Freedom is not served on a platter
Support A1+!Journalists have no hope that law-enforcement bodies can help them and protect their rights. This was the conclusion that president of Armenia's committee on freedom of speech Ashot Melikyan came to when preparing the report on limits to freedom of speech in Armenia in the first quarter of 2010.
In the past three months, there have been 5 cases of assaults against journalists, which is three more than last year's indicator. The "guilty" is the January 10 National Assembly elections under majoritarian order during which journalists were attacked.
"Nobody is going to serve freedom to us on a platter and if we don't defend our rights, the situation will get worse," says Ashot Melikyan.
According to him, Armenian mass media outlets are currently subjected to criminal, economic and political pressures.
According to the quarterly report prepared by the committee on freedom of speech, the February 23 examination of the appeal by "A1+" at the Constitutional Court is considered to be positive incident. The decision of the CC gave "A1+" the opportunity to appeal to the Administrative Court to reconsider the decisions of 2003 and 2004.
Will there be a cable tender this summer, as demanded by the CE Council of Ministers?
"This will all lead to the point when the authorities will be forced to hold a tender. I strictly doubt that the tender will be fair and transparent. A lot depends on Armenian society, the positions of international organizations and, first and foremost, activeness in the field of journalism. "A1+" can reach success if it is able to prepare a proposal, but I don't think its proposal will be good," said Ashot Melikyan.
