The appeal hearing brought by Heritage Party MP Zaruhi Postanjyan, seeking to overturn a district investigator’s decision to drop slander charges against the newspaper “Azatamtutyun”, wrapped up today at the Kentron and Nork-Marash District Court.

MP Postanjyan is appealing the decision of Central District Investigator Ashot Mkhitaryan to drop slander charges against the newspaper. Investigator Mkhitaryan found that the newspaper’s reporters had merely presented their evaluation of MP Postanjyan’s professional activities and that they had no intention of defaming her. »»»»»

Speaking at a press conference today on the state of journalism in Armenia, Hetq Chief Editor Edik Baghdasaryan noted that the “yellow press” existed throughout the world and that the greater diversity of the press, the better.

“There is much talk today about some papers violating ethical norms. But there are such violations in Great Britain, France and the United States, and it has never been a prime concern for those governments,” Mr. Baghdasaryan said. “Those people are basically left alone. If there’s a demand for such papers and they have readers, then such a segment of the press should exist.” »»»»»

A press conference was called today to announce the publication of an extensive report entitled,”Violence, intimidation and legal cases against journalists and the media in Armenia 2010″.

 The report, published by the Investigative Journalists, NGO, with OSCE assistance, highlights acts of violence and legal intimidation, directed at journalist and reporters in Armenia over the past two years. Participating at the report launch were Karel Hofstran , OSCE Deputy Director in Armenia and Liana Sayadyan, Deputy Editor of “Hetq”. »»»»»

The March 2 New York Times featured the following review of Christopher de Bellaigue’s new book “REBEL LAND – Unraveling the Riddle of History in a Turkish Town”.

“A Look at the Snarled Past of Armenians and Turks”  by Dwight Garner

Christopher de Bellaigue’s new book begins with the story of a journalistic blunder, the author’s own. In 2001 Mr. de Bellaigue wrote a long essay for The New York Review of Books about Turkey’s tangled history. It was a topic he thought he knew something about. At the time he was living in Istanbul and working as a foreign correspondent for The Economist. »»»»»

International AIDS Training Fellowships in Vienna Offered

Improve your coverage of HIV/AIDS through the National Press Foundation’s highly rated J2J HIV/AIDS global media training program. Set for July 14-17, 2010 in Vienna, the training will include sessions from top experts on the economics, the science and the social issues, and will be tailored to the agenda of the 2010 International AIDS Conference, July 18-23. »»»»»

Here’s the link to the CBS 60 Minutes segment entitled “Battle Over History” that aired on February 28, 2010.

Excerpt: The Armenians call it their holocaust – the 1915 forced deportation and massacre of more than a million Armenians by the Turks. But the Turks and our own government have refused to call it genocide.

“Hetq” is proud to announce a new addition to its online edition – Banali (Key).

It’s a new blog featuring the writings of young reporters from Armenia’s various regions on the issue of human rights and civic democracy. In today’s issue, you can read about issues facing residents in Kapan, the regional capital of Syunik

Armenia’s Standings in the Winter Olympics Thus Far

Last night I was watching highlights of the Olympic Games on public television. All but three Giant Slalom skiers finished except for a Turk, a guy from South Africa who seemed to have stepped out of the gate at the wrong time, and the Armenian, Arsen Nersisyan (today’s standings show that several skiers were determined to have not finished after the fact).

Is Armenia’s Economic Crisis Really Over?

I just read an interesting report on RFE/RL about what is being pawned off as the end of an “economic crisis” in Armenia. I guess that depends on who you ask and where in Armenia you live.

(Footprints: A blog expressing opinions about social, political and environmental issues concerning Armenia.)

Photo-journalist Gagik Shamshyan was attacked and beaten earlier today outside the RoA Chief Prosecutor’s Office. Mr. Shamshyan had gone to cover a session of the Chief Prosecutor’s staff and was photographing officials as they entered the building when he was attacked by a young man.

At a press conference held after the session, Mr. Shamshyan used the opportunity to relate what had happened to him to Chief Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepyan. Mr. Shamshyan said his attacker entered the building and asked Prosecutor Hovsepyan if he could file criminal charges against the culprit. The Chief Prosecutor replied, “I demand that you put it all down in writing and that you provide us with the photos and tape recording so that we can investigate the matter.”

The Avan and Nor-Nork District Court yesterday rejected the suit filed by Radio Hye demanding that MP Stepan Safaryan issue a public retraction of his assertion that the station broadcast a program at the behest of President Sargsyan or his staff.

 The program, “Armenian Reflections”, had dealt with the Karabakh conflict settlement issue and devolved into a series of accusations from both sides of the debate in the pages of the press.

At a press conference held today, Anahit Sargsyan, head of the Armenian parliamentary monitoring mission, lambasted Armenian TV stations for not covering the parliamentary elections recently held in District 10.

“TV stations hade essentially boycotted the elections and offered no coverage of post-election developments. They also don’t cover on-going monitoring reports as witnessed by their absence here today,” noted Mrs. Sargsyan. »»»»»

Mesrop Harutyunyan, while speaking about pending legislative reforms regarding news outlets in Armenia, sarcastically stated that the upcoming elections in 2012 would take place ‘quite normally’ since there won’t be any media left to monitor the voting.

“If the pending changes to the Armenian Civil Code are adopted, then we’ll have ‘first-rate’ elections in 2012 and there won’t be any violations because there’ll be no news outlets to register such violations…just like Armenia’s TV stations today don’t cover election fraud. I ask you, did anyone see anything on TV regarding the violations that took place in the District 10 parliamentary by-election?” he asked rhetorically. »»»»»

The international financial crisis that started more than a year ago didn’t bypass Armenia. During 2009, the economy of the RoA registered a 15% drop in GDP. Naturally, the crisis also impacted on Armenian news outlets, especially the print media. But not all papers suffered as a result. Some were even positively affected by the crisis. »»»»»

At around 10:30 am at the 10/19 polling station located on Alaverdyan Street, news photographer Gagik Shamshyan took some shots of Ara Simonyan’s proxy walking arm-in-arm with voters to the ballot box. All this took place at the directive of local election committee president Gagik Baghdasaryan and was witnessed by employees of the United States Embassy who had arrived at the polling station to observe the balloting procedure.

Seeing that the irregular proceedings were being photographed, Gagik Baghdasaryan ordered a bunch of “goons” in civilian dress to take care of the prying news reporter. Shamshyan was set upon by the unidentified thugs. They proceeded to beat and threaten him, and attempted to snatch his camera away. »»»»»

Dear Readers,

For the past ten years “Hetq” has been providing investigative news reportage from Armenia and we have garnered a loyal host of readers from within the country and in far-flung countries worldwide.

I can only assume from your letters and comments that you trust “Hetq” as an invaluable source of news and analysis. As of September, we have been publishing the “Hetq” weekly newspaper. Its sole aim is to reach those who have no access to the internet in Armenia. This segment of the population reaches a staggering 80%. »»»»»