Tomorrow, October 21, the agenda of the National Assembly session includes a bill proposing amendments to the Law on Audiovisual Media of the Republic of Armenia. This short document stipulates that the number of public broadcasters shall not be fewer than two, instead of three as defined in the current law. Moreover, the requirement to have an educational-cultural program is being removed. From this, as well as from the explanatory note to the bill, it becomes clear that the purpose is to exclude the spiritual-cultural TV channel Shoghakat from the list of public broadcasters.
We, the undersigned journalistic organizations, find it unnecessary to go into detail regarding the official justification for this change, as it is overly general, in some ways misleading, unconvincing, and raises many questions. In reality, the initiative is not based on the cited financial, managerial, qualitative, or operational concerns, but rather on an obvious political context — the escalating confrontation between the authorities and the Armenian Apostolic Church, with which Shoghakat TV is closely associated.
It is noteworthy that, according to the current law, broadcasters cannot be founded or sponsored by religious organizations. This approach has been revised and altered several times throughout Armenia’s independence — the restriction being lifted or reinstated according to political expediency. Just as the inclusion of Shoghakat in the public broadcasting system was once politically motivated, its current reconsideration is equally driven by the above-mentioned conflict.
Meanwhile, the public interest requires that cultural, spiritual, educational, scientific, and other similar topics — which generally do not pursue commercial goals but are crucial for societal development — remain among the main priorities of the Public Broadcaster. The proposed legislative amendment conveys the opposite impression.
The officially stated goal of “more efficient use of resources and optimization of activities” could have been achieved without this amendment — while preserving the integrity of the educational-cultural programming.
Realistically, it is not difficult to predict that the parliamentary majority will approve the proposed bill, especially since it has already received the endorsement of the Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth, and Sports of the National Assembly.
Nevertheless, even if the wording “at least two programs” is adopted, this does not preclude the Public Broadcaster from maintaining a third program entirely dedicated to cultural, spiritual, educational, scientific, and similar themes. This is what the public interest demands, and we call on the authorities to treat it as a priority and to act accordingly.
Furthermore, we urge the authorities to abandon the practice of adopting situational, short-term approaches to media legislation — a worrying trend that undermines the effective functioning and development of the sector.
Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression
Yerevan Press Club
Media Initiatives Center
Media Diversity Institute – Armenia
Public Journalism Club
Journalists for the Future NGO
Journalists for Human Rights NGO