Administrative proceedings have been initiated against Pastinfo.am: the head of the news outlet describes it as nonsense

“Media Advocate” initiative was informed that the police had initiated proceedings against the Pastinfo news agency in relation with the following article published on March 11: “100 employees should be isolated in Martuni hospital, which means nothing but closing the hospital: Infoport.” In a conversation with us, the head of the news agency Sona Truzyan said that they acted in accordance with the law on mass media. “We have posted the Infoport publication from its Telegram channel, with its source link. There is a clear statement in the decision regarding the state of emergency that if information is posted which differs from the press release provided by the Commandant’s Office, the press is obliged to publish the response, refutation or clarification provided by the Commandant’s Office. In that very case, the Commandant’s Office did not send us any response, neither refutation nor clarification. We called the Martuni Medical Center, talked to the director and prepared a publication with a reference to the director and the head of the community. It may not be defined as an administrative misconduct, it’s nonsense, we kept the procedure in accordance with law on mass media and presented the news comprehensively. “Even today, following the decision of prolonging the emergency state, the restrictions on media have already been lifted, initiating such an administrative proceeding is the most nonsensical thing that could happen.”

“Media Advocate” initiative condemns this step against the media, urges the suspension of the administrative proceedings and demands substantiation explaining why such kind of decision was made.