Media Advocate urges to refrain from double standards in media field

“Media Advocate” Initiative was informed that by Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan’s N 86-A decision, dated March 1, 2019, a number of media and press clubs were considered as charitable organizations and were exempted from taxation.Media Advocate urges to refrain from double standards in media field
Hereby, charitable organizations are as follows:
– Journalists’ Club “Asparez” NGO
– Public Journalism Club NGO
– Factor Information Center NGO
– Union of Informed Citizens Consulting NGO, one of the programs of which is FIP.am Fact-Investigation Platform.
“Media Advocate” Initiative considers such decision and phenomenon unacceptable. In fact, some mass media outlets have been privileged and exempted from taxation. This means that unequal conditions are provided for media outlets.
“Media Advocate” Initiative states that Decision N 86-A contains corruption risks and is an attempt to control this or the other media outlet. We urge to refrain from applying double standards in media field and not give any advantages to any media outlet.
It should be reminded that it is the Government’s obligation to create equal conditions for all media, rather than to create more favorable conditions for this or that media through non-competitive and illegal conditions. Furthermore, ensuring the freedom of speech is the constitutional obligation of the Government.