JNews.am had an exclusive interview with lawyer Sarkis Darbinyan, an Armenian internet activist living in Moscow, member of Trunov, Ayvar and Partners Bar Council, and an active public figure at… Read More »Net Lawyer from Russia: “Censorship Actually has Returned to the Country”
The investigative journalism plays a crucial role in the journalistic field. The information technologies create great facilities for the development of this aspect of journalism. Particularly, investigative journalism has a great significance for each society in terms of covering key issues and problems and trying to offer suggestions to them. JNews.am had an interview with David Bloss, an American investigative journalist on the problems that investigative journalists face, the most important tips for the beginners in this field, etc. Bloss is the South Caucasus regional editor of the “Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting” Project in Georgia and lecturer at Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA).
In your opinion, what kind of obstacles do the investigative journalists face in the South Caucasus region comparing to the West?
In the 21st century the unprecedented development of informational technologies creates new possibilities in different spheres among them the state government system.
Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative which Armenia is involved in since 2011, is a governance system using information technologies, which aims to make the Government open, transparent, accountable and reliable for the citizens with active participation of civil society. 64 countries joined the initiative.
As for Armenia, however, currently the destiny of 2014-2016 OGP/Armenia Action plan is obscure.
The point is that as a result of a change of the Armenian Government staff in April-May of this year, a number of officials who were used to coordinate the OGP/Armenia initiative, today are actually relieved of duties, of course according to their own applications.
The newly appointed officials of the Government do not yet hurry to publicly present any position on OGP.
Read More »OGP Initiative: Participation Process of Armenia is Uncertain
Life in Armenia is no longer possible to imagine without the Internet. Particularly, in such developing countries as Armenia, the Internet freedom has another important significance besides communication and data exchange.
The Internet is a free platform with wide facilities for political actors and civil society activists. The strongly polarized TV companies and the disproportionate coverage of the events unpleasant for the authorities led to a situation that nowadays the Internet is utilized as an alternative means to report information, to advance discussions or to promptly join around different issues.
Compared to other countries, in Armenia there are no or few restrictions regarding freedom of information on the Internet. According to specialists, at this moment there are no threats from the legal point of view as well, though recently there have been active initiatives to somehow intervene, but they hope that they will fail getting no legal effect.
Read More »The Internet at Crossroad of Freedom of Speech and Restrictions
On March 31, during the parliamentary hearings on the bill related to “Amendments to the Civil Code”, at the discussion phase of the issue, co-author of the bill, MP Naira Zohrabyan declared that journalists have made a request of such an amendment to the law though mentioning no certain names.
“As an ex-journalist, I was turned to by very respectful journalists (I think if they are here they will tell about it, I will not mention their names) who requested us, MPs, on the necessity to regulate this field,” MP Zohrabyan said.
But neither at the hearings nor after anyone of the journalists or media representatives expressed positively about the bill. And MP Zohrabyan keeps on mentioning no names.
Anyway, MPs of the current session of the National Assembly had a positive experience of cooperation with the media last year. Heads of a number of print and online media outlets have applied to MPs, among them Arpi Hovhannisyan, author of this bill, to legally regulate copyright protection in the Internet. The MPs developed the bill taking into account proposals from the media outlets and made additions to the law “On copyright and related rights” in an expedited procedure by a vote of 110 to 0, with 0 abstention.
Read More »No one is For: Editors against the Bill Related to Online Media
In Armenia very few people are aware of the definition of cyber security. As a term it is more often used as information security. However the importance of the latter is not so much realized among the society of Armenia as it is done in the West. The same concerns the term “cybercrime”. While in the recent years the number of cybercrimes in the world grows every day.
According to the Norton Cybercrime Report’s annual survey conducted in 24 countries, 18 adult users of the Internet become victims of cybercrime every second. For example, according to the data of 2012, individuals suffered losses of $113 billion USD from the cybercrimes in the world, and losses of $110 billion USD in 2011.
In cyberspace (е-environment where online communication and electronic data exchange is implemented) harms were caused by financial fraud and theft from online systems, disappearance of data and their usage for other purposes (usually from the accounts of social networks or e-mails), etc. According to the same source, the average loss caused by cyber attacks was $300 USD per user in 2013.
Cybercrime is a type of crime against computer information security which is committed via computer devices to plunder information, disseminate viruses, as well as to spread and save children’s pornography through a computer.
Journalists for the Future NGO (JFF) organizes a workshop entitled “Internet Rights and Security” with the financial support of OSCE Yerevan Office and Counterpart International Representation in Armenia within the framework of “Free, Reliable and Secure Internet Information for All” project being held on June 20-22, 2014, in Aghveran.
The training is envisaged for civil society representatives and aims to provide fundamental knowledge for the participants on legal boundaries of free expression on the Internet as well as on the evasion from information security issues and protection from undesirable intervention.
The workshop will conduct lawyer Ara Ghazaryan, information security expert Samvel Martirosyan and media expert Suren Deheryan.
Who can apply? NGO members responsible for information strategy and public relations of their organization
How to apply? Send a CV with an occupation and the main duties mentioned as well as a recommendation letter by the head of NGO to the following e-mail: [email protected].
We kindly request you to mention INTERNET RIGHTS in the subject line.
Read More »“Internet Rights and Security” Workshop for NGO sector in Armenia
Journalists for the Future NGO are pleased to invite you to participate in the presentation of “The Best in the Net” guidebook for online journalists on Monday, December 23, at 3 pm. The Guidebook has been developed by the Journalists for the Future NGO with the support of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.
The guidebook provides both with theoretical and practical knowledge on how to implement high-quality media activity in the Internet and to properly organize information security.
The Guidebook consists of six parts. It represents the impact of convergent journalism on the provision of information, discusses the journalist’s role in the digital era and delivers new online formats of providing news.
The Guidebook covers a detailed review on the boundaries of freedom of expression and the protection of copyright on the Internet. The last part of the guide enumerates the steps necessary for the protection and dissemination of the data existing on digital devices for ensuring their information security.
The event will take place at “902” hall in “Erebuni Plaza” Business Centre, Yerevan.
If you have any question, please, send an e-mail to [email protected] or call (093) 539334.
Sincerely,
Journalists for the Future NGO
Read More »December 23. Presentation of “The Best in the Net” Guidebook for online Journalists
41-year-old armenologist Mohammad Malek-Mohammadi is teaching Armenian students Persian more than two years. He came to Armenia from the city Esfahan in Islamic Republic of Iran on the basis of interstates agreements and lives in Yerevan with his wife and daughter.
Mohammad learned Armenian in both countries in Iran and in Armenia. But Master’s and PhD Associate Professor’s degree he has got in Armenia studying in Yerevan State University.
“My hometown has been the state Chalmahal. In accursed times Armenians moved Persia and lived mostly in Chalmahal. From my childhood I’ve been interested in Armenians, in their life, I’ve read fairtales in which some parts were about Armenians. And finally I chose armenology as the way of my life”, says Mohammad.
Now he is teaching Persian in Yerevan State Linguistic University after V. Brusov and in Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University. He has about 300 students who are studying Persian as the second and the third language.
Mohammad mentions that, unfortunately, nowadays many youngsters are not interested in science.
“It depends on students. If they study hard they can become good specialists having their investment in Armenian-Persian relationships”, says Iranian armenologist.
International Academy of Journalism has announced the application process for 2013-2014 Fellowship Program “Journalism in Digital World”. Deadline for online applications: May 3, 2013.
For more information about the application process as well as the training program CLICK HERE