YEREVAN. - President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on Monday received the representatives of the 8th Pan-Armenian Conference of Journalists entitled ‘Armenian Statehood: Axis of Unity,’held in Armenia and Artsakh from October 20 to 24.
The conference was attended by overall 140 editors and journalists from 31 countries.
The President welcomed the conference, which was held in homeland for already the 8th time, being dedicated to the 25th anniversaries of two Armenian republics.
“You are a great power: through your activity you give us confidence and vigor so that we are able to carry out our obligations through exerting maximal efforts. During one of our previous meetings we singled out two important factors. The first one is the work of media outlets and journalists, which is directly aimed at the Armenian community, namely the work aimed at the preservation of Armenian identity, while the second one refers to uniting the journalists - Armenian by nationality or descent - who work abroad. In both cases it is utterly important that we find the proper ways of working in this fast changing world and be able to preserve the interest towards the materials, which we work on, publish, wishing to thereby influence a certain question. In both cases, I think, it is utterly important to remain committed to the journalistic ethics. It is also very important for us to be able to combine our efforts and identify the significant issues on which we should spend most of our energy and capacities,” Sargsyan said.
Noting that in journalism it is never possible to achieve success through attempting to deny small lies by bigger ones or confirming legality by illegality, the President stressed that the sharper a pen is when presenting the truth, more useful and harmless it will be. He also added that the negligent use of the same pen by media outlets can bring about great problems.
After the opening speech, the President proposed to hold the meeting in the format of questions and answers so that he is able to respond to all the question of interest to journalists.
The journalists and heads of media outlets inquired about the position of the Armenian side on the Karabakh conflict negotiation process, the reforms to be implemented in Armenia, enhancement of Armenia-Diaspora ties and existing potential, including opportunities for the fully-fledged use of the journalistic community’s potential, as well as the state policy conducted in regard to attracting foreign investments and a number of other issues.
