YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. Lawmaker Mkhitar Hayrapetyan from the ruling My Step bloc has called for increasing the level of media literacy among the public.

“Our top priority objective ought to be media literacy. Without it, every hour the Armenian citizen will face the threat of being manipulated or misled. There is no alternative to the state’s work with the public. It is media literacy that will solve the problem facing the Armenian citizen. We must have the kind of educated society which will clearly differentiate fake and lies from healthy and substantiated critique,” Hayrapetyan, who serves as the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport told lawmakers in parliament on May 12.

Hayrapetyan said that there are some media outlets that are circulating fake news and lies, and added: “No government can shut down any news website in Armenia, but specific and effective new mechanisms – equal and fair for all -  must be in place in the mass media sector”, he said.

He said the law regulating the news media should be amended.

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan