Dangerous Zone? Cases of Self-Censorship in Vanadzor
The border of journalist’s independence is limited there where employer’s interests start. The journalist can’t do more than dictated by the rules of the game. “Our freedom of speech is not unlimited, of course, while writing on political issues. But we are completely free when covering cultural topics,” says a leading journalist of “Lori” TV Lusine Sargsyan.
Journalists say it’s being more difficult to defense their own rights in small towns. In 10 years of its activity Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office, dealing with human rights issues, has rarely received claims on rights violations of freedom of speech by Vanadzor journalists. Legal adviser Varduhi Harutyunyan of the organization considers one of the reasons to be journalists’ dependence on the authorities. Simply they know how to cover each topic.
“This is self-censorship. In this case they don’t need to be told what and how to do… This is “the best” way both to them and to their organizations to avoid problems,” says Harutyunyan. Lawyer Karen Tumanyan considers that the situation of freedom of speech and media in the republic is unsatisfactory, though according to him journalists of the local media organizations (those in provinces of Armenia) are more undefended.
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