Public TV, Armenia
Jan 14 2008
Armenian public broadcaster pledges balanced coverage of February
polls
[Correspondent] Public TV and Radio will ensure balance and
neutrality during the campaign for [19 February] presidential
election.
The campaign of both authorities’ and opposition’s candidates will be
covered equally. Apart from 60 minutes of free airtime and 120
minutes of paid airtime [on TV] stipulated by the law, uniformity
will be ensured in "Haylur" [Armenian Public TV’s news bulletin].
Chairman of the Public Radio and Television Council Aleksan
Harutyunyan met journalists before the start of the presidential
election campaign. The candidates will be on Armenian Public TV after
the 1700 [1300 gmt] "Haylur" news bulletin till the evening 2100
[1700 gmt] "Haylur" news. They will speak on Radio starting from 1330
[0930 gmt]. This broadcast time has not been selected at random. The
public [broadcaster] has the largest audience at that part of the
day. This was identified by the well-known AGB audience rating
company at the request of the public [broadcaster].
Aleksan Harutyunyan did not rule out that like in Georgia, in Armenia
as well influential international companies would be invited both
before and after elections, which would conduct opinion polls on the
spot. [Video shows a news conference]
[Aleksan Harutyunyan, speaking at the news conference] International
observers’ evaluation of the work of Public TV and Public Radio was
positive in general during the latest two elections, and our task is
to ensure that there is a similar positive evaluation this time as
well.