Of course, it is really pleasant that according to the data of the International Organization of Reporters Without Borders, Armenia has progressed by 19 points and now it is situated in the 61st position of the Index of Freedom.
We may be proud of these data when having outgoing visits and meetings, but we should be honest with ourselves too. Yesterday, Petros Ghazaryan hosted Shushan Doydoyan, President of the “Freedom of Information Center of Armenia”. We agree with Mrs. Doydoyan that we must do nothing but fight against fake news, but the fight should be within the Armenian legislation and should not violate the right of free speech.
The expert’s speech contained some disturbing points as well. Here is where we have to be honest with ourselves. In 2018, the police raided the editorial offices of Yerevan.Today.am and Aysor.am, a number of bloggers were questioned. Besides, the property of Yerevantoday.am was confiscated, so, the question is whether this was considered when making the index of freedom?
Mrs. Doydoyan says that the authorities and departments should be more active and not wait to disseminate official messages which will perhaps prevent false information. A question arises whether authorities do not spread false accusations: according to media reports, in most cases the authorities themselves contradict the facts, distract the attention of the public from any urgent problem at that exact moment.
It is also pleasing that the expert speaks of journalistic ethics and urges not to admit the information that does not comply with ethical standards. Who will determine the ethics and how it will be measured, is this or that media outlet in accordance with the rules or not?
P.S. We urge Mrs. Doydoyan not to speak of any public dispraise of any media outlet as even without it, hate speech increased in Armenia over the last year.
