On December 19 parliamentary hearings were held in the National Assembly, on the theme of Legislative Regulation on the Content of Air TV and TV Advertising, initiated by the     Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sports of the National Assembly.

MPs, specialists of the area, specialists of the Armenian language, as well as journalists and representatives of NGOs, participated in the hearings.

The Committee Chairman, Mr. Armen Ashotyan, welcoming those present, said that the hearings were held in connection with the need to reform the legislative field, related to the e-mass media, and in that direction the package of the legislative initiatives, authorized by the MPs Mr. Armen Ashotyan, Ms. Naira Zohrabyan, Ms. Anahit Bakhshyan and Ms. Heghineh Bisharyan on Making Amendments and Addenda to RA Law on Advertising and on Making Addendum to the RA Law on Television and Radio were distributed to those present. He proposed to become familiar with the proposed amendments and give written suggestions, related either to the legislative package or the present problems in the area as a whole. There was a touch upon the RA Law on Television and Radio: it was mentioned that it needs to be amended, that the control functions were not provided etc.

Mr. Ashotyan endorsed similar debates as; according to him the beneficial effect of those debates was evident.

Mr. Lavrenty Mirzoyan, Chief of the State Inspectorate of Language of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, presented his views on language of the Content of Air TV and TV advertising. He said that it is already 15 years that the Law on Language has functioned and protected the native language. Mr. Mirzoyan reminded that the status of Armenian as a state language is enshrined in the Constitution and the basic provisions of the language policy determined by the RA law on Language. Mr. Mirzoyan touched upon the shortcomings, present in the law and the language of the air TV, in particular the language of advertising. According to him the Armenian language is always distorted on television. He proposed to develop a new concept on language policy, to make amendments to the law and to require that programs be broadcast in literary Armenian and to forbid vulgarism and slang.

Mr. Armen Martirosyan, President of Armenian Advertising Council, presented his views on the d ebated issues. According to him the law on Advertising, adopted in 1996 was incomplete, also the amendments, made to the law need some corrections.According to the speaker, errors and omissions in advertisements can cause great psychological and physical harm to televiewers. He also believed that the air TV should use only pure Armenian. According to him all the TV spots in Armenia do not comply with the international standards. Mr. Martirosyan touched upon the shortcomings present in the sphere, in the RA law on Advertising and presented proposals. It was proposed to establish a supervisory body to advertising, as it is in many countries of CIS.

Also Mr. Tigran Safaryan, director of the Tele-Media Company, presented his concern, related to the sphere. He welcomed the foreseen amendments to the area and touched upon the TV spot issues. According to him the TV spots are shown too frequently and thus the law is breached every day. He proposed to create a specialized supervisory body to advertising. According to him the creation of the committee would give the opportunity of making all the relations, present in the area, more flexible. There were incentive debates on the core issues of the sphere and there was a proposal to organize other hearings and find ways for the solutions of the raised issues.

In his closing speech, Mr. Armen Ashotyan, chairman of the committee, thanked everyone for the favorable debates and proposed to submit proposals.