“Media Advocate” Initiative starts monitoring of restriction cases of media activity and censorship conducted by the Commandant’s Office

In a state of emergency, “Media Advocate” Initiative starts monitoring of restriction cases of media activity and censorship conducted by the Commandant’s Office.

In the statement the initiative said, "Freedom of speech and the free operation of the media are two of the most important values ​​of modern societies, and they must be protected at all costs. As a result of the fight against coronavirus in Armenia, media activity is subjected to certain restrictions in a state of emergency. Nevertheless, those restrictions should not become a cause for the authorities to censor the media and control freedom of speech.
“Media Advocate” Initiative will seek to ensure that, in a state of emergency, restrictions of the freedom of the media neither turns into a formation of an authoritarian environment which abolishes pluralism and conceals the reality, nor turns into arbitrariness and abuse.

“Media Advocate” Initiative asks the journalistic community and the media, as well as social media users, to inform the Initiative’s monitoring team about the restrictions of the media activity conducted by the Commandant’s Office.

“Media Advocate” Initiative will periodically issue statements and analyses based on the monitoring data."