A senior official from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitoring press freedom has heaped praise on Armenia’s “diverse and vibrant” media and civil society during a visit to Yerevan.
In a weekend interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am), Harlem Desir, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, also expressed concern at violent attacks on Armenian journalists and urged the authorities to hold their perpetrators accountable.
“We think that it’s very important to avoid any impunity regarding attacks against journalists,” he said. “Any state of impunity will just be an incitation towards more violence against journalists.”
Desir singled out the July 2016 dispersal by riot police of an opposition demonstration in Yerevan, which left over two dozen reporters and cameramen, among them three RFE/RL correspondents, injured. Virtually all of them were assaulted by plainclothes men.
Human rights activists believe that the attackers were police officers or government loyalists. No policemen have been prosecuted in connection with the violence.
Desir said he will convey his concerns to senior officials in Yerevan. He was due to meet with Justice Minister Davit Harutiunian and the chief of the Armenian police, Vladimir Gasparian.
Despite these concerns, Desir seemed encouraged by the Armenian media landscape. “I think Armenia is a country where there is a strong commitment to freedom of expression and freedom of the media,” he said. “There is a very diverse and vibrant civil society and media, especially online media.”
Asked about the U.S. watchdog Freedom House’s continuing characterization of the Armenian media as “not free,” Desir said: “We are always attentive to classifications and ratings by Freedom House and other NGOs. But we are not doing our ratings. We are considering that everywhere there is need for progress. Freedom of the media is a strong pillar of democratic society.”
“There have been tremendous changes in Armenia in the past years. The public service in Armenia is transforming because of digitalization,” added the former French government minister.
Freedom House and other critics point to a continuing strong government influence on the news coverage of Armenia’s Public Television and leading private broadcasters.
Desir said he heard similar complaints from civil society figures and journalists in Yerevan. “They think that public TV is not independent,” he said, adding that there is also an “issue of diversity” among private TV channels.
Desir, who took over as the OSCE’s top press freedom official in July, insisted that the Armenian authorities are “aware of the need” to make the public broadcaster more independent and keep up its ongoing “transformation which began several years ago.”