WHO SHOULD FORM NCTR?
Support A1+!April 2, 2002 the «independent» Commission on TV and Radio deprived independent A1+ TV Company of air. Taking into account the fact that all 9 members of the commission were appointed by the President the event could not be rated as unexpected. How should the body regulating the activities of broadcasting media be formed? We addressed this question to 100 Yerevan residents.
15% of the respondents consider that the members of the NCTR should be appointed by the President. 44% voiced opinion that NCTR members should be appointed by the National Assembly. 32% stated that the commission should be appointed by the President and the National Assembly. 9% found it hard to answer.
It should be also noted that all the survey participants were unanimous in the opinion that the formation of this regulating body should be fixed in the Constitution.
The correspondent item of the draft constitution says: «To secure freedom, independence and variety of the broadcasting mass media an independent body appointed by the President and the National Assembly for a term of 6 years should be formed. The national assembly elects the members of the above mentioned body with the majority of votes.»
However after the referendum on the constitutional amendments the NCTR headed by Grigor Amalyan will not be dissolved, since Article 83.2 of the draft says, «Members of the independent body preserve their posts until the term provided by the law expires. Afterwards the President and the National Assembly in turns appoint the commission members.»
To note, NCTR Chairman Grigor Amalya refrained from expressing his opinion on the issue. He refused to give interview.
Karine Asatryan
