The right to ask questions and receive answers from the Prime Minister is being restricted

According to the information spread by the Department for Information and Public Relations of the Prime Minister of Armenia: “Starting from May 26, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will regularly hold a briefing after the sittings of the Commandant’s Office, this time with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister, Commandant Tigran Avinyan and Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan. The briefing will exclusively cover the coronavirus topic, the steps taken by the Commandant’s Office to prevent it, the re-equipment of the healthcare system and other issues related to this topic. The briefing will be held online. During each session, the Prime Minister and the other participants will answer two questions. Before each briefing, the Prime Minister’s press service will contact two media outlets in order to receive the questions of their interest, which will, accordingly be raised during the live broadcast”.

In fact, the right to ask questions and receive answers from the Prime Minister is being restricted. One can not find details in announcement on how the media will be selected, questions of which news outlets will be answered by the Prime Minister.

As a result of such manifestations, essential issues may be simply missed.

“Media Advocate” initiative states that it will follow the briefings and urges the media outlets to contact the initiative in case of violation of their rights.