“Media Advocate” urges to put an end to all methods of spreading hatred and violence

“Media Advocate” Initiative is loyal to its mission, which is to support the freedom of speech and condemn violence. Recently the campaign initiated in the country against freedom of speech, as well as hate speech and violence reached their top.

During last 2 years, the society was split when a policy was adopted to divide it into blacks and whites․ All this would sooner or later have its consequences.

The campaign against the 5th Channel, which was accompanied by hate speech and the demand to suspend the activity of the TV station, was an obvious campaign against freedom of speech and an obvious obstacle to the free operation of the media, which was not somehow addressed by the authorities.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regularly accuses the media of this or that misdemeanor. In addition, accusing 99% of the media of taking bribes and carrying out orders.

The bill criminalizing hate speech was discussed in the National Assembly, it was welcomed by the majority of the deputies, and in the end, the bill was adopted. Days later, the NA deputies insulted each other, passing all the permissible limits, and in fact, they went against the law they were actually adopting. Thus, the whole philosophy of the law was vanished, because if the proponents of the law do not keep the law, if the legislators are against their own initiatives, what should they demand from the society?

Not long after the incident in the National Assembly, a chain of events resembling a war film took place in Gavar: shots, vendetta moves and all that, according to the press, in front of the Chief of Police and the policemen. This was a clear proof of the atmosphere of generated hatred. Afterwards, the official statement again included a call addressing media, and that 12 hours after the incident, when no official source denied what was written by the news outlets, and no high-ranking policeman or official spoke about the incident. In fact, no official statement condemning the incident, was made. After all, not every day in Armenia people kill each other by firing, 500 people do not attack medical institutions. This case deserved a strict assessment and special control in order to alleviate the atmosphere of hatred and violence, but it was not done. Instead, they condemned the free speech and blamed the media.

Eventually, the incident between NA deputy, vice-speaker Alen Simonyan and head of the “Adequate” Congregation Arthur Danielyan was accompanied by bilateral accusations, the police, in its turn, did not allow Danielyan to receive medical assistance.

“Media Advocate” initiative considers all the above-mentioned cases unacceptable and urges to put an end to all methods of spreading hatred and violence; “plastering on the walls” and “laying down on the asphalt”, splitting the society into blacks and whites, sharing mutual insults.