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President Serzh Sargsyan held a reception at the Presidential Palace for the representatives of the mass media on the occasion of the New Year and Christmas holidays on Tuesday, December 25. 

Serzh Sargsyan congratulated the journalists on the approaching holidays, wished them good health and success. He also wished that in 2013 their complex but also interesting and creative work serves for the advancement of our nation and society.

“Dear Journalists and Representatives of the Mass Media,

In the passing year, we together with you continued with our efforts aimed at the strengthening of the freedom of speech and democracy in our country. I thank you for your quality work throughout the year and particularly during the parliamentary elections. I cannot recall an election in the history of independent Armenia when broadcasting was as accessible to the participants as it was during the last parliamentary elections. One more thing: many of our journalists have begun to master the ability of keeping out their personal positions while reporting on political processes. It speaks of professionalism. Things we spoke about and that were so vividly manifested during the previous elections are a serious achievement indeed and we will not allow any retreat from that. On the contrary, we will move forward.

Certainly for some these things are not observable yet, and there are some who just don’t want to see. But this is a process which we together with you will carry on persistently. We have been and will follow the only road suitable for Armenia.

Of course there are still many problems but there also two, the most significant factors to get to our goals – on one hand it is public demand and political will of the authorities on the other. Thus, we are allies and we are fulfilling a mission whose results shape not only the present of our country but its foreseeable future as well.

We are living through a period of time when the new means of information are developing rapidly, social networks are competing with the traditional press and television. At the same time, we all are working side by side. Everyone has more or less something to say, and our obligation is to assist everyone.

Public monitoring of the state structures, ensuring that they function transparently depends also on the level of efficiency of the mass media. That level is not conditioned by our will or your good work only; it can be achieved by putting together our efforts.

Year 2013 will be decisive in many respects for our society. The level of reporting, which was acquired during the previous elections, can be but the minimal level for the February elections. Much more should be done, and this is not about elections only. We are going together down the road of building a modern state and a modern society, and the role of the journalists in the process is great. Moreover, responsibility of those who are in contact with the people on a daily basis, who almost daily have something to tell the people, is great. My appeal and urge is: don’t devalue those words, don’t forget that we have serious goals and ambitions and you too, dear journalists, articulate these goals and ambitions,” President Serzh Sargsyan said in his congratulatory remarks at the festive reception held for the representatives of the mass media at the Presidential Palace.