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Armenian Center for National and International Studies
75 Yerznkian Street
Yerevan 0033, Armenia
Tel: (+374 – 10) 52.87.80 or 27.48.18
Fax: (+374 – 10) 52.48.46
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
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March 7, 2007
ACNIS Monitors Pre-Election Media Coverage
Yerevan–Today the Armenian Center for National and International Studies
(ACNIS) convened a policy roundtable in order to present the preliminary
results of its monitoring of the Armenian print and electronic media, which
was conducted in advance of the parliamentary elections scheduled for May
12. The meeting brought together NGO officials, leading analysts, policy
specialists, and media representatives.
ACNIS director of research Stepan Safarian opened the conference with a
remark that since the beginning of the year a specialized monitoring group,
constituted within the ACNIS framework to observe the pre-electoral
situation in Armenia, has launched a four-month project to analyze local
television and print media coverage specifically with respect to the
forthcoming elections. The monitoring results, he asserted, will
periodically be provided to all major political forces, civil initiatives,
and the resident offices of international non-governmental organizations and
human rights groups. “The objective of this examination is to bring to light
the public opinion being shaped via Armenia’s print and electronic media
with reference to the parliamentary elections, and to evaluate the
competitive abilities of those who seek to be influential during the
election cycle,” he said.
According to Safarian, the first monitoring, conducted by means of content
analysis, covers the country’s best-known television programs as well as its
most-read daily newspapers. The study encompasses all information
disseminated about the leaders of major political parties, the quality of
the public opinion being formed about them, the frequency of airtime, and
other aspects. Safarian then proceeded to present the initial results of the
television monitoring, which will soon be made public in final form. “The
television companies appeared mostly to be instruments in, rather than
actual mirrors of, election-related developments, and their prime target
consistently was the opposition,” Safarian concluded.
The next speaker, ACNIS analyst Syuzanna Barseghian, presented the results
for the monitoring of the print media. She placed emphasis on the most-read
newspapers, and maintained that the overwhelming majority of the articles
and analyses concerning the elections is either negative or neutral. “In
general, virtually all print media depicted the upcoming elections in
negative fashion, with the net effect of disenchanting voters who already
hold a passive attitude toward the elections,” she said.
“Recent disagreements within the opposition were used by many of the media
under scrutiny with the intention of weakening and discrediting the latter
and deepening public dissatisfaction with the opposition,” the analyst said,
adding that the print and electronic media either covered the opposition’s
initiatives with bias or, as was more often the case, did not mention them
at all. On the contrary and in evident violation of the Election Code, the
activities of pro-establishment parties were covered, by and large, against
a positive backdrop for the ongoing pre-election processes.
Participants in the ensuing discussion included Armenia’s first Ombudswoman
Larisa Alaverdian; chairman Mikael Danielian of the Armenian Helsinki
Association; Elina Poghosbekian of the Yerevan Press Club; ACNIS director of
administration Karapet Kalenchian; political scientist Aleksandr
Iskandarian; Edward Antinian, deputy chairman of the Liberal Progressive
Party; Arsen Kharatian of the “Scientific Development” NGO; Haik Gevorgian
of the Haykakan Zhamanak daily; and various others.
The roundtable participants seemed to be in consensus that the monitoring
findings bespeak the fact that a markedly uneven and unfair playing field
has been formed with respect to the parliamentary election campaign. It was
recommended and acclaimed, therefore, that the results of this monitoring be
jointly directed to the cause of realizing everyone’s right to be informed.
Otherwise, as one seminar participant aptly put it, “those who bask under
the umbrella of the authorities will relish the splendor of the campaign,
whereas the opposition will continue to bear its misery.”
Founded in 1994 by Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi K.
Hovannisian and supported by a global network of contributors, ACNIS serves
as a link between innovative scholarship and the public policy challenges
facing Armenia and the Armenian people in the post-Soviet world. It also
aspires to be a catalyst for creative, strategic thinking and a wider
understanding of the new global environment. In 2007, the Center focuses
primarily on civic education, democratic development, conflict resolution,
and applied research on critical domestic and foreign policy issues for the
state and the nation.
For further information on the Center call (37410) 52-87-80 or 27-48-18; fax
(37410) 52-48-46; email [email protected] or [email protected]; or visit
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
