Hayots Ashkharh Daily, Armenia
Dec 4 2007

83 RADICAL SPEECHES IN 80 DAYS

On an air `supervised’ by the authorities

The press service of the RA President has conducted the regular
(the fourth) monitoring among the broadcasting companies, in an
attempt to figure out to what extent the rumors on the native
Oppositions’ being deprived of voice, i.e. having no chances to
appear to public prior to the elections, correspond to reality.
The observation covered the heated period of the pre-electoral
autumn, i.e. September 5-November 25, monitoring the `political
programs’ broadcast by `Shant’, `Kentron’, H2, `TV-5′, `Ar’, `Yerkir
Media’ TV channels. The press service applied to the TV Companies
with a request to obtain from their archives the video records of the
political programs participated by the pro-Opposition political
figures and the leaders of parties not forming part of authority,
potential candidates for presidency and representatives of political
forces supporting them, as well as independent political and economic
analysts, sociologists, prominent public figures.
In short, politically active individuals whose chances to express
themselves freely are, as a rule, taken for granted by the western
structures while assessing the level of freedom of speech in this or
that country.
The results of this monitoring do not almost differ from the
previous one, and, as they say, there’s no need for comments.
Here they are. Capable of influencing public opinion, the
specified groups have, within the 80-day period of conducting the
observation, appeared on the above-mentioned TV channels 83 times.
And this is by the most modest calculations In the meantime, their
speeches were not brief introductions; these people appeared in
broadcasts lasting more than half an hour. Moreover, from time to
time, (e.g. on November 14 and 16, when the demonstration movement
was at the peak) almost the whole primary air-time of those TV
channels was devoted to the speeches of those radical figures.
In particular, the representatives of `Rule of Law’ appeared on
these channels 8 times, with Arthur Baghdasaryan having made a speech
4 times. The representatives of `Heritage’ party (Stepan Safaryan,
Vardan Khachatryan, Anahit Bakhshyan and Larisa Alaverdyan) have
appeared 7 times. The members of the Armenian pan-National Movement
and the circles pursuing their views have cursed the authorities 15
times from the air of the TV Channels `totally supervised by the
Presidential residence’. Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, leader of the
Armenian Liberal Progressive Party, has managed to do this 3 times.
Hrant Bagratyan, Head of `Liberty’ faction, Eduard Aghajanov, an
economist belonging to `Armat’ (root) party, and Aram Z. Sargsyan,
leader of `Republic’ party, have each managed to do so twice. As to
Stepan Demortchyan, leader of the Armenian People’s Party, and Souren
Sourenyants, Speaker of `Republic’ party, each of them has done the
same only once. Happy for LTP’s `Second Advent’, Manouk Gasparyan,
Head of Democratic Path Party, has made the same step 3 times.
Vazgen Manoukyan has appeared on the `supervised air’ 5 times,
Artashes Geghamnyan, Head of National Unity Party – 4 times, the
leader of `New Times’ party – 3 times. There were also many cases
when the `guests’ refused the invitation with some consideration. For
instance, leader of `Heritage’ party Raffi Hovhannisyan has refused
the `services’ H2 and `Yerkir-Media’ TV channels, and Artashes
Geghamyan has refused the `services’ of H2 TV Channel. The troika
leading the Armenian pan-National Movement, i.e. Babken Ararksyan,
Aram Manoukyan and Ararat Zourabyan, have not accepted the
invitations of `Kentron’, `TV-5′ and `Shant’ TV channels. Perhaps
this is an easier way for them to present themselves as persecuted
creatures in front of the European structures. It is noteworthy that
the commentator of `Shant’ TV was intimidated after offering B.
Ararksyan to appear on the air of `Heankar’ (prospect) program.
The above-mentioned political programs were periodically
participated by Albert Bazeyan, Head of `National Revival’ party,
Paruyr Hayrikyan, leader of National Self-Determination Union,
Shavarsh Kocharyan, leader of the National Democratic Party, and the
representatives of different communist parties, including Frounze
Kharatyan, Vazgen Safaryan, chief Marxist David Hakobyan, a
self-nominated candidate heralding Mr. Ter-Petrosyan’s `return’, as
well as Arshak Sadoyan, leader of the National Democratic Union. And
it is, mildly speaking, difficult to suspect them of being
pro-Governmental figures. Stepan Grigoryan, a political scientist
belonging to `Armat’ party, Varouzhan Hotkanyan, Vice Chair of
`Transparency International-Armenia’ NGO, and Karine Hakobyan, an
`independent’ pro-Opposition analyst, were also among them.
Political-scientist Alexander Iskandaryan, Artsroun Pepanyan,
Andranik Tevanyan, Gnel Ghlechyan former political secretary of
`Dashink’ and others, i.e. people who either act from neutral
positions or, as it is common in our reality, criticize the
authorities.
Let’s remind you that the Public Television was left beyond the
framework of the observation. And among the guest speakers of
`Megapolis’, a program broadcast by this particular TV channel, were
Arthur Baghdasaryan, Vazgen Manoukyan, Artashes Geghamyan and Aram
Karapetyan, as well as ALM and `Yerevan’ studios which, naturally, do
not `fail’ to give the Opposition an air-time.
The press service of the President does not follow the activeness
of the pro-Governmental political figures, as much as these people’s
appearing on air is concerned. However, based `individual
observation’, we can state that the latter very seldom appear on air,
and whenever they do so, they more act from the positions of
protecting themselves.
If we add to it the printed and on-line press, among which the
media supporting the Armenian pan-National Movement constitute an
absolute majority, it will become obvious that there are, mildly
speaking, no grounds for speaking about the restriction of freedom of
speech in Armenia.
Armenia passed the test in `freedom of speech’ long ago. And the
report published by `Reporters without Borders’, a public
organization warmly favored by pro-radicals, is a fair example of
that. According to the report, Armenia has considerably improved its
positions, ranking as the 77 country on the world-scale (among 169
states) and the second country after Georgia in the CIS territory.

LILIT POGHOSYAN