MASS MEDIA BILL STRONGLY OBJECTED BY NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
Support A1+!On Wednesday, Chair of National Press Club Narine Mkrtchyan, speaking at a news conference, said the club intended to demand Justice Deputy Minister Ashot Abovyan’s and the head of parliamentary commission on culture Hranush Hakobyan’s resignation accusing the above-mentioned officials of deceiving the parliament and the community by saying influential international organizations have given approval to Mass Media Bill proposed by the government.
Article 19 British organization voiced its discontent with at least 15 articles of the bill, Narine Mkrtchyan said.
In her words, German Technical Cooperation Association pointed at completely incomprehensible articles saying languages in articles 8 and 10, which specify media outlets’ obligations and contain warnings against speech freedom abuse, are obscurely-worded.
Press Club Chair also said the bill has been submitted neither to the Council of Europe nor the OSCE Yerevan office for consideration.
Narine Darbinyan thinks the bill was passed in a hurry amid some cabinet members’ fear that upset might break out just like it was Georgia.
She says National Assembly leadership along with those media outlets, such as Internews, Journalists’ Union and Yerevan Press Club, backing the government’s project must bear full responsibility for passing the bill.
