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ARMENIA: MEDIA VS MEDIA
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
April 19 2013
David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
On May 5th, the elections to the Yerevan Council of Elders will take
place. A mayor will be a politician who heads a proportional list
of the political force which will get a majority of voices. Seven
political forces participate in the election campaign - the Republican
Party of Armenia, Orinats Yerkir, Heritage, Arakelutyun, Prosperous
Armenia, the Armenian National Congress, and Dashnaktsuyun.
According to sociologists, no more than 45% of voters will take part
in the elections. However, unlike ordinary citizens, the political
spectrum is excited about the elections. The forces which earlier
rejected participation in the presidential elections are now ready
to fight for mayor's place - PA, Dashnaktsutyun, and the ANC. Today
almost all political forces participating in the election campaign
are intensively insulting each other. Tension is raising day after day.
Administrative pressing, bribery of electorate and political
accusations - it is made through the mass media, first of all. All
Armenian PR workers, except for republicans, are acting to a universal
principle: "criticize the authorities." It is successfully used even
by the parties which not so long used to be a part of the authorities -
PA and Orinats Yerkir.
The public TV-channel hasn't yet broadcast materials and reports
blacking the opposition. Instead, a part of its airtime is devoted
to the activity of the current capital mayor Taron Markaryan, who is
a republican. It should be noted that in recent months the activity
has become very intensive.
The TV-channel belonging to oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, Kentron, gives
a half of its air time to propaganda of Prosperous Armenia. The
same is true for Dashnaktsutyn's TV-cannel - Yerkir Media. The only
difference is that these TV-channels show the audience all unpleasant
sides of Yerevan's life: dull faces of the citizens, holes in roads,
broken pipelines, rubbish, and so on.
A peculiarity of the information campaign is bribery of the Armenian
mass media, which surpassed all reasonable limits. Except for Yerkir
Media and Kentron, all other Armenian channels are directly or
indirectly sponsored by the governmental institutes, first of all RPA.
So, political preferences of the Armenian TV mass media are clear.
The same can be said about electronic mass media. Except for Yerkir.am
and Report.am which belong to Dashnaktsutyun, and informational sites
zham.am, 7or.am, civilnet.am which belong to Prosperous Armenia, the
rest of informational portals are working for the republicans. It
became possible due to active and long-lasting activity of Mikael
Minasyan - Serge Sargsyan's son-in-law. Previously Minasyan has
never taken state official positions. One of his main missions
was organization and PR. Being protected by RPA and using his own
financial abilities, President's son-in-law has bought several major
TV-channels. After this new information resources began to appear
in Armenia.
Minasyan achieved great results in this field because this information
policy was provided professionally, considered new realities, and
modern information technologies. Thus, Armenian propaganda began
to fulfill its mission on forming the desirable social discourse
successfully.
As the result only the mass media controlled by ANC stayed free from
the republican influence after the elections of 2008. These mass media
heavily criticized the authorities and President, crossing limits of
journalist ethics.
However, when ANC lost a major part of electorate and financing, these
media began to change a political orientation. Today the majority
of Armenian editorials are financed by the Republican Party, which
directly influences their content. It seems we should have no doubts
that on May 5th the current mayor of Yerevan Taron Markaryan and his
team will "win" the elections.
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
April 19 2013
David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
On May 5th, the elections to the Yerevan Council of Elders will take
place. A mayor will be a politician who heads a proportional list
of the political force which will get a majority of voices. Seven
political forces participate in the election campaign - the Republican
Party of Armenia, Orinats Yerkir, Heritage, Arakelutyun, Prosperous
Armenia, the Armenian National Congress, and Dashnaktsuyun.
According to sociologists, no more than 45% of voters will take part
in the elections. However, unlike ordinary citizens, the political
spectrum is excited about the elections. The forces which earlier
rejected participation in the presidential elections are now ready
to fight for mayor's place - PA, Dashnaktsutyun, and the ANC. Today
almost all political forces participating in the election campaign
are intensively insulting each other. Tension is raising day after day.
Administrative pressing, bribery of electorate and political
accusations - it is made through the mass media, first of all. All
Armenian PR workers, except for republicans, are acting to a universal
principle: "criticize the authorities." It is successfully used even
by the parties which not so long used to be a part of the authorities -
PA and Orinats Yerkir.
The public TV-channel hasn't yet broadcast materials and reports
blacking the opposition. Instead, a part of its airtime is devoted
to the activity of the current capital mayor Taron Markaryan, who is
a republican. It should be noted that in recent months the activity
has become very intensive.
The TV-channel belonging to oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, Kentron, gives
a half of its air time to propaganda of Prosperous Armenia. The
same is true for Dashnaktsutyn's TV-cannel - Yerkir Media. The only
difference is that these TV-channels show the audience all unpleasant
sides of Yerevan's life: dull faces of the citizens, holes in roads,
broken pipelines, rubbish, and so on.
A peculiarity of the information campaign is bribery of the Armenian
mass media, which surpassed all reasonable limits. Except for Yerkir
Media and Kentron, all other Armenian channels are directly or
indirectly sponsored by the governmental institutes, first of all RPA.
So, political preferences of the Armenian TV mass media are clear.
The same can be said about electronic mass media. Except for Yerkir.am
and Report.am which belong to Dashnaktsutyun, and informational sites
zham.am, 7or.am, civilnet.am which belong to Prosperous Armenia, the
rest of informational portals are working for the republicans. It
became possible due to active and long-lasting activity of Mikael
Minasyan - Serge Sargsyan's son-in-law. Previously Minasyan has
never taken state official positions. One of his main missions
was organization and PR. Being protected by RPA and using his own
financial abilities, President's son-in-law has bought several major
TV-channels. After this new information resources began to appear
in Armenia.
Minasyan achieved great results in this field because this information
policy was provided professionally, considered new realities, and
modern information technologies. Thus, Armenian propaganda began
to fulfill its mission on forming the desirable social discourse
successfully.
As the result only the mass media controlled by ANC stayed free from
the republican influence after the elections of 2008. These mass media
heavily criticized the authorities and President, crossing limits of
journalist ethics.
However, when ANC lost a major part of electorate and financing, these
media began to change a political orientation. Today the majority
of Armenian editorials are financed by the Republican Party, which
directly influences their content. It seems we should have no doubts
that on May 5th the current mayor of Yerevan Taron Markaryan and his
team will "win" the elections.