1817 General Yermolov, Commander of the Caucasian forces and Governor of the Caucasus, stops in Echmiadsin on his way to a mission in Persia.
- 1869 Death of the Armenologist Victor Langlois. He translated Armenian historical sources into French under the sponsorship of Noobar Pasha.
- 1900 Death of Hovhannes Aivazovsky (seascape artist) in Feodosia (the Ukraine). He was born in 1817.
- 1916 The "France-Armenie" committee is organized in Paris. Members of the Academy and other political figures are members.
- 1917 The First Assembly of Western Armenians opens in Yerevan under the Presidency of General Andranik.
- 1919 The Publication of Constantinople's Extraordinary Military Tribunal's decision about the perpetrators of the deportations of Booyook Dere's (Constantinople's district) Armenian population.
- 1930 Creation of the Kanaker Power Station.
- 1965 Death of Hrachia Kochar (writer and public figure). He was born in 1909.
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