On 25 March, the Armenian government eased its restrictions on the media following a set of criticism from domestic and international media watchdogs, reported Radio Free Europe. 

According to the changes, the media in the country would only be required to fully reflect information coming from official sources and to swiftly publish retractions or clarifications demanded by government bodies enforcing the state of emergency. Local journalists would also be free to cite or reprint relevant reports by foreign media.

Ashot Melikyan from the Yerevan-based Committee to Protect Freedom of Speech welcomed the new rules for media coverage of the pandemic. “Now that … media outlets can again operate in an unrestricted manner I believe that they will be able to collect information important to the public from their own sources as well,” he said.

The easing of measures came after the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his concerns about a package of amendments to the criminal and administrative codes in the country. He was critical in particular about the measure which only allowed the media entities in the country to publish information about the coronavirus crisis that has been released by official sources (Caucasus Watch reported).