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Months ago, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the executive and legislative powers and the representatives of the civil society regarding the modernization of the media sphere development policy in the Republic of Armenia and the reform of the legislation regulating the activities of the media. The reforms to be implemented with joint efforts will be aimed at the improvement of the information field in the country. The Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport Sisak Gabrielyan said about this during the meeting with the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Armenia Martina Schmidt.

The meeting was held on September 26, in which the Head of Division Cooperation on Freedom of Expression Ardita Abdiu and the International Expert Krisztina Rozgonyi also participated.

Sisak Gabrielyan presented that in the five-year programme of the Government, which was approved by parliament, a separate section refers to the regulations of the media field.

Martina Schmidt thanked the Committee Chair for providing the opportunity for the meeting. She highlighted similar meetings and discussions with the Committee Chair for making reforms the media legislation.

Ardita Abdiu presented to Sisak Gabrielyan the results of the study on Media freedom, freedom of expression, domestic legal framework regulating public media and its compliance with the standards of the Council of Europe within the framework of the assessment of the needs of the media field of Armenia.

According to Sisak Gabrielyan, the influence of online media is increasing year by year. He noted that, unfortunately, there are no clear regulations in this regard in the Republic of Armenia. The Committee Chair emphasized that the regulations should be such that they do not harm, but serve the freedom of speech.

An agreement was reached to organize joint discussions aimed at reforms in the media sphere.