Journalists, lawyers and media experts discuss online reporting ethics in Armenia, with OSCE support

Challenges of online media and prospects for the development of online media self-regulation in Armenia were discussed at a two-day workshop on 8 and 9 June 2013 in Aghveran, a town located in Armenia’s Kotayk province.

Members of some 17 leading Armenian online media took part in the event, which was organized by the OSCE Office in Yerevan and the local non-governmental organization, Journalists for the Future. They were joined by media lawyers and experts, who reviewed and discussed with them questions about the legal framework for online media, as well as copyright protection, online defamation, and media ethics.

“This event has shown that in Armenia there are grass-roots efforts to establish media self-regulation mechanisms that further media freedom and promote professional and ethical journalism online,” said Oliver McCoy, Democratization Programme Officer at the OSCE Office. “I see this workshop as an initial step in a longer process of building a pluralistic, fair, and accountable media environment in the country.”

The workshop participants talked about how to develop a common code of ethics for online media and discussed the challenges of applying such a code. The experts shared practical tips on the “do’s and don’ts” of media ethics, and presented various techniques on how to run a news outlet that adheres to ethical rules of online journalism.