15 July 2008, 14:34
Iskandaryan: positive dynamics observed in work of press in Armenia
Recently, oppositional figures have been more frequent on TV in Armenia; they can speak freely, without censorship, and, in general, the trend is positive, asserts Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Institute of the Caucasus (earlier it was known as the Caucasian Media Institute).
"It's quite fine, but, certainly, the situation in electronic media is different from printed ones. At the same time, our public TV, of course, isn't really public, to be such, it needs a very complex system of funding, a system of public perception, and for such country like Armenia it's practically impossible. Besides, there should be another degree of freedom for the press - we don't have it, or we need another type of television; I think, it's not impossible in general, but today we don't have it," Alexander Iskandaryan has noted on July 14 in his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
In the opinion of the political scientist, the press should, first of all, inform, not to react to these or those statements of the oppositional counterpart.
He has also mentioned that in Armenia the printed media are not independent, but they are pluralistic, and the spread of opinions is broad as nowhere else. In his opinion, today, Armenia has no neutral press, and its information environment is highly polarized.
Author: Bella Ksalova, CK correspondent
