Do they defend MPs against journalists?
The new order of journalists' accreditation in the Armenian Parliament has been put into effect since August 24.
Three days ago Speaker of the National Assembly Hovik Abrahamyan passed the new order which immediately aroused deep resonance among journalists as it somehow limits journalists' rights.
Under the new order, an accredited journalist cannot have access to the National Assembly at any moment. An accredited newspaper must have at least 1500 readers and an Internet website 800 visitors.
"Not all newspapers can be accredited," said the spokesperson of the National Assembly, Nairi Petrosyan.
They aim to apply various tools to know the circulation of Internet media. For instance, they will use the information of Google Analytics.
Nairi Petrosyan says that the new order stems from the new law on mass media, adopted on February 8, 2004.
Up to nowadays, the National Assembly has been guided by the accreditation order of 1999.
The NA spokesman and Arpine Hovhannisyan, Advisor to the NA Speaker on legal affairs, tried their best to convince the discontent journalists of the need for the new order and its advantages.
Under the new order "an accredited journalist can step into the National Assembly during NA sittings, briefings, parliamentary hearings, press conferences and other events preliminary agreed upon with the Information Department."
Nairi Petrosyan says there is not restriction in this point as "a journalist shouldn't spend all his/her time in the National Assembly. This is common in all European countries".
Nairi Petrosyan says a journalist can meet an MP only after arranging a meeting with him.
