Asking for media transparency is easier than being transparent

By Karen Harutyunyan, editor-in-chief

Armenian news outlet Civic.am recently sent CivilNet a questionnaire seeking clarification about what it described as the “political” background of former foreign minister Vartan Oskanian and his alleged “indirect influence” on our work. The inquiry arrived just days after CivilNet journalist Shushan Stepanyan had asked the ruling Civil Contract party to clarify its own relationship with Civic.am.

Members of the governing party have publicly stated on several occasions that Civic.am belongs to Civil Contract. If that is the case, Armenian law requires political parties to disclose detailed information about any media outlets they own or finance — including ownership structure, funding, and the party’s share in the media company’s capital.

Our reporter asked the ruling party why its annual reports contain no such disclosures and requested information on how much, if any, funding the party has provided to Civic.am.

Instead of waiting for those answers to reach us, Civic.am sent CivilNet a list of questions that implied doubts about our editorial independence and claimed possible political influence on our work.

We appreciate the opportunity to once again restate CivilNet’s editorial independence, our publicly available mission and values, and our commitment to ethical journalism. We are also glad to reiterate our financial transparency: the foundation’s reports and audited financial statements are available online.

What we could not find on Civic.am’s website, however, were basic pieces of information normally expected from a media outlet: an editorial masthead, ethical guidelines, or any disclosure of funding sources.

As it turns out, asking about transparency is easier than being transparent.

P.S.

Civic.am also asked whether CivilNet investigates other political parties. They received their answer — and I suggest you read our investigation once again:

Independent audit finds more irregularities in Armenian ruling party’s finances.