Limited Progress
The reputed human rights organization Freedom House has concluded again that Armenia is a country with non-free press. I don’t know according to what criteria the assessment is made. However, insofar as I follow the mass media in Turkey and Georgia (where the press is partly free), frankly speaking, I cannot notice that we are much behind the neighbors. Certainly, my observation may be amateur, but at the moment, I, for example, don’t see that there is any restraint of expressing opposition opinions on any TV channel. You would say that it is because the Europeans’ pre-election monitoring. Certainly, it is, but during the 2008 presidential election, the same monitoring was carried out and during the “responsible” broadcasting, in the so-called “editorial reviews,” the opposition was labeled, assessed, including subjects related to the flag of Israel and Judeo-Masonry conspiracy. Yes, A1+ doesn’t broadcast via television now either and it is one of the biggest drawbacks of the current government. But it seems not fair to me not to notice certain “limited progress” (with the definition common in the West). By the way, that progress would be registered also by the fact that after the election, regardless of its outcome, those who make decisions would understand that it would not be the end of the world if oppositionists appeared on TV.
