Armenian official hints at a crackdown on media in case there is no ‘self-regulation’

By Arshaluys Barseghyan
OC Media

Following Armenia’s progress in the World Press Freedom Index, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Chief of Staff Arayik Harutyunyan underscored the need for urgent self-regulation by journalists and media outlets, warning that in case there is a failure to do so, ‘the public will force the authorities to use serious regulatory tools, which you will qualify as a restriction on freedom of speech’.

In the 2025 report of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Armenia reached 34th place in the world from the 43rd place in 2024, the highest of any country in the Caucasus since the index began. Armenia outpaced EU countries like Italy and Croatia, as well as the US.

In contrast, Georgia continued its slide, falling 11 places to 114th, while Azerbaijan fell further to 167th out of 180 countries.

In his first post, celebrating Armenia’s remarkable progress, Harutyunyan foresaw that the major news would be covered with ‘manipulative’ headlines in Armenia.

‘But regardless of who writes what, in any case, we are on a very right path, and I congratulate all of us on that. This is an indicator that, for about 20 years, we could only dream about’, Harutyunyan wrote.

In the following post of the same evening, he addressed journalists, media outlets and journalistic unions, saying that he followed the comments on publications about Armenia’s progress in index, suggesting that ‘there is certainly serious cause for reflection’.

‘Because it is obvious that the public has noted that the state has ensured unprecedented press freedom, but you interpret that freedom as permissiveness, an opportunity to incite intolerance, a means of inciting provocation’, wrote Harutyunyan, a prominent member of the ruling Civil Contract party.

Vowing that the government would continue ‘to adopt the practices of the most democratic states’, he stated that swift self-regulation on the media’s part ‘must become the order of the day’.

Harutyunyan concluded his post by urging the media ‘to work together to correct this situation’.

Pashinyan’s party ’gives a green light’ for insulting journalists

While Harutyunyan hinted a possible crackdown on journalism, RSF noted that the media landscape remains polarised in Armenia, with the country ‘facing an unprecedented level of disinformation and hate speech fed by internal political tension, security problems at the country’s borders and the country’s complicated position between Russia and the EU’.

The report also noted that the polarisation of the media ‘mirrors that of the political scene’.

‘Many media outlets are close to political leaders who emerged after [the Velvet Revolution in] 2018, while others remain loyal to former oligarchs. Only a handful of media demonstrate independence’.

RSF also noted that some political groups ‘carry out disinformation operations and target journalists’.

Among those targeting the journalists are the ruling Civil Contract party members and MPs.

In December 2024, Civil Contract member and Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan caused controversy in Armenia after calling local media ‘a big garbage dump’ following the presentation of a joint investigation by local media outlet CivilNet and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) into his alleged corruption.

Recent weeks have seen several incidents in which Civil Contract MPs insulted journalists, with the first such case involving a prominent MP, Andranik Kocharyan, who was accused of insulting a journalist during a press briefing.

Following the incident, at the end of April, ruling party MPs refused to create an ethics committee to examine Kocharyan’s behaviour, which was met with criticism by around 10 prominent media organisations.

‘It indicates that the ruling majority sees nothing extraordinary in such conflicts, considers insulting journalists as normal and, in doing so, gives a green light to such incidents’, the joint statement read.