By Ruzanna Stepanian
Three Yerevan-based correspondents for RFE/RL were awarded on Friday by a leading Armenian media watchdog for displaying “professional responsibility and effective team work” in their coverage of this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. The reporters -- Ruzanna Khachatrian, Karine Kalantarian and Hrach Melkumian -- were chosen for the special Yerevan Press Club (YPC) award by a panel of well-known jounalists and editors. One of them, the chairman of a journalist association in Gyumri, Levon Barseghian, praised the RFE/RL Armenian Service’s coverage of political developments and the 2003 elections in particular.
“If someone in Gyumri wants to get objective and truthful information on say opposition demonstrations they have to listen to Radio Liberty broadcasts,” Barseghian said after presenting the three journalists with special YPC certificates.
The YPC’s award-giving scheme was launched in 1998 with the aim of encouraging and acknowledging objective and impartial news reporting in Armenia. This year’s winners, among them several other media outlets and reporters, were judged by their coverage of the dramatic electoral races.