THE STATE OF MEDIA FREEDOM IN ARMENIA ACCORDING TO OSCE
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) published Needs Assessment Mission Report ahead of the 19 February 2008 Presidential Election in Armenia. The report also involves the state of media freedom in Armenia.
According to it, there are about 60 television channels and about 20 radio companies, as well as more than 100 print media publications (including two state-funded newspapers) in Armenia. However, television is the most important and influential source of information. The public service broadcaster H1 is regarded as the most influential media outlet in Armenia and reaches the whole country. Some other private channels cover large parts of the country. Print media has a limited circulation outside Yerevan.
Despite the relatively high number of media outlets in Armenia, a lack of diversity in viewpoints presented by broadcast media has been criticized by international organizations dealing with freedom of expression, including the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the . Factors affecting the media situation include a high level of influence over editorial lines by political and business interests, financial weakness of media outlets because of low advertising profitability, and legal actions taken against journalists in recent years.
By law, all broadcast media have to provide equal airtime to contestants during the official campaign period. Recent amendments to the Law on Television and Radio
Broadcasting extended this obligation to the period before the start of the election campaign. The amendments also included the obligation to provide impartial and nonjudgmental information about the pre-election campaigns of candidates in their information programmes. Campaign broadcasts on TV and radio have now to be explicitly identified as such. The amended law has also clarified the role of the National
Commission for Television and Radio (NCTR), which monitors the broadcast media's compliance with legal procedures. The NCTR is now entitled to file a court case against TV or radio companies that violate legal provisions.
The CEC is obliged to ensure equal access for contestants by random selection of broadcast slots and order of appearance for both free and paid airtime. The relevant lottery will be held on 22 January 2008. Each presidential candidate is entitled to use up to 60 minutes of free airtime on public television and up to 120 minutes of free airtime on public radio. In addition, each candidate may use paid airtime on public television and public radio: up to 120 minutes and up to 180 minutes respectively. Rates for political advertisements must be publicly announced, consistently offered to all contestants and may not be changed during the election period. Rates were set in November 2007 and range from 100,000 AMD (approx EUR 210) to 130,000 AMD (approx EUR 280), as in the May 2007 parliamentary elections.
Some OSCE/ODIHR NAM interlocutors expressed concerns about access to the media before the official start of the campaign on 21 January 2008. Some alleged that obstacles exist for certain opposition representatives to gain access to media and that an unofficial blockade against their presence on the media, especially on the public broadcaster H1, is being enforced. The example of Gyumri-based TV station Gala was cited which has come under scrutiny from tax authorities, allegedly because it screened a speech by Levon Ter-Petrossian at the end of September in which he announced his intention to run in the presidential election. However, the Chairman of the NCTR as well as the Executive Director of H1 dispute these allegations and explicitly stated their aim to provide equitable access to candidates, particularly once it is known who the nominated candidates are. Especially H1 vows to fulfill its role as public broadcaster and to thoroughly cover the presidential election including possible debates between candidates and a focus on tabulation and transmission of results on Election Day.
A local non-governmental organization, the Yerevan Press Club, is conducting media monitoring of the broadcasts of seven television channels, including H1, and the public radio from 1 October until 15 December, and also plans to monitor the official campaign period. The Office of the Press Secretary of the President is conducting monitoring of the political broadcasts of six private television channels.
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights is going to send to Armenia 24 log-time and 250 short-time observers.
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THE STATE OF MEDIA FREEDOM IN ARMENIA ACCORDING TO OSCE
ARMENIAN MILITARY DOCTRINE
- 1904 Lenin publishes the first number of the "Vperyod" (Forward) newspaper in Geneva (Switzerland).
- 1931 Creation of the Radio Broadcasting Committee in Armenia.
- 1972 Death of Mkrtich Armen. He was born in 1906.
- 1986 The International Court of Justice decides on the Case Concerning the Frontier Dispute between Burkina Faso and Mali (554, 566-567). Certain aspects of this document may be significant in the resolution of the Artsakh crisis.
- 1993 The Azerbaijani army launches attacks along the length of its whole border with Artsakh. All attacks are repulsed with devastating losses for the aggressors. The aggression is abandoned in May 1994.
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