Konferencija o samofinanciranju medija u Armeniji

06.11.2002.

Press Release

 

Self-regulation and Media Ethics in Armenia

Tsaghkadzor 26-27 October 2002

 

Fifty Armenian journalists from Yerevan and the regions took part in a conference organised by the European Institute for the Media, the Yerevan Press Club and Irex-ProMedia which discussed media accountability systems and their possible application in Armenia. The event was co-sponsored by the European Commission through the Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights.

 

The following presentations were given by expert speakers:-

·          Professor Claude-Jean Bertrand on media accountability systems and Press Councils around the world;

·          Ronan Brady, member of the Executive Board of the National Union of Journalists in Ireland and consultant to the International Federation of Journalists presented on self-regulation in Europe;

·          Evgeny Abov, Vice-President of the Russian Guild of Publishers described the potential role of publishers’ organisations in press self-regulation;

·          Mesrop Harutyunyan, Yerevan Press Club expert, spoke on legal problems affecting the press;

·          Aram Abrahamian, Chief Editor of Aravot and Hakob Avedikyan, Chief Editor of Azg gave their views on the creation of a Press Council in Armenia.

 

The main part of the discussions focused on the possibility of creating a Press Council in Armenia which would create a professional code of ethics for its members and increase their accountability to the public. Some participants felt that conditions in Armenia were still far from being ideal for the creation of such a body, citing ongoing feuds between newspapers, the preponderance of gossip and unsubstantiated information in articles, political allegiances within the print community and the poor economic condition of the media and the advertising market.

 

However, despite the inherent difficulties of creating a code of principles and standards which everyone could agree to, the vast majority of the participants gave their support to the idea of creating a public accountability body. It was agreed that on the initiative of some of the editors present, a roundtable meeting would be held in a month’s time to decide on the exact function of an Armenian Press Council and to create a task force to develop a code of ethics for Armenian journalists. Several of the regional participants stressed the importance of an Armenian Press Council in promoting cooperation and support for journalists outside of Yerevan. The participants also called for all Armenian editors, including those who were unable to attend, to be informed of the results of their deliberations at this conference through a general press release. Overall, participants felt that in spite of the difficulties to be encountered, the idea of agreeing on a basic set of professional standards and creating a body to unite supporters of these standards could be the first step in trying to improve the media situation through self-regulation.

 

For more information please contact either:

Ljudmila von Berg (EIM office), madp@eim.org , phone +49-30-884 72904 or

Mesrop Harutyunyan (Yerevan Press Club) +374-1-530067 or email mesrop@ypc.am .

 

Please also visit our web-site at www.eim.org.

Povratak