THE ARMENIAN MEDIA IN LEBANON: PRE-ELECTION DIVISIONS
Menassat
news-articles/6578-look-armenian-media-lebanon
May 28 2009
Between 1915-1920, Armenians living under the Ottoman Empire were part
of a genocidal policy that took the lives of an estimated 1.5 million
people and led to the emigration of hundreds of thousands of survivors
to the Levant. They settled in countries like Iraq, Syria, Lebanon
and Palestine to become an important cultural component of the region
as a whole. Armenians in Lebanon are seen as the swing vote in this
years June parliamentary elections, and as part of MENASSAT’s election
coverage, we survey the Armenian media sector in Lebanon. By HANI NAIM
Armenian media fall into Lebanese political divisions, though community
members say Armenian issues will always prevail
BEIRUT, May 28, 2009 (MENASSAT) – Marking the 94th anniversary of
the Armenian genocide on April 24 this year, Armenians in Lebanon
have become a significant force in Lebanese politics.
In this multi-confessional country of 3 million, estimates put the
Armenian-Lebanese population somewhere around 150,000. And after
voting reform laws were introduced last year, Armenians are uniquely
placed in key electoral districts and are expected to be the swing
vote in Lebanon’s June 7 parliamentary elections.
Armenian media has played a significant part in defining Armenian
political platforms where Lebanese politics is concerned, and both
main Lebanese political camps in Lebanon – the pro-western March 14
movement and the Hezbollah-led opposition – have been careful to make
concessions to the Armenians.
Fiercely attached to their political, historical, and cultural legacy
post-Genocide, Armenians have always had a powerful internal media
element.
Early on in their arrival to Lebanon between 1915 and 1920, Armenians
began publishing Armenian language newspapers. Between 1927 and 1937
is described by Armenian historians in Lebanon as the golden era
of Armenian press when all three of the Lebanon’s major Armenian
newspapers were founded.
The first Armenian newspaper called Aztag began in 1927. The paper
was, and still is the mouthpiece of the largest Armenian party,
the Tashnak party (The Armenian Federal Revolutionary Party).
In today’s current political climate, the Tashnak party is aligned
with the March 8 coalition, the opposition political alliance with
Christian supporters loyal to Lebanese Army general, Michel Aoun,
and Shia supporters of Hezbollah.
9 years before Lebanon’s declaration of independence, a second
Armenian-language paper – Ararat – was established in 1937.
Named after the famed Mount Ararat in present day Turkey, the
Mt. Fuji-like symbol for Armenians, Ararat has emerged as the
mouthpiece for the Hanshak party, the Socialist Democratic Party.
The other major Armenian newspaper of record, Zartonk (The Renaissance)
was also founded in 1937 and represents the Armenian Liberal Democratic
Party, Ramgafar.
Both papers are aligned with the pro-western March 14 coalition –
currently the majority in government.
Aztag newspaper
Aztag describes itself as "a daily political and literary newspaper,"
and its headquarters in a Tashnak-owned building in the Armenian
district north of Beirut called Borj Hammoud – a swamp area first
settled by Armenian genocide survivors in 1915.
During the Lebanese civil war between 1975 and 1990 that cost some
200,000 Lebanese lives, the volume of the newspaper was reduced but
it never stopped publishing.
The newspaper consists of ten pages, divided into different subjects,
mainly concerning the Republic of Armenia and its various national
causes.
The op-ed and the first page usually contain Lebanese, Armenian,
regional and international news.
The internal pages are divided into Lebanese political news, Armenian
cultural and political news from the Armenian Diaspora, including
international genocide recognition campaigns and cultural and artistic
news, features and opinion.
The newspaper issues a monthly special dedicated to children between
5 and 15 years old, comprised of writings and drawings from Armenian
students around the world.
Aztag also publishes two yearly publications: the first at the
beginning of each year, which reviews the major events that occurred
during the passing year and analysis for the next year.
The second yearly publication is issued on April 24th of each year,
on the anniversary of the Armenian genocide. It includes sections on
preserving Armenian history and culture, and includes artistic and
written features about the Armenian cause, in addition to interviews
with genocide survivors.
The newspaper was also the first to issue an Arabic publication in
1996, but soon stopped because "the Lebanese general opinion has
their media, and what concerns us is to address the Armenians,"
former Aztag editor Armin Abdlian told MENASSAT.
Ararat newspaper
In 1937, Ararat entered the newspaper fray, and immediately injected
a fresh voice into Armenian general politics and opinion.
Representing the Hanshak party, the newspaper suffered from harassment
from the Lebanese political authorities in the 1950s and 1960s because
of the papers editorial opposition to the Lebanese government.
The paper suffered from frequent government closures as a result.
In 1978, three years after the beginning of the 1975-1990 Lebanese
civil war, militiamen affiliated with the Lebanese Forces and
other right-wing Christian parties attacked the headquarters of
the newspaper.
The attacking militiamen also destroyed Ararat’s entire newspaper
archive.
Theories behind the attack center around the political alliances
the paper’s editorial support of Lebanon’s leftist political and
Muslim-oriented militias (grouped together in the Lebanese National
Movement), that supported and received support from the Palestinian
Liberation Organization headed then by Yasser Arafat.
The newspaper continued its daily publishing until 2002 when it
switched formats and began published weekly until 2005, when it
resumed daily distribution again.
In 2009, the paper turned to a compact four-page daily news and
analysis format, and based the layout redesign on a Armenian readership
poll that posed the question: "What does the Armenian reader want in
a newspaper?"
