Editors condemn targeted attacks on journalists
“I strongly condemn the actions of the policemen and non-uniformed people, who left the impression of gang members carrying out inadequate and incorrect actions against protestors, especially the journalists,” Aram Abrahamyan, Chief Editor of Aravot daily said during a press conference commenting on the events at Sari Tagh neighbourhood.
“They targeted the journalists and attacked them to interrupt live broadcasts and destroy photos, videos and recordings, so that their actions would not to be recorded. However, as it was also proved during the Electric Yerevan that’s impossible,” he added.
According to Abrahamyan, whatever happened was revenge against the public and the journalists, which is strongly condemnable.
Concerning the issue of how the news are being edited in this critical moments, Mesrop Movsesyan, the director of A1+ news agency, who was also present during the press conference noted that the editor and the journalist discuss what should be broadcasted. “Yet when they’re trying to close your mouth, cut off your tongue, break your hands and the camera, it becomes difficult to think about how to edit [the information]”.
Speaking about whether the journalists are protected when carrying out their professional duties and whether they can leave the scene when their safety is endangered, he noted that professional journalists never leave. “I’ve visited our reporter, Robert Ananyan at the hospital. While having numerous injuries, he wasn’t scared. He worked about an hour while bleeding”.
IT security expert, Samvel Martirosyan also condemned the attacks highlighting that applying such means in an inhabited area is incomprehensible.
“Attacking journalists is a serious case. After the events at Baghramyan, the journalists’ community wasn’t consistent enough in order for the real culprits to be punished. So now we see the results. The journalists’ community shouldn’t just express their joint opinion, rather they need to resort to certain actions”.
Speaking about blocking the news, he said that pursuing journalists the issue wouldn’t be solved, as anyone with a cell phone is a potential journalist. “We have thousands of journalists today who provide information from the scene. It’s just that many of them aren’t professional”.
They also noted that in response, journalists could refuse to cover certain areas.
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