ArmInfo. The Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression presented another report on the situation with freedom of speech in Armenia and violations of the rights of journalists and media in the first quarter of 2018.
Thus, according to the source, the first quarter was a period of stormy legislative initiatives to restrict freedom of information and the activities of journalists. "In Jan-Mar 2018, the number of violations in the sphere of obtaining and disseminating information increased, which resulted from the transfer of power to a closed method of activity, however, this quarter was calm enough in the absence of cases of physical violence against journalists, and a reduction in the number of incidents creating obstacles to the professional activities of journalists, for example, in the first quarter of 2018, there were no recorded cases of violence against journalists, meanwhile for the same period of 2017, there have been 3 such cases. Also, the number of cases of pressure on the media has decreased, in the first quarter of 2018 there have been 12 such incidents, meanwhile, there were 32 such incidents during the same period of 2017. However, the receipt and dissemination of information sharply increased, and if in 2017, 5 such cases were recorded, in 2018, there are already 14 such cases," the report says.
As a vivid example of the limitation of media activities, the CPFE has cited the government-initiated law "On the activities and structure of the government", according to which all meetings of the executive body are held behind closed doors, and the media are deprived of the opportunity to be present, as it was before. As another example, the CPFE brought the decision of the mayor's office to prohibit the presence of the media in the meetings of the Council of Elders. The report notes that this initiative of the mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan was adopted with violations of the regulations and violates the rights of journalists. The CPFE considers the legislative initiative on amending the law "On Television and Radio" as problematic.