According to Ararat’s managing editor, Aharon Shikherdimian, the polled
said, "The reader doesn’t like reading news because he receives them
from other media. He is looking for political and cultural analysis"
The newspaper covers the Lebanese political movement, the essential
activities of the Hanshak party, Armenian Diaspora news and local
Armenian current events. It also focuses on analysis concerning local,
regional and international political events.
Ararat also focuses on news from Armenia and its neighboring countries.
Zartonk newspaper
The Ramgafar party newspaper Zartonk appeared on the Lebanese newspaper
scene the same year as Ararat in 1937.
It remained active as a daily until the end of 2006, when it scaled
back distribution and then stopped publishing in a daily format in
the end of 2007.
Zartonk re-launched in May 2008 on a semi-monthly basis, and in March
2009, it increased its publication to three issues per week.
Managing director of Zartonk, Sarkis Savrian told MENASSAT, "The real
difficulties with our paper, in terms of publishing and distribution
have mainly been political problems. But we’ve had major reshuffling
of the administrative team over the years – as well as internal
issues with the Ramgafar party," although he wouldn’t elaborate on
what those internal issues were.
Savrian said Zartonk issued an Arabic version of the newspaper
between 2004 and 2007, and pledged by years end that they would resume
republishing it. "We will also restart our daily publishing schedule
again by the end of the year after a little more organizational
restructuring," he said.
It is worth noting that the new newspaper format has also begun
publishing smaller editions and has been praised in the Armenian
Diaspora for its international journalistic standards and lack of
partisanship.
Like the rest of the Lebanese media, partisan reporting tends to
dominate the editorial lens for what is published.
Voice of Van
The Armenian parties have continued to address Armenian general opinion
through the newspapers, but in 1986, the domination of the newspaper
as a medium in the Armenian community changed when a member of the
Tashnak party established an independent radio station – the Voice
of Van (a lake in ancestral Armenian land in eastern Turkey).
Two years later in 1988, the radio fell under the managerial control
of the Tashnak party and became its official radio outlet.
This radio station is diverse with its political, cultural and social
programs, in addition to the political programs about Armenian history
and what concerns the Armenian cause as a whole.
It also broadcasts a daily program in Arabic treating political and
cultural subjects important to Armenians.
Voice of Van remained an only child until the beginning of February
2008, when Sevan (a lake in the Armenian Republic) broke radio silence.
Sevan radio was considered the first non-partisan Armenian media outlet
in Lebanon when it launched, but has slid increasingly towards the
pro-government March 14 coalition, a political talk show programmer,
Shiraz Jarhajian told MENASSAT.
During the street violence between Lebanon’s rival political camps
in May 2008, militiamen aligned with the Hezbollah-led opposition,
burned the offices of the radio station, and for one month after
the cessation of violence and the signing of the May 2008 Doha peace
accord the station was off the air.
In the summer of 2008, Sevan re-launched from an Armenian majority
neighborhood in eastern Beirut.
Jarhajian explained, "This region was safer and easier for the
guests to get to. It also allowed reporting from the main Armenian
neighborhood, Borj Hammoud"
The TV stations: Armenian journals
In the early 2000s, as the Lebanese-Armenian political and business
influence began to have more sway in the country’s political scene,
Lebanese television networks began catering to the Armenian audience.
In 2001, the national Lebanese Television network began broadcasting a
daily 10-minute news Journal in Armenian, in addition to its journals
in French and English.
Today, the journal has been extended to a proper 30 minutes show,
divided into three categories: Lebanese, Armenian and international
news items.
In the Lebanese section, it focuses on the main local political
news. The Armenian section includes news of official political events
in Armenia-proper.
On the official day of commemoration for the Armenian genocide
this year (April 24), and on the eve of the Lebanese parliamentary
elections, the Christian opposition Free Patriotic Movement-affiliated
TV station – OTV – started broadcasting a 30-minute Armenian news
program.
Future TV broadcaster Grace Domanian al-Helu who works with a
longer-standing 30-minute Armenian news program on the Pro-March
14 Future TV network, says the OTV decision was a purely political
decision. "Because we are on the eve of the elections," he told
MENASSAT.
Abdalian agrees with Domanian saying "OTV wins from this journal on
the political, electoral and even commercial levels. This affair is
political on the first place."
A "light" political conflict
It could be said that there is no independent Armenian media. The
Armenian press is primarily partisan, as seen with the two radio
stations, Tashnak and Seven.
However, despite the Armenian parties being divided on the political
level between the opposition and the majority, the media does not
mirror this division as much as Lebanese media outlets do.
For example, the Armenian media stayed away from using rhetoric of
mistrust and accusations commonly found in Lebanese outlets since the
assassination of former Lebanese PM, Rafiq Hariri on February 14, 2005.
The division is existent, says Abdalian, but "we are more evolved in
the media and in the way we deal with it than the others."
Shirkhardimian also agrees that there is a schism and criticizes the
Lebanese media which uses "accusatory speech that started in 2005."
He also said that he appreciates the Armenian journals on Lebanese
channels, but criticized OTV for its attack against March 14 and the
Armenian parties supporting the majority.
"If the aim is to open a front, this is the wrong way," he said.
Abdalian on the other hand criticized the Future TV Armenian
journal. "Similar to the Hanshak and the Ramgafar journal, they
are attacking us constantly," referring to those who sided with
the opposition.
However, as Safarian says, there is a greater issue at hand for
Armenians.
"The Armenian parties are united on Armenian causes. Their problem
in Lebanon is being reduced to being part of a battle over power."