FEBRUARY 3-9, 2001

AMENDMENTS TO RA LAW “ON TELEVISION AND RADIO” ADOPTED

ARTICLE 19 MAKES ITS RECOMMENDATIONS ON RA LAW “ON TELEVISION AND RADIO”

CAMERAMAN PENALIZED FOR ASSAULT  

THE JOINT PROJECT OF YEREVAN AND BAKU PRESS CLUBS  

AMENDMENTS TO RA LAW “ON TELEVISION AND RADIO” ADOPTED

On February 7, 2001, at RA National Assembly session, the draft law on amendments to RA Law “On Television and Radio” was adopted after the second hearing.

During the debates held on February 6, the suggestion of RA Government on reducing the number of members of National Commission on Television and Radio (from 9, as the Law stipulated, to 5) was considered. The Government argued that it will result in greater effectiveness of the Commission’s activities and efficient use of funds.

As a result of discussions the compromise variant, suggested by the NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture and Youth Issues, was accepted: the number of the members of the National Commission will remain the same, but only the positions of the chairman and vice-chairman will be salaried.

Meanwhile, it is not quite clear, why the anxiety of the Government and the Parliament referred to the expenses of the National Commission, the functions of which are rather broad, whereas all the five members of the Council of the Public Television and Radio, whose responsibilities are quite limited, will still be salaried.

As to the expected amendments to other articles of the RA Law “On Television and Radio”, in particular, the articles recognized by the RA Constitutional Court to be contradicting the Constitution of the country, the work on these continues.

ARTICLE 19 MAKES ITS RECOMMENDATIONS ON RA LAW “ON TELEVISION AND RADIO”

The international non-governmental organization Article 19 has disseminated a  Memorandum analyzing the recently enforced RA Law “On Television and Radio”.

The Memorandum includes a number of recommendations on amendments to the Armenian broadcasting Law. In particular, it is mentioned that RA Law “On Television and Radio” does not ensure the independence of the governing bodies regulating the public and private broadcasting - the Council of Public Television and Radio, and the National Commission on Television and Radio. The unacceptability of the provision of the Law, according to which the President of the country should solely appoint the members of these bodies, is emphasized.

As to the content of the programs of local broadcasters, the Memorandum mentions that the RA Law “On Television and Radio” does not include stimuli for the increase of the volume of European production broadcasting as it is stipulated by the European Convention on Transfrontier Television. Along with this, the requirements to the volume of locally produced programs are unreasonably high (according to the Law, the local production of each private TV or radio company cannot be less than 65% of the overall airtime, and for the Public Television and Public Radio - 2/3 of the overall airtime).

The listing of programs, that are prohibited for broadcasting on TV and radio, in the Law, according to the experts of Article 19, is mostly unnecessary, as these prohibitions are already covered in laws of general application, in particular, the criminal law.

When fixing the volume for minority language programs, the Armenian broadcasting Law should reflect the minimum, rather than the maximum quota.

In general, as it is stated in the Memorandum, the adopted RA Law “On Television and Radio” in a number of its provisions does not take into account the modern European and international standards as well as the appropriate obligations, of which Armenia is a party.

CAMERAMAN PENALIZED FOR ASSAULT

On February 1, 2001, the Court of Original Jurisdiction of Center and Nork Marash Districts of Yerevan sentenced the cameraman of “A1+” TV company Robert Kharazian to 6 months’ penalty, equal to 10% of his monthly salary, “Aravot” daily informed on February 6, 2001.

The story can be traced to October last year when Kharazian had shootings in the park around the Sundukian Theater, an intoxicated man, resembling a homeless, came up to him and demanded that the cameraman film what he was going to say to the world. As the witnesses maintain, the cameraman at first took no notice of the man and went on with his professional responsibilities. However, the latter persisted and provoked a scuffle. The cameraman pushed the man aside and left the site. 

As it appeared later, the man with traces of beatings got to hospital. A criminal suit was brought against Mr. Kharazian; the court arrived at the verdict of guilty. Kharazian believes that the incident continued without him, and someone else beat the “homeless”, as the latter was also harassing the people around them. However, the cameraman failed to prove his point.

Notably, the editorial staff of “A1+” was unaware of the impending trial of Mr. Kharazian. As Mesrop Movsesian, the Director of “A1+” TV company, told Yerevan Press Club, in November last year he was visited by representatives of Criminal Investigation Department of Spandarian Division of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs for clarifying the circumstances of the incident, and, as the camera was on during the whole incident, the complete information was introduced to the police force. “We were sure that it answered all questions. As to the trial, we learned about it, so to say, post factum. Apparently, the young cameraman decided not to ask us for help, being confident in his innocence and thinking he can prove it”, concluded Mr. Movsesian.

THE JOINT PROJECT OF YEREVAN AND BAKU PRESS CLUBS

Yerevan and Baku Press Clubs with the participation of Stepanakert Press Club have launched the joint Project “Karabagh Conflict in the Mirror of Media and Public Opinion in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Mountainous Karabagh”, realized at the support of the Open Society Institute Network Media Program.

The Project envisages activities in three main directions:

- Sociological survey of the population of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Mountainous Karabagh to determine the public attitudes towards the possible solutions to the conflict;

- Survey of the decision makers in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Mountainous Karabagh to reveal the existing official attitudes and the further intentions of the parties of the conflict, comparison of these attitudes with those pertaining to the public;

- Monitoring of media, both print and electronic, in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Mountainous Karabagh to study the specifics of Karabagh problem coverage for each of the parties involved.

The data acquired will allow conducting a comparative analysis of the sociological survey, the survey among the decision makers and media monitoring in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Mountainous Karabagh so as to determine whether and to what extent the actions of the decision makers and the public attitudes correspond to each other, as well as to determine the adequacy of the Karabagh problem coverage in media.

Besides these directions, it is also planned to conduct three joint conferences of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Karabagh journalists in Yerevan, Baku and Stepanakert on the issues studied.

On the basis of the researches conducted the three partnering parties will prepare final reports, which will be published as a brochure in Russian and English languages.