Ashot Melikyan joins the Prime Minister’s accusations and does not name those guilty

Head of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, Ashot Melikyan shares Prime Minister’s statement, according to which media used to take money from the authorities before.

At the online press conference organized by “Media Center”, Melikyan, unfortunately, did not agree only with the announced numbers. It should be reminded that the Prime Minister said that 99% of the media and 70% of journalists received money from the authorities.

In his speech, Melikyan, in particularly, noted ․ “Many media outlets received funding from various state structures during the previous government: they were both of a formal nature, based on certain contracts, and examples of a direct funding. The criteria based on which the state agency financed the certain media, remain unknown. There have been reports that even the Ministry of Diaspora and the Ministry of Culture as well as the Yerevan Municipality have provided such funding. It all came became known after the revolution.”

In fact, the head of this organization, which is called to protect freedom of speech and the rights of journalists, with such comments deepens intolerance towards the media and diminishes the role of the media. The question arises; why the chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression did not raise this problem before. If such serious allegations are made, it is necessary to present facts and speak nominally.

Earlier, “Media Advocate” initiative urged the Prime Minister to present the names of the media outlets that took bribes during the previous government and carried out orders. Our demand remained unanswered, we address the same question to Ashot Melikyan.