EurasiaNet, NY
Dec 15 2006
ARMENIAN PRESS GRAPPLING WITH NEWSPRINT SHORTAGE
Emil Danielyan 12/15/06
Armenia’s vibrant print media are struggling to remain afloat due to
a serious shortage of newsprint which government officials and
private publishers blame on external factors such as Russia’s
continuing transport blockade of Georgia. Some newspaper editors,
however, wonder whether the shortage is, in fact, politically
motivated.
The country’s largest printing house, which publishes some 30 local
periodicals, claims to have been unable to ship paper since the
closure of the main Russian-Georgian border crossing last summer. The
privately owned company, Tigran Mets, announced late last week that
it has run out of stock and will not accept printing orders from
clients until further notice.
Virtually none of the affected publications has suspended publication
so far, however. Some have temporarily switched to other, smaller
printing houses. Others continue to be produced by Tigran Mets on
thicker and more expensive paper which is normally used for books.
They have had to reduce their already small printing runs to offset
the extra publishing costs involved.
Tigran Mets owner and Chief Executive Officer Vrezh Markosian told
EurasiaNet on November 12 that the crisis will likely end by the
December 16-17 weekend. "We expect to get a fresh batch of newsprint
on Friday or Sunday at the latest," he said. "It is on its way to
Armenia."
Tigran Mets has for years imported Russian-made newsprint to Armenia
via neighboring Georgia, usually by trucks. The company says the
Russian government’s decision in June to "temporarily" shut down the
sole functioning Russian-Georgian border crossing at Upper Lars left
more than 200 tons of its newly purchased paper stranded in southern
Russia. The all-out Russian transport blockade subsequently imposed
on Georgia forced it to divert the cargo consignment to the Ukrainian
Black Sea port of Ilyichevsk, which operates a regular rail ferry
service with Poti, Georgia.
Markosian and government officials in Yerevan say the ferry link,
heavily used by Armenia in its external trade, was not operational
during most of November because of stormy weather. The explanation
seems less than convincing to Armenian newspaper editors and leaders
of media associations. In particular, they wonder why Markosian took
six months to reroute the newsprint deliveries and why he warned
customers of the problem at short notice.
"I can’t say for certain that there is no politics involved here,"
said Aram Abrahamian, editor of the independent daily Aravot. "I can
only hope that the reasons [for the shortage] are really economic."
Boris Navasardian, chairman of the Yerevan Press Club, voiced similar
suspicions, arguing that imports of other commodities have barely
been affected by the Russian-Georgian confrontation and other
problems complicating landlocked Armenia’s transport communication
with the outside world. "In countries like ours, the authorities can
take any step to restrict freedom of speech and dissemination of
information," he told a November 6 roundtable discussion in Yerevan.
The Armenian print media have not faced serious government
restrictions until now, with many newspapers routinely making harsh
attacks on President Robert Kocharian and other top officials. Most
of the country’s five national dailies and a dozen other major
publications are highly critical of the authorities. They are
tolerated by the latter not least because of their small circulation
and the resulting limited impact on public opinion. The best-selling
local daily, Haykakan Zhamanak, sells less than 6,000 copies a day
and is only eight pages long.
Instead, Kocharian maintains a tight grip on the far more accessible
electronic media. The presidential administration is believed to
control the news coverage of dozens of big and small television
stations operating in Yerevan and across the country. The only TV
channel that regularly aired criticism of the Armenian president and
his cabinet was controversially pulled off the air in April 2002. The
de facto closure of the popular A1+ station was condemned by local
and international media watchdogs. One of them, the Washington,
DC-based Freedom House, has described the Armenian media as "not
free" in its annual reports released since the closure.
Another watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), put Armenia in a
lowly 101st place in its latest list of 168 nations ranked in terms
of press freedom protection. The Paris-based group pointed not only
to the de facto government control of Armenian broadcasters, but also
to periodical physical attacks on local print journalists. In the
most recent of such cases reported in September, unknown men ambushed
and beat up Hovannes Galajian, editor of the opposition-linked
Iravunk weekly. Also in September, another newspaper editor critical
of the government, Arman Babajanian, was sentenced to four years in
prison for dodging military service. While Babajanian pleaded guilty
to the charge, the sentence was unusually harsh by Armenian
standards.
The newsprint shortage, coupled with Babajanian’s imprisonment and
violence against other journalists, is raising fears among media
professionals that the authorities have decided to get tougher on the
defiant print press ahead of parliamentary elections next spring.
"We will somehow overcome this crisis, but what is going to happen
next?" asked Hagop Avedikian, the veteran editor-in-chief of another
daily, Azg. Avedikian is particularly worried about newspaper
distribution in Armenia, which he believes could become an even more
serious problem. Private distribution agencies that owe considerable
sums to Azg and other papers, he explained, are increasingly facing
bankruptcy.
"What is happening now is extremely dangerous," said Nune Sargsian,
head of the Yerevan office of the US media support group Internews.
"What will we do if the same situation arises during the election
period? That may happen and we must be prepared for that."
Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and
political analyst.