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RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHYE #0412/01 1411256
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201256Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7547
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 000412 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM KPAO OSCE PACE AM
SUBJECT: YEREVAN PRESS CLUB CALL FOR ACTION ON MEDIA FREEDOM, 
CHALLENGES GOVERNMENT RECORD 
 
 
YEREVAN 00000412  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
(U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The Yerevan Press Club, a moderate civil society 
voice often critical of the government, released a public statement 
May 19 highlighting the urgent need for reforms to bolster media 
freedom, while enumerating numerous government violations. It also 
made several recommendations.  The statement is well-researched, 
citing comments and recommendations by the Constitutional Court, 
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), OSCE/ODIHR, 
OSCE Freedom of Media representative, and Armenia's government 
ombudsman.  Full text at para 4.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  (SBU) CRITIQUES OF THE GOVERNMENT RECORD:  The statement makes 
the following criticisms of authorities' actions, which the press 
club deems violations of media freedom: 
 
--  Government efforts to drive Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and 
the regional Gala TV station off the air. 
 
--  Government pressure on media outlets' political coverage, 
resulting in highly biased coverage on broadcast channels. 
 
--  Pre-emptive government censorship of media during the declared 
State of Emergency March 1-20, accompanied by sharply pro-government 
broadcasting. 
 
--  Failure of the National Commission on Television and Radio 
(NCTR; Armenia's broadcasting regulatory agency) to enforce the law 
or to behave in an independent, non-partisan fashion. 
 
--  Failure of the Public Television and Radio Corporation 
(Armenia's state-owned/operated broadcast network) to maintain 
objectivity and professional standards, while instead broadcasting 
highly partisan content. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE FUTURE:  The Yerevan Press Club 
statement makes the following recommendations to remediate these 
problems: 
 
--  The NCTR should be significantly restructured with legislative 
changes to boost political and civil society representation and 
ensure even-handed regulation.  The statement calls upon all the 
current commissioners to resign to help clear the way for this 
reform. 
 
--  The board of directors of the public broadcasting corporation 
should be reformed to bring more professionalism and political 
diversity to the network's management.  The statement calls on all 
current members of the public broadcasting company to resign as 
well. 
 
--  The statement echoes calls for a public inquiry into the events 
of March 1-2, while urging a particular focus on the restrictions on 
media freedom and the legal basis for those restrictions. 
 
--  The statement calls on authorities to end their "persecution of 
media." 
 
¶4.  (U) VERBATIM STATEMENT OF THE YEREVAN PRESS CLUB:  (Note the 
internal paragraph numbering.  Post has not significantly edited to 
improve YPC's English, which is rough in places). 
 
STATEMENT OF YEREVAN PRESS CLUB 
ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND PRESS 
 
[The] political situation, formed in Armenia as a result of the past 
presidential elections, makes the need for specific, decisive steps 
in democratic reform domain all the more urgent. A most important 
condition for the effectiveness of these reforms is the change of 
the information climate in the country, the guarantee of free 
expression and diverse media. 
 
The past year became a period of new ordeals for the Armenian media. 
The attacks of authorities on free media revived almost immediately 
after the end of parliamentary elections 2007. It suffices to 
remember how quick the Government was in attempting to push the 
amendments to the RA Law "On Television and Radio" that were in fact 
aiming to oust the programs of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from 
Armenian air. Afterwards the hunt of the state agencies for "GALA" 
TV Channel of Gyumri was unleashed. 
 
The extremely partial coverage of political processes by most of the 
TV companies ahead of, during presidential elections and the 
post-election period became a direct consequence of the increased 
pressure of the authorities on broadcast media. 
 
The introduction of state of emergency on March 1-20, 2008 in 
Yerevan was accompanied by preemptive censorship that resulted in a 
suspension of a number of leading newspapers, blockage of web-sites, 
 
YEREVAN 00000412  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
known for their critical attitude towards authorities. The one-sided 
reporting, insulting for the opposition, that a number of TV 
companies aired was spreading intolerance and hostility towards 
significant segments of political field and the society. This 
violated the commonly accepted professional and legal norms as well 
as the respective provisions of the RA President's Decree on 
introducing state of emergency. 
 
The global survey on freedom of press of "Freedom House" 
international organization for 2007, released in late April this 
year, once again classed Armenian media as not free. The two-point 
decline of media freedom level in the country was explained by 
"Freedom House" to be due primarily to "increased government 
pressure on the media ahead of parliamentary and presidential 
elections". 
 
The Resolution 1609, adopted on April 17, 2008 by the Parliamentary 
Assembly of the Council of Europe, said: "Even though there is a 
pluralistic and independent print media, the current level of 
control by the authorities of the electronic media and their 
regulatory bodies, as well as the absence of a truly independent and 
pluralist Public Broadcaster, impede the creation of a pluralistic 
media environment and further exacerbate the lack of public trust in 
the political system." 
 
