At the beginning of the year, after several attempts of attack within the framework of the war declared by the authorities against media, the authorities now use the guerrilla warfare tactics. Representatives of the authorities, their family members, and their analysts attack against media from different parts of the “black” and “white” media fronts created by them, again raising the same topics on media financing, “false news”, links with the former authorities.
We are obliged to remind that such kind of issues are regulated by the current Legislation of the Republic of Armenia and if the “concerned” authorities see problems, they can apply to the law enforcement bodies.
Moreover, authorities, their relatives and linked bodies consider as a duty not only to teach journalists about “right” journalism, but also to divide media into the “right” and “wrong”; the media that needs to be read in order to get “true” information, and the media which should not be read. By doing so, the “guerrilla” not only discredits the undesired media, but also harms its business reputation, which is simply an obstacle for the media.
We have to notice and remind that media has always performed and continues to perform its function before, after and during the revolution. It is another question that today’s authorities think they do not need the media and they discredit it and try to weaken its role by paving the way for more simple but irresponsible means of communications, such as statuses and lives on social networks.
Unfortunately, seeing the behavior of today’s authorities, serious doubts arise that the raising of such issues is not the result of a concern of freedom of expression, but an attempt to solve the press problems through a revolutionary way, crowd demand, circumventing the law and the legal mechanisms.
Aghasi Yenokyan
Head of the “Media Advocate” initiative
