Lawyer Aram Orbelyan appealed to the Armenia’s Media Ethics Observer against the Public Television of Armenia for the report titled as “The Effects of Kocharyan’s Advocate’s Entry to the CC” (author: G. Tosunyan), aired on January 30, 2010 during the main issue of “Lurer”. According to the author of the complaint, several provisions of the “Code of Ethics of Armenian Media and Journalists” were violated in the report. In particular, before the publication, they neither verified the authenticity of the information received from the source, nor did they ensure the impartiality through the balanced presentation of the material.
The conclusion of the observer body contains 6 points, in five of them no violation of ethical principles was registered, the observer body found a problem with point 6. The title of the report, “The Consequences of Kocharyan’s Advocate’s Entry to the Constitutional Court,” and the opening speech of the “Lurer” host do not follow from the content of the main article. Moreover, they have a guiding nature, which gives the whole material a certain manipulative nature. The report does not cite any facts or comments on the stated consequences mentioned in the opening speech. In this regard, Article 1.5 of the Code of Ethics of Armenian Media and Journalists is violated, which could harm the lawyer’s professional and personal reputation.”
We asked Aram Orbelyan’s representative, lawyer Narine Beglaryan, to clarify the conclusion of the Armenian Media Ethics Observer. Has the conclusion been satisfying? What will be the next step? “We must state that the report had a problem. The observer body, in its turn, also stated that the title of the report broadcast during the news issue of the Public Television was problematic, it did not correspond to the content, it was guided, manipulative, in fact, the balance of the report was violated. They found a problem regarding one parameter. Our expectations were higher, as it is clear, we were applying for more, but it is not that no violation was registered. The commission implemented its work, presented its opinion. Our next step is to continue the process in court. Friday is the first court hearing regarding this case.”
It should be noted that the Public Television has published the conclusion of the Armenia’s Media Ethics Observer on its website. Moreover, during the news issue, they informed about the conclusion, noting that they cooperated with the monitoring body, answered the questions, presented their views regarding the case.
