The RFE/RL Saga Continues…

Following on from the statement made by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) regarding a reported breakdown in talks over the future of the station’s broadcasts on Public Radio, the Public Television and Radio Council (PTRC) have hit back with their version of events. According to RFE/RL and most independent analysts and observers, Public Radio have refused to sign a new contract to allow for the retransmission of RFE/RL broadcasts since February, and international diplomatic circles believe that the move is an attempt to prevent the station from broadcasting nationwide by the time of the presidential election due to take place early next year. The Noyan Tapan news agency, however, reports that the PTRC deny the allegations.

The Council of the Public Television and Radio Company and the Public Radio Company reaffirm their wish to continue the cooperation with the Board of Directors of the American Broadcasts and Radio Liberty/Free Europe in favour of the friendship between the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America. This was mentioned in the statement spread by the Council of the Armenian Public Television and Radio Company, which clarifies a number of inaccuracies contained in the July 24 statement made by Radio Liberty/Free Europe.

According to this statement, it is the good will of the Public Radio Company that the programs of the Radio Liberty/Free Europe are still broadcast, since there is no contract between the Public Radio Company and the Board of Directors of the American Broadcasts or Radio Liberty/Free Europe at the moment.

“Radio Liberty/Free Europe made payments until February, 2007, afterwards the payments ceased irrespective of the fact that bills continued to be introduced every month. At present, the overdue debts for the rebroadcast services supplied to Radio Liberty/Free Europe make 86 thousand U.S. dollars,” is said in the statement spread by the Council of the Armenian Public Radio Company.

However, Public Radio has not rejected the suggestions of Radio Liberty/Free Europe on making payments, instead it has introduced a number of notifications claiming to immediately pay off the overdue sums.

On July 6, 2007, however, the Council of the Armenian Public Radio Company made a decision to stop the transmission of the programs of foreign and local broadcasting companies on the frequencies of the Public Radio and Public Television since August 9, taking into consideration the general international experience of the activities of public radio and television companies. This was notified to three broadcasting companies in a decent way: Radio Liberty/Free Europe, “MIR” radio and television company, and “Tsayg” television company, which were advised to make arrangements until August 9.

In response to this notification, Radio Liberty/Free Europe has made a request to prolong that term. The Public Radio Company has accepted the above-mentioned suggestion.

It has to be said that RFE/RL have still not adequately explained why no payments have been made to Public Radio since February although they have not refused to do so. One can only suppose that it has something to do with the legal necessity of having a contract in place, but they should be more forthcoming in responding to this question, in my opinion. Nonetheless, while Public Radio appear to be doing the decent thing in the face of significant international pressure, all is not as it seems in governmental circles. Various news reports and sources inside RFE/RL say that Public Radio is instead suggesting that the station broadcast on Radio AR.

An agreement to this effect has already been signed by Radio Ar and been sent to RFE/RL for them to sign, but this doesn’t address the main issue at hand. The station does not apparently broadcast nationwide and is instead confined to Yerevan and maybe the immediate surrounds. As I’ve stated on this blog before, the recent legislation and decision to remove RFE/RL from the airwaves of Public Radio was not an attempt to close the station down entirely. It was merely an attempt to restrict and limit RFE/RL’s activity in Armenia while limiting possible international condemnation of the authorities. Recent legislative attempts to achieve the same can also be seen in this light.

Anyway, Mediamax has more on the proposed Radio AR agreement.

Ar Radio has signed a contract proposed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which provides for the retransmission of the latter’s programmes in Armenia.

As Mediamax was told in Ar Radio today, there is an agreement reached with the leadership of the Public Radio of Armenia on the limitation of its programmes on the air of Ar Radio, which will make possible the retransmission of RFE/RL programmes in previous volumes.

The signed agreement is sent to RFE/RL. Ar Radio noted that it will start the retransmission immediately after signing the agreement by the representatives of RFE/RL.

Mediamax notes that Ar Radio broadcasts on an FM frequency in Yerevan. The owner of the radio station is the executive director of the Public Radio of Armenia, Armen Amiryan.

Pro-government media outlets such as Hayots Ashkharh instead alleges that RFE/RL is being unreasonable and actually pursuing the political objective of tarnishing Armenia’s name in the international arena. In an article from the newspaper which is actually more like an op-ed, the paper attempts to discredit RFE/RL’s claims.

[…] the reality is that the Public Television expressed good will even after the end of the term of the contract (beginning 2002) and continued to broadcast the programs of the Armenian service of “Liberty” radio station throughout the territory of Armenia. Moreover, the broadcasting was not terminated even when “Liberty” simply ceased to make payments for the services, thus accumulating overdue debts in the amount of USD 86 thousand beginning February.

[…]

In such situation the following question, or rather, questions come up. For instance, why didn’t “Liberty” respond to PTRC warnings to renew the contract in time?
Why wouldn’t it pay for the services rendered by the Public Television and Radio Company? Why is it so persistently taking pains to broadcast its programs on the Public Radio and not on a private radio company, (“Ar Radio Company”, in this particular case) as is common in all civilized countries (even in the neighboring Georgia)?

[…]

And, after all, why do all the responsible representatives of radio station “Liberty” make preliminary statements that the negotiations have reached a deadlock? What problem are they trying to solve so assiduously, politicizing the entangled strip which is so easily soluble within the scope of the Constitution and laws of Armenia as well as the international practice.

Are they making a mountain out of the molehill to make ‘Liberty’ heard, because its voice is necessary as the air we breathe? Or vice versa, they are artificially preventing the programs of the Armenian service from being broadcast, with the purpose of recording a negative result at the expense of Armenia, thus putting the equals sign between our country and Azerbaijan?

We believe the answer is obvious.

Well, as I’ve said, it might be a good idea for RFE/RL to clearly highlight the reason why payments were not made for the period since February when a new contract with Public Radio was not signed, but nonetheless the point is still that there does appear to be an attempt to restrict the station’s broadcasts ahead of next year’s election. Assuming that RFE/RL were to rebroadcast on Radio AR and were content with only reaching an audience in Yerevan, there would be still be concerns regarding the possible reintroduction of the bill to increase the cost of transmitting foreign programmes and the possible disruption of service during the election period itself.

All of which Armenia’s diplomatic missions are well aware of. Indeed, nearly all of them are following the continuing saga of RFE/RL and one representative of a European country last night told me that they are making it quite clear to the authorities that the restriction of RFE/RL’s broadcasts will not be acceptable as the international community looks for higher democratic standards being set during next year’s election. However, he also made it clear that there is only one government that can prevent this from happening. That is, it will all depend on what Washington communicates to official Yerevan publicly, but more importantly, in private.

For more coverage of this and other related developments regarding the media in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election please see the relevant category on this blog.