Armenian authorities tried to put pressure on their own media once again: on the eve of the International Women's Day, the National Assembly (parliament) of the country adopted the Law "On Structure and Activities of the Government of Armenia," which regulates the work of the media. From now on government sessions will be held behind closed doors, 10th paragraph of the law says. Press will be able to attend only a part of the government meetings, which will be determined by the decision of the Prime Minister. Sessions of the Council of Elders of Yerevan will also be held behind closed doors from now on, so work of journalists also be regulated, internet publication NovostiNK.ru writes.
Changes in transparency of the authorities' activities sparked heated discussion among public and journalists of the country, who criticized restrictions imposed on the media. According to Ashot Melikyan, chairman of the Committee on Protection of Freedom of Speech, restrictions are important not only for journalistic circles, but for the entire society, since all efforts of the media are for the benefit of society.
For society, the country's highest political elite must be open, and by imposing such restrictions, the government doesn't allow to obtain objective information about what is happening. Citizens won't know about what is happening in the country. "It's bad not only from the point of view of freedom of speech, but also because it leads to a dead end, creates information vacuum, where society and authorities exist separately from each other," he said, adding that the topic of restriction of journalists' activities is not new: such restrictions are a part of the policy pursued by the Armenian authorities.
"The authorities have already made certain things secret when they made amendments to the law 'On public procurements', adopted in 2015, which is nonsense, because if we fight corruption and abuse of power, the highest political elite of the country should be open to society," Ashot Melikyan added.
This shows that society and authorities of Armenia have completely different view on each other, chief editor of the "Hraparak" newspaper Armine Ohanyan belives. "Tougher restrictions on the media, imposed by the authorities, became a trend: if previously they were insignificant, now, with each passing year, they become more and more tougher. Journalism is turning into extreme sport. It seems that the authorities are trying to isolate themselves from society in every possible way," she believes.
Final product of Armenian journalists and its quality will suffer because of these changes, and, as a result, reader won't receive all necessary information. "In recent years, quality of the work of press secretaries of ministries and various government departments has significantly decreased. They could freely communicate with journalists before, journalists could even organize interviews with officials of high rank, but this almost doesnt happen recently. Many departments began to communicate with the media only through letters," she added.
Decisions and actions of the Armenian authorities, as a result of which the media no longer has access to information sources, have become rational alternative to violent actions - journalists in Armenia got used to the latter in past decades, Anna Akopyan, chief editor of the "Haykakan Zhamanak" newspaper, said.
"If previously journalists or editors could be intimidated using physical violence, beaten or dragged through the courts, now 'civilized' methods of restricting access to information sources have replaced these forceful methods," Akopyan explained. She noted that new amendments will complicate the journalists' work both in the government and in many other state structures.
If this situation won't change and journalists will continue to face obstacles, then society won't receive necessary information, and this, in turn, can lead to unpredictable consequences. Information deficit usually generates mistrust and misinterpretation of processes in any sphere - political, economic and public - experts believe.
