THERE IS A LACK OF PLURALISM IN ARMENIA
Support A1+!Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, said today that Armenia has made significant progress in improving media legislation, but actual media pluralism remained limited to the print media.
"I am pleased that since 2005 there have been very few atrocities reported against journalists. It is similarly welcome that criminal libel cases have not been initiated since several years," said Haraszti, who was on a three-day official visit to Armenia at the invitation of the Government.
"However, the coverage of political life still remains one-sided, both in private and public-service broadcasting. This confines actual pluralism to the diverse, at times even partisan, but economically very weak print media."
He noted that there is a lack of unbiased and impartial information in the television field. Answering the questions about the problem of TV Company «A1+», Miklos Haraszti informed that during the meetings the RA authorities «raised the 'A1+' issue themselves». And during the meeting with Robert Kocharyan Haraszti mentioned the fact of banning «A1+» from air as an example of the biased activity of the National Committee of TV and Radio and informed that «it can be considered an obvious shortcoming of the licensing process».
Robert Kocharyan informed Haraszti that the case of «A1+» is in the European Court. He was aware that the TV Company has applied to get a new frequency 12 times and been rejected every time. «I will refer to the licensing process in every detail in my report and I will make detailed offers about it», Miklos Haraszti promised the journalists.
By the way he represented several observations about the activity of the Committee, in particular, according to the OSCE representative, the Committee must be formed not by the President of the country, not by one person, but by several. He also found the monitoring of the activity of the Committee extremely important. Miklos Haraszti also said that the same company must not be given several licenses of broadcasting.
"We see good pieces of legislation, such as the Constitutional amendments on broadcasting, and the Freedom of Information law," added Mr. Haraszti. "However, implementation is behind the blueprints in some fields. For example, the broadcast law reform required by the Constitution is still missing, as are the implementation rules for the law on Freedom of Information."
Haraszti suggested that pluralizing the composition of the broadcasting boards would lead to diversity in the licensing of private broadcasters, and to more objective news coverage in public television, saying that: "Media reform should be accelerated, especially in view of the upcoming elections."
He noted in the conversation with Robert Kocharyan that there are too many TV Companies in Armenia.
Let us inform you that Miklos Haraszti came to Armenia at the invitation of the RA Government on a «three-day assessing visit». He was rather flattered by the fact that not only the high officials but also Kocharyan himself received him. Asked by «A1+» if the schedule of the meeting was made by the Government so that he would have not time for a private meeting with the «A1+» President, he answered that although they have not met in person, they have been invited to a meeting with the journalists. Besides, he added that he is aware of the «A1+» problem, and the schedule was made by the OSCE Yerevan office, and the Government contributed to the organization of the
