NUMBER OF PRESS FOES INCREASES
Support A1+!In 2005 the press foe is the state system. This is the resolution of the National Press Club announces at the ceremony of conferring the title of the foe of press. The action was started in 2002, when Robert Kocharyan was bestowed with the title for launching struggle against freedom of speech.
In 2003 the title was conferred to NA deputy Hranush Hakobyan for spreading misinformation (on the allegedly positive estimation of the Venice Commission) before the vote on the law “On Mass Media”
The title is conferred with 50%+1 vote. This year no one overcame this barrier, however Assistant to Armenian President Armen Gevorkyan was an obvious leader for his attempts to control e-media. Armen Gevorkyan was followed by governor of Syunik Suren Khachatryan for consistent struggle against fredom of speech, Gagik Tsaturyan for stirring skinheads against the free speech and the «three-head» coalition.
To note, those, who received the title earlier are not deprived of it. “We just did not want to include the names that have already been mentioned before”, representatives of the NPC say. We consider that the press foes are Robert Kocharyan, Grigor Amalyan and deputy chief of the RA Police Hovhannes Varyan”, NPC member Vardan Vardanyan says.
The NPC statement says in part, “The authorities carry on consistent struggle against freedom of speech. It refers to the media not controlled by them.”
