According to Totalfootball.am, on April 28, at its regular meeting, the Disciplinary Committee of Football Federation of Armenia adopted a decision on the case of the chief trainer of “Ararat” football team Arkady Andreasyan, who beat 19-year-old photojournalist Ashot Arushanyan from Totalfootball.am last week, at Hrazdan Stadium.

According to the decision Andreasyan has been disqualified from 10 games for his hooligan behavior, and “Ararat” club fined 250,000 drams (about $670).

“Ararat” will be obliged to pay also 150,000 drams ($400) for the club’s security employer Arthur Arzoumanian’s behavior for “helping” Andreasyan to beat the photojournalist.

According to the press secretary of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA), the Disciplinary Committee has also suggested the FFA Executive Committee to recognize the chief trainer of “Ararat” football team Arkady Andreasyan as an undesired person in football. Several years ago Andreasyan was in a similar status, but later the Federation changed its decision.

Source: Totalfootball.am

Translated by JNews.am

Read More »A Reverse Blow: Legendary Footballer Expected to Become an Undesired Person in Football

According to Totalfootball.am, on April 23, during the half-time of a football match of the Armenian Premier League “Ararat” – “Pyunik” (1:4 (0:2)) photojournalist Ashot Arushanyan was beaten by the coach of FC Ararat Arkady Andreasyan and his mates after he tried to shoot the coach. Andreasyan was the first to hit the journalist, and then he was beaten in the tunnel of the “Hrazdan” stadium.

The 19-year-old photojournalist was taken to hospital but released the next morning. According to Totalfootball.am, Andreasyan stayed at the police station till late midnight.

Fans of FC Ararat demand the coach’s and at the same time the club’s vice-president’s resignation because of the poor results in the championship and violation of the club’s reputation.

Source: Totalfootball.am

Translated by JNews.am

Read More »Football kick: Football Legend – Coach Beats Journalist

Armenian astrophysicists are now practicing a new sphere – the science PR. The organizer is the Armenian Astronomical Community and the president of the organization Areg Miqaelyan.

Already 86 journalists and science workers have entered the new Facebook group “Science Journalists of Armenia” where they discuss topics and exchange information. 

According to Areg Miqaelyan, after the Facebook page was created, the number of publications and programs on science has obviously increased. And on April 16, a seminar on the issues of science journalism was organized at the Byurakan observatory for more than 30 members of the group where the journalists were introduced to the history of the observatory, the achivements of modern astronomy, international cooperation in this field, programs and problems of the observatory. The presentations were made by Areg Miqaelyan and the head of the observatory Hayk Harutyunyan.

The world has changed, and if in Soviet times scientists made explorings by orders from above and didn’t publish their works, today a lot depends on the presentation of the sceintist’s material.

Read More »Close To Space: Astrophysicists to Act Publicly

By the decision of UNESCO, April 23 is the international day of book and copyright. For already 3 years the Armenian Misitry of Culture joined this holiday, and regularly organizes events aiming at spreading the book and increasing awareness concerning the copyright. This year this chain of events started on April 21 and will end on April 26.

The influence of these events on the society is not yet examined, but according to some experts, the violation of copyright in Armenia today is more than 90%.

Moreover, these violations take place almost in every field. There’s no single sphere speaking of which the term “piracy” can be omitted. Perhaps, the only “clean” places are theaters where in the case of staging a modern performance all the members of the staff are getting paid – the scriptwriter, the director, the composer, the operator, the producer (after 70 years from the author’s death the law on copyright loses it’s force).

If classical branches of art are more or less “fair”, then plagiarism in the music and television is a usual thing. On one hand it is expressed by the production of false CDs which secures great profit for the law violators, on the other hand, by the complicity of proving the copyright.

Read More »Chain of Crimes: How to Stop Copyright Violations?

Should the information be free or the author must vigilantly control the use of his creation? This problem became particularly acute with the development of the Internet, where information is shared with lightning speed, and the author is often “lost” on the road.

In 2001, the organization Creative Commons was created to reform the copyright under the existing law in order to expand the lawful use of works.

The organization has developed a license, thanks to which authors are free to choose what part of their rights they are willing to share.

Creative Commons or CC license afforded authors an opportunity to allow use their works with attribution (enable /disable the use for commercial purposes, enable/disable modification of the source material, etc.).

So an alternative, ‘CC some rights reserved’ appeared for the ‘© All rights reserved’ license. Between 2002 and 2009, CC license was given to 350 million works.

Creative Commons is a middle ground between the rigid copyright and the ideology of copyleft, implying that the information should be fully transferred to public use.

