A report on freedom of the press and speech in Armenia during 2010 and 2011 supported by the OSCE Office was presented in Yerevan on February 20.
The report prepared by Investigative Journalists NGO is the result of two years of monitoring, which revealed that the main obstacles hindering media development in Armenia include financial pressures brought to bear on media outlets via defamation and insult suits in courts, OSCE website reports.
“This publication is a useful reference on how the judiciary in Armenia handles cases involving the media,” said Oliver McCoy, Democratization Program Officer of the OSCE Office in Yerevan. “Most importantly, the report provides a sound basis for assessing the challenges to freedom of the press and speech in Armenia, and working out ways to improve the situation.”
“We came to the conclusion that although decriminalization of libel and slander in 2010 was a positive legislative development, it had a negative impact on the media, because of high damage awards they had to pay under defamation-related civil suits,” said Liana Sayadyan, Vice-President of the Investigative Journalists and editor of the publication.
“Our monitoring of the past four years also indicates that physical violence follows a regular pattern, increasing during pre-election periods and decreasing in non-election years,” she said.
