The primary goal of the research is to examine and demonstrate how journalists in Armenia exercise their right to access information, identify the current challenges and obstacles, and propose practical solutions to overcome them.
The research objectives are:
- evaluate the current situation of FOI, presenting the characteristics of journalists’ practice of receiving information,
- identify the problems and obstacles caused by the professional characteristics of journalists,
- highlight the gaps in the RA Law “On Freedom of Information” that have a direct impact on the process of exercising the access to information rights of journalists,
- present proposals and recommendations to various stakeholders and actors aimed at the full provision of the access to information rights of journalists.
The research methodology includes combining different research methods. The primary data for the research was collected based on the responses given by the representatives of the journalistic community to the pre-designed questionnaire. The online questionnaire was answered by 77 journalists representing various media outlets in Yerevan and provinces, including television, radio, print media, and online media. The questions included in the questionnaire refer to the most diverse aspects of the practice of access to information, from the stage of preparing information requests to the application of mechanisms for the restoration of the violated access to information right.
Based on the questionnaire, data collection was followed by in-depth interviews with experts in the field, FOI officials of state administration bodies, and civil society representatives to identify deep-seated problems and develop complex proposals aimed at solving them. 11 in-depth interviews were conducted in April 2024. These interviews reveal the perceptions of different actors about the root causes of the recorded problems and the main directions of the necessary complex changes.
The research also includes practical recommendations aimed at solving the identified problems, which are addressed to various actors:
– information seekers: civil society and journalistic community, information holders, the RA Government,
– legislative body-the RA National Assembly,
– RA Human Rights Defender,
– as well as the Supreme Judicial Council and the courts, expecting the appropriate response and involvement of all in the process of solving the recorded problems.
This research is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the Freedom of Information Center NGO, a subrecipient of Internews Network, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