Copyleft spread among the creators of the software by Richard Stallman, and his supporters say the idea of ​​Creative Commons is not enough liberal.

Read More »Creative Commons: A Free and Alternative Method of Protecting Copyright on the Internet

While advertising CDs or DVDs on TV, radio or through other medium there is always an annex followed, “buy only licensed discs with holographic sign”.

This certifies on that the market is full of non-licensed or as said of “pirate” products, where there is no word on copyright at all.

Today one may find arbitrary disks, both of local and foreign production, in each store and subway. Of course, it is about the non-licensed versions, moreover, at a few times lower price than original ones, 700-1000 AMD (about $2-3). Their authors, the “pirates”, justify their activity by telling that the non-original version of the product is more accessed for the citizens , and they are less concerned about the author’s copyright.   

Since March 1, 2011 the RA law on ‘Mandatory labeling of audiovisual magnetic carriers through control signs (stamp labels)’ has come into force. In case of the law’s full application the “pirate” cobweb will vanish, licensed discs with holographic signs will only be sold in stores, and authorship will be protected.

Meanwhile, in Yerevan, disk sellers of a few stores and tables located adjacent to subways unanimously insist that the new law will monopolize this business.

Read More »Genuine Fraud: Copyright Violated, But “It Is Our Job”

Azerbaijan has deported three Swedish journalists detained during the latest attempt by the opposition to hold a protest rally, drawing condemnation from an international press freedom group, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reports.

My Rohwedder Street, Charlie Laprevote, and Charlotta Wijkström from the Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Television had traveled to Baku to film a documentary on human rights.

They were detained on April 17 as police thwarted an attempt by the opposition to hold an antigovernment protest at a downtown park.

Orkhan Mansurzadeh from the Interior Ministry told RFE/RL that the journalists had not been accredited at the Foreign Ministry and were deported on April 18 in line with the law.

But Street told RFE/RL that she and her colleagues had not concealed their profession when they applied for visas. She added that officials at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Sweden told them their documents would be sent to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged the Azerbaijani authorities to stop obstructing the international press.

Read More »Azerbaijan Incurs Criticism By Deporting Swedish Journalists

Protesters wearing masks bearing the face of jailed journalist Eynulla Fatullayev will stage a protest outside the Azerbaijani Embassy on Wednesday 20 April 2011. The demonstration, by five London-based human rights organisations, marks the fourth anniversary of Azerbaijani journalist Fatullayev’s wrongful imprisonment. 

The “Fifty Fatullayevs” will face the Embassy as representatives hand in a letter calling on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately and unconditionally release and compensate Fatullayev, who remains wrongfully imprisoned following his conviction in July 2010 on a charge of drugs possession. This latest charge is widely believed to have been fabricated in order to keep Fatullayev in prison despite a European Court of Human Rights judgment in April 2010 relating to charges from 2007 – only the second judgment of its kind – ordering his immediate release.

Source: Article19.org

Read More »“Fifty Fatullayevs” Outside London Embassy Demand Release Of Jailed Journalist

To avoid Internet censorship, Iran plans to create it’s own “muslim” Internet. “This will help to fight against western influence, and it will help the Persian language gain international language status,” says the Iran Trade Ministry representative.

According to Wired UK, all similar experiments, though, have failed, as users prefer free Internet.

Source: PCNews.am

Read More »Iran Wants to Create Own Internet

The number of entertainment magazines in Armenia is growing, while editors of the dailies complaining from the low level of reading. According to the RA Ministry of Justice over the last 3 years 52 new entertainment newspapers and magazines were issued in Armenia. And this is only 4 percent of the total number of 1,159 state registered print media, 759 out of which are newspapers and 364 magazines.

The market of glamorous magazines in Armenia has been developing since 2004. Just then magazines like “Afisha”, “Elite Life”, “Yerevan” started to be published.

Later, their number will increase dramatically and they will promote mainly luxury lifestyle – expensive cars, clothing and European brands, and importantly, all for an exclusive, special reader.

Meanwhile, because of a small market, which in practice is limited to pan-Armenian capital, only a small number of these magazines succeed in achieving a stable position. According to Hasmik Shamtsyan, the editor-in-chief of the “Design Delux”, the magazine content is not restricted to the topics dictated by its name. “We try to gather a big auditorium of readers both among the specialists and non-specialists in the field of design. That is why we write not only about architecture and design but also about cultural events,” says Shamtsyan.

Read More »Мagazines Flourishing On Grey Background of Newspapers in Armenia