Dear Mr. Krikorian —

Harry Tamrazian brought your complaint to my attention. I’m sorry you’ve had such a difficult time getting your concerns addressed. We have now sourced the Markarian photo to you in our photo database. You should be able to see the change reflected on the website.

However, RFE/RL did not violate any copyright law in using your photograph, which was freely available, with no restrictions, on an Armenian government website on the day of Markarian’s funeral. We were able to take the photo — which was not credited to you — from the site legally.

You may want to consider lodging a complaint with officials in Yerevan if you feel that your photographs are being used unfairly with no proper credit to you.

I should also warn you that generally, RFE/RL’s English website does NOT include photographers’ names in the credit line. It is simply our policy. We’ve done it this time as an exception, but we probably won’t be able to do it again.

I know it’s very hard for journalists and photographers to receive rightful credit for their work, and I’m sympathetic to your situation. I hope this in some small way addresses your concerns.

Best regards,

Daisy Sindelar
Europe Desk Editor, Central Newsroom
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Prague, Czech Republic
(420) 221 123 614
SindelarD@rferl.org
www.rferl.org

Dear RFE/RL,

In the article “Armenia: Prime Minister’s Appointment Could Trigger Upheaval” the second photograph used from the funeral of Andranik Markarian was mine, but is improperly credited. Countless emails to you — and also from the author of the piece, Richard Giragosian — have been ignored and no response has been received.

This therefore constitutes knowing copyright infringement which is a violation of the law. I am writing to request that you immediately change the credit line from “Markarian’s funeral on March 28 (official site)” to “Markarian’s funeral on March 28 (Onnik Krikorian / EurasiaNet) before I have to look into taking legal action against RFE/RL.

I would also welcome your immediate response to this email. As there has been no correction of this error and no response to any of my emails to date, I would also appreciate that this email is forwarded to anyone who will take immediate action by those addressed with this email.

The violation of U.S. and international copyright law is at:
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/04/4747172F-EEE1-4051-B887-66115EAE34BB.html

Sincerely,

Onnik Krikorian
—
Oneworld Multimedia
http://www.oneworld.am
http://oneworld.blogsome.com

As I see it, if someone uses my photos online without credit I will contact them first to inform them that they should credit use. If they don’t, then I would contact their hosting provider telling them a site on their server is breaking the law and should be closed down immediately, and after that take the matter to court where the financial penalty for copyright infringement is very high indeed. However, if people want to use photos for not-for-profit use with a full credit given, I’m happy to see the work reach a wider audience.

However, use of photos from this blog with the full credit line and copyright information made for not-for-profit use is alright.

Lragrox at his “Journalistic Notes and Observations” blog diggs deeper, revealing, that Serge Sargsyan has bought appartmens for Aramo and Forsh, and expressing his surprise at Shushan Petrossian’s joining the party - as she has been using her ARF aunt Alvard Petrossian’s name and connections everywhere, especially in her tours abroad. But, maybe “Shusho owes something to Azatich[Serge Sargsyan] as well?”, the blogger speculates.

Anyway, the Lragrox reminds the singers, that its not the Republicans who have been helping them all this time organizing concerts, etc, as Shushan Petrossian has said, but the Government of Armenia, using the administrative levers they possess.

The international organizations treat Armenia like a sort of a post colonial third world country. While there is no doubt that Armenia is not very advanced, such treatment degrades the country even further into “third-world”-ness. Given the mental capacities of the majority of the ruling elite, there is no hope that they can resist this kind of treatment.

2) On UN firing Aramazd. Could you find out more about the “staff regulations” that he allegedly acted “contrary” to?

Everywhere it was this info that you placed too:
…“shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting their status as international civil servants and shall not engage in any activity that is incompatible with the proper discharge of their duties.” They can join a political party only if “membership does not entail action, or an obligation to take action, by the staff member contrary to staff regulation.”

He just joined one of the political forces. So what? What the hell? Are they telling that all UN employees should be non-partisan? That’s absurd! So what does “staff regulations” say that Aramazd violated?? That he cannot participate in public meetings and demonstrations held by his party? That he cannot criticize the current regime? It’s ridiculous. A more savvy person would definitely pursue legal action against the UNDP and likely win.

(Ci2/United Nations)

New York, Rye, United States, 0 returning visits

27th April 2007 01:14:42 No referring link
oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/03/16/aylentrank-miak-and-a-conflict-of-interest/

27th April 2007 01:54:10 www.innercitypress.com/undp042607.html
oneworld.blogsome.com/2007/03/16/aylentrank-miak-and-a-conflict-of-interest/

Well, he wasn’t effectively dismissed from his position for his blogging activities, but anyway. However, I know that when privately asked about Aramazd, the UN Residential Representative did mention his blog which is politically tainted, so who knows?

Maybe that also factored into the equation and the decision to dismiss him. If so, it’s outrageous.