Government questions potentially beneficial norms - NTRC

ArmInfo.  The intergovernmental agreement between Armenia and Russia contains a  provision prohibiting Armenian broadcasters in the Russian Federation  and Russian broadcasters in the Republic of Armenia from interfering  in each other's internal affairs. The National Television and Radio  Commission (NTRC) has proposed amending this provision into industry  legislation.  NTRC Chairman Tigran Hakobyan announced this during a  press conference on February 5.  He noted that the external news  agenda in Armenia is dictated by Russian sources. "Why? Because  everyone here speaks Russian. Russia thinks we are close, and it has  the right to wag its finger at us," the head of the Commission said.

According to him, this intergovernmental agreement was hastily  drafted and contains numerous flaws that reduce the ability to  control Russian programming. In this regard, the Commission proposed  introducing a provision on "interference in internal affairs" into  sectoral legislation. However, as Hakobyan noted, the RA government  stood firm. "They (the authorities) are questioning the norm that  would help us. Because it's one thing to have something in an  intergovernmental agreement, and quite another to implement it in  legislation," he lamented.

If the proposal is adopted, the head of the NCTR noted that, first  and foremost, it's necessary to try to provide a precise definition  of this term (interference in internal affairs) to prevent abuse.