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Broadcasting Stopped: GALA TV Equipment Dismantled from the Tower

On October 25, the Court of Appeal decided that GALA TV has to dismantle its equipment from the broadcasting tower belonging to the Gyumri municipality.

The equipment was moved to the Gyumri central TV tower which belongs to the TV and Radio Broadcasting Network. After dismantling, GALA TV stopped airing, but the head of the TV Company states that the broadcasting will be restored in several hours if no additional difficulties occur during the installation works.

“Two months ago we received a letter from the Court Enforcement Service. They asked in what phase the dismantling process was. We answered that we had technical problems with delivering our signal to the other tower, and that we needed time to find appropriate experts,” says GALA TV owner Vahan Khachatryan.

On the dismantling day, GALA TV again received a letter from the Enforcement Service but did not answer it as the dismantling works were over.

It is not clear yet what quality the GALA TV programs will have as a result of moving to the new tower.

“Maybe in some places it will become better and in some places worse. It depends on the tower position. I can’t tell anything till we try it,” says Vahan Khachatryan.

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Robert Parsons Believes Polarization of the Society the Main Problem of Georgian Media

Main problem for Georgian media is the polarization of the society, director general of the Russian-language TV-channel ‘First Caucasus Information’ (PIK) Robert Parsons told Tabula magazine.  The interview was published by the magazine in September 12 issue.  Parsons believes Georgian media either pro, or anti-governmental.

“Everyone sees very well what’s going on Rustavi 2 and on Maestro and Kavkasia.  Reports on the same issue are so different on those channels that it’s hard to know they are covering the same theme,” Parsons said and stressed that the main problem for Georgian journalists, not depending on which channel they work for, is that they are under the influence of editorial line.  “What you have today is a complete absurd; this is not real information.  This is just continuous provision of one or another type of propaganda to the society,” Parsons stressed.

PIK director general believes that the government has done everything possible for adopting adequate legislation and now for media development it is necessary for the government not to interfere with editorial decisions.  Parsons claims that current Georgian TV-channels are “media dinosaurs.”  “I am sure they will extinct soon,” he said and expressed hope that soon much more unbiased and responsible media outlets will come.

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Freedom of the Press 2011. Armenia is 146th

Freedom of the Press 2011 identifies the greatest threats to independent media in 196 countries and territories. Released on May 2 as part of the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day celebration in Washington, D.C., the report shows that global media freedom has reached a new low point, contributing to an environment in which only one in every six people live in countries with a Free press. In 2010, there were particularly worrisome trends in the Middle East and the Americas, while improvements were noted in sub-Saharan Africa.

Armenia is ranked 146th among all the countries in the world alongside Egypt where revolution broke out this year. In the ranking of Central and Eastern European countries Armenia is 21st among 29 countries. In both cases Armenia is classified as not free.

Azerbaijan is 171st in global ranking, Iran is on 188th place, while Turkey and Georgia are 112th and 118th respectively and are considered partly free.

Tables featuring country rankings and numerical scores for the 2011 index can be found here.

Source: http://freedomhouse.org


Read More »Freedom of the Press 2011. Armenia is 146th