After the adoption of PACE Resolution 1609, the critical remarks of 
a number of other international and local organizations about 
presidential elections and the post-election situation in Armenia, 
quite a lot of time has elapsed, yet there is an impression that the 
authorities of the country did not make appropriate practical 
conclusions. To rectify the situation Yerevan Press Club proposes 
the following priority measures that must be implemented during the 
upcoming one or two months: 
 
¶1. During the parliamentary elections of 2007, the presidential 
elections of 2008 and also in the post-electoral period the National 
Commission on Television and Radio (NCTR), having a status of 
independent regulator and commissioned to "control the activities of 
TV and radio companies" (RA Law "On Television and Radio", Article 
37, Part 1) failed to comply with one of its main functions and 
failed to prevent violations of the RA legislation by most of the 
broadcasters. This problem was reflected in the ruling of the RA 
Constitutional Court of March 8, 2008 and in an extraordinary public 
report of the RA Human Rights Defender, published on April 25, 2008. 
In particular, the Constitutional Court stated that in the course of 
presidential elections of 2008 "the National Commission on 
Television and Radio displayed formalistic approach to the 
compliance with the legal requirements. As a result, the media 
coverage displayed not only partiality, but also, in some cases, 
violations of legal and ethical norms". The preliminary conclusion 
of the International Election Observation Mission at the 
presidential election of Armenia, dated February 20, 2008, notes: 
"The National Commission on Television and Radio did not adequately 
fulfill its mandate to monitor compliance of the media with legal 
provisions." The PACE Resolution 1609 of April 17, 2008 stresses 
directly: "The independence from any political interest of both the 
National Television and Radio Commission and the Public Television 
and Radio Council must be guaranteed. In addition, the composition 
of these bodies should be revised in order to ensure that they are 
truly representative of Armenian society. The recommendations made 
by the Venice Commission and Council of Europe experts in this 
respect must finally be taken into account." In 2006 the report on 
the state of media freedom in Armenia by the OSCE Representative on 
Freedom of the Media recommended that the composition of these 
bodies "should represent the political and social diversity of the 
country, and should include NGOs and professional associations". 
 
Proceeding from what has been said, we insist on the need to 
implement within shortest time possible the legislative amendments 
to ensure the participation of various political forces, civil 
society in the formation of NCTR, and we urge the incumbent members 
of the National Commission to voluntarily resign. Through the 
formation of the new composition of NCTR - in a procedure, 
stipulated by profound legislative amendments - there will be an 
opportunity to fulfill the requirements of Article 83.2 of the RA 
Constitution, as well as the recommendations of the PACE Resolution 
1609 of April 17, 2008. 
 
¶2. During the past year the incompliance [sic] of the activities of 
the Public TV and Radio Company of Armenia with its status and 
mission became even more obvious. Ahead and during presidential 
elections of 2008 the news and current affairs programs of the 
public broadcaster provided one-sided information and did not comply 
with the requirements of the RA Law "On Television and Radio" about 
ensuring political plurality. Moreover, by its activities, the 
Public Television did not only fail to contribute to national 
accord, but also, on the contrary, incited mutual hatred. In the 
same way it continued to work during the post-election period. The 
abovementioned report of the RA Human Rights Defender notes: "A most 
 
YEREVAN 00000412  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
vivid example of such unacceptable coverage (during the state of 
emergency - YPC) was demonstrated by the First Channel of the Public 
Television of Armenia, which not only neglected this provision of 
the Decree, but also once again made a grave infringement of the 
requirement of Article 28 of the RA Law "On Television and Radio": 
'The prevalence of a political stance in the programs broadcast 
(...) on public television (...) is prohibited'." 
 
The whole responsibility for violating the legislation, the 
standards of public broadcasting, the professional norms lies on the 
Council of Public TV and Radio Company. We believe that in the 
Council, as a result of appropriate legislative changes, an equal 
representation of professionals is to be made - upon the nomination 
from both political forces at power and the opposition. This would 
serve to fulfill the recommendation of PACE Resolution 1609 of April 
17, 2008: "(...) Apart from reforming the legislation, the 
authorities must take steps to ensure freedom and pluralism of the 
public television and radio on a day-to-day basis." The first step 
towards the reformation of the public broadcasting of Armenia, in 
our opinion, can be also the voluntary resignation of the Council of 
the Public TV and Radio Company - in full composition. 
 
¶3. A particularly dangerous precedent for the free expression was 
the application of preemptive censorship in Armenia during the 
period of March 1-20, 2008, while it is prohibited by the RA 
legislation and was not introduced by the President's Decree on 
state of emergency or by any other official document. 
 
We demand that an independent investigation of the occurrences of 
March 1, 2008 and subsequent developments, that must be made 
according to PACE Resolution 1609, include also the consideration of 
who, upon whose instructions and on what legal grounds exercised 
preemptive censorship, and those responsible for it be punished by 
the RA legislation. 
 
¶4. We demand to stop the persecution of media for dissidence on any 
pretext. The political struggle cannot be turned into a campaign 
against democratic values; this increases the existing tension and 
endangers the future of the country. 
 
May 19, 2008 
 
END TEXT OF YEREVAN PRESS CLUB STATEMENT 
 
PENNINGTON