Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has invited representatives of the mass media to a reception on the occasion of the upcoming New Year and Holy Christmas, the Prime Minister’s staff announced.
The Prime Minister congratulated the media representatives on the occasion of the upcoming holidays, wishing them health, happiness and success.
“After the non-violent, velvet, popular revolution of 2018, I have had the opportunity to declare on several occasions that in the Republic of Armenia the press is freer after the revolution than ever before. Of course, there have since been incidents when that declaration and assertion have been called into question. And since then, an attempt has been introduced on the initiative of Vladimir Karapetyan: when we return from foreign visits, on the way back we invariably invite the journalists accompanying the delegation, and I always begin that conversation with a question — I am interested in whether the freedom of journalists and the media in the Republic of Armenia is in any way restricted. I am glad to note that I have not yet received any information contradicting my initial declaration,” he said, while at the same time noting that, of course, there are certain problems.
“The question is raised very often that in social networks, so to speak, the media and journalists become victims of hate speech, which, of course, is a serious problem. But I want to say that in this regard the government and I personally find ourselves in exactly the same situation as the media. And, of course, I agree and I am ready and I invite us to deal with this issue jointly,” he observed.
The Prime Minister also touched upon the attacks taking place against the media or the incidents hindering the activity of the media: “Unfortunately, such incidents have also been recorded, an investigation and inquiry are underway, and I am convinced that all the incidents will be properly examined. I can say only one thing — opinions are voiced that perhaps such attacks or such phenomena are directed, moreover, organised by the authorities. I can say that such a thing simply cannot be, and any such manifestation is excluded in the Republic of Armenia. It simply cannot be by nature, let us note that. As for the relations between the media and the government — frankly speaking, the media create numerous problems for the government, but in the final result, including — forgive me for saying — in the form of fake news, I am very pleased with that process. Why? Because sometimes those news items create an opportunity for representatives of the government, representatives of the authorities, to speak about issues which in ordinary circumstances there would not even be an occasion to speak about.”
Nikol Pashinyan emphasised that, with all his known and unknown shortcomings and complexities, he considers very important the activity that the media are carrying out today in the Republic of Armenia.
“Those criticisms help us to be more polished, more precise, more effective. By the results of this one and a half years, I can say that I personally also feel that positive influence in my own activity, and I want to thank you for that activity. But I also do not want the impression to be created that I think everything should be left just as it is, because when we value the transparency of the authorities, and the factor and instrument ensuring that transparency is the mass media, the question arises — is it not logical that the public should expect the same kind of transparency from the mass media?
This, I think, is as legitimate an expectation as the expectation of transparency from the government, the authorities, and high-ranking officials. I also invite the media on this issue to cooperate and to seek and find solutions,” he observed, then undertaking that in 2020 there will be much better conditions for the activity of the media in the Republic of Armenia, and that in 2020 the media in the Republic of Armenia will be freer than ever, and even freer than in 2019 and 2018.
