Satik Seyranyan: Armenian authorities launched ‘class struggle’ against media

The current Armenian authorities have launched a “class struggle” against the media, President of the Journalists Union of Armenia Satik Seyranyan told a discussion on freedom of press on Tuesday.

“The incumbent authorities are doing everything possible to silence the media and to make it suffer financial losses through legislative amendments,” she noted. "We know very well how Nikol Pashinyan's newspaper worked, how he collected funds. Nevertheless, when Pashinyan found himself in a difficult situation, we stood by him, held rallies and press conferences.”

She stated the media faced many challenges in the past three years, adding 2022 will be “even harder” for media outlets due to the difficult political and social situation in the country.

"The press plays the role of a controller, and the people who came to power due to street protests do not want their actions to be supervised in any way," Seyranyan said.

She underscored that most of the issues on the agenda of a government session are discussed behind closed doors and the people are not aware of what decisions are made.

In addition, although government agencies have spokespersons and public relations departments, most questions of media outlets addressed to them go unanswered, Seyranyan noted.

"Journalists find it increasingly difficult to carry out their work today. Unfortunately, the civil society, which until now seemed to be a supporter of changes, turned out to be a supporter of the authorities, often wielding a sword against the media. For several years now, I have been witnessing a dangerous phenomenon in which media outlets and journalists critical of the government are targeted on social media. There have even been cases of violence. The press has now become the sole guardian of democracy in Armenia, trying to control the unbridled actions of the authorities," she said, adding that the need for legislative changes had also been raised under the previous governments.

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