YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
MAY 29 – JUNE 4, 2009
HIGHLIGHTS:
YPC RELEASED PRELIMINARY REPORT ON MONITORING THE COVERAGE OF ELECTIONS TO
YEREVAN COUNCIL OF ELDERLY BY TV CHANNELS
INCIDENTS WITH MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES ON VOTING DAY
"YERKIR MEDIA" CELEBRATED ITS 5TH ANNIVERSARY
YPC RELEASED PRELIMINARY REPORT ON MONITORING THE COVERAGE OF ELECTIONS TO
YEREVAN COUNCIL OF ELDERLY BY TV CHANNELS
On June 1 at "Urbat" club Yerevan Press Club presented the preliminary
report on monitoring the coverage of elections to Yerevan Council of Elderly
of May 31, 2009, by TV channels. The monitoring was implemented by Yerevan
Press Club, with the financial support of Open Society Institute, from April
16 till May 29, 2009. The research was administered in two stages: first
stage – April 16 – May 1, 2009 (ahead of the pre-election promotion); second
stage – May 2-29, 2009 (period of pre-election promotion).
The monitoring covered 7 TV channels: 3 national ones – First Channel of the
Public Television of Armenia, "ALM", Second Armenian TV Channel; 4 channels
of Yerevan – "ArmNews", "Yerkir Media", "Kentron", "Shant".
The monitoring object was all programs, aired at the evening prime time of
the abovementioned TV channels, containing references to six parties and one
party bloc/their leaders/representatives, running in the elections of
Yerevan Council of Elderly; as well as the airtime, allocated for
pre-election promotion of parties/bloc.
During the period of April 16 – May 3, 2009 programs, aired by 7 broadcast
media from 18.00 till 24.00, were studied. From May 4 the monitoring time
was shifted to an hour earlier – from 17.00 till 24.00. This was due to the
time of demonstration of the pre-election promotion materials of the
parties/bloc. In particular, on the First Channel of the Public Television
of Armenia, in accordance with the RA Central Electoral Commission
Resolution of May 2, 2009, the pre-election promotion of parties/bloc was
broadcast starting from 17.15. Notably, the programs that started but did
not end before 18.00, or before 17.00 from May 4, were not studied. The
programs that started but did not end till 24.00 were studied in full, until
their end (for details on the monitoring methodology, see below).
THE COVERAGE BY THE TV CHANNELS STUDIED both ahead of (April 16-May 1, 2009)
and during (May 2-29, 2009) the official pre-election promotion, if one
judges by the proportion of neutral and connotational references, was
characterized by relative impartiality. Thus, during the pre-election
promotion 95.8% of all references to parties/bloc, running in elections,
were neutral. In this regard the elections to Yerevan Council of Elderly
were quite different from the presidential elections of 2008, when the
dissemination of negative information about one of the candidates on the
national and Yerevan broadcast media was unmatched in scale for national and
Yerevan broadcast media. At the same time, the present election campaign,
too, reflected the main problematic trends in broadcast media of Armenia.
In terms of the nature of coverage the 7 political forces, running in
elections, can be conventionally classed into four categories. The
monitoring group classed with the first category the Popular Party, which
received greatest attention both during the sixteen days (April 16 – May 1,
2009), directly preceding the pre-election promotion (44,481.6 sec.), and
during the four weeks (May 2-29, 2009) of the pre-election promotion itself
(112,144.1 sec.). The main distinctive feature in the coverage of the
Popular Party was the fact that the lion share of the airtime it received
(94.7% before the pre-election promotion and 89.1% during the pre-election
promotion) came from "ALM" TV channel, owned by the leader of Popular Party
Tigran Karapetian. Tigran Karapetian himself (heading the electoral list of
the party) got 98% of all airtime, allocated to his party at both stages of
the research.
The second category includes four parties, making up until recently the
ruling coalition: "Prosperous Armenia" (82,291 sec. on all 7 TV channels on
May 2-29), "Dashnaktsutiun" (66,987.8 sec.), Republican Party of Armenia
(58,126.2 sec.),"Orinats Yerkir" (57,113.6 sec.). In terms of aggregate
volume of coverage, these four parties immediately follow the Popular Party,
yet the attention to them was distributed much more evenly among all
channels studied than it was in the case of Popular Party.
Parties classed in the first and second categories are united by the fact
they had positive balance of connotationally colored references during the
pre-election promotion. Besides, they – but for "Orinats Yerkir" – received
particular attention from a certain TV channel. The special relations of
Popular Party and "ALM" TV channel were noted above, yet, even though to a
lesser degree, three more parties had apparent information preferences.
"Prosperous Armenia" was the obvious leader on the air of "Kentron" (the
coverage it received during the pre-election promotion was twice as much as
that of "Dashnaktsutiun" party, the second one in terms of attention on this
channel). "Kentron" also gave 12 out of 19 positive references to the
"Prosperous Armenia". "Dashnaktsutiun" was unrivaled on "Yerkir Media",
having received during the pre-election promotion half of the coverage that
this channel gave to all 7 political forces. All 3 positive references to
"Dashnaktsutiun" were given to "Yerkir Media". Republican Party of Armenia
on the Second Armenian TV Channel and "ArmNews" during the pre-election
promotion was not only the leader in terms of coverage, but also had an
explicitly positive balance of connotational references on their air: 12
positive ones versus no negative on the Second Armenian TV Channel, 9
positive versus no negative on "ArmNews". The superiority of Republican
Party of Armenia on "Shant" TV channel was less obvious: here the
Republicans were slightly ahead of "Prosperous Armenia" in terms of airtime,
receiving 4 connotational references (all being positive). All in all, the
balance of connotational (positive-negative) references to the Republican
Party on the 7 TV channels studied makes 39-9.
The third category includes Armenian National Congress bloc that is somewhat
behind the quartet of the second category, but is also the only of the 7
political forces, running in elections, to have a negative balance of
connotation references (0 positive versus 4 negative ones) during the
pre-election promotion. Unlike 4 out of 5 parties, classed with the first
and the second categories, the Armenian National Congress has not received
explicit attention on any of the TV channels: while it was the leader during
the pre-election promotion in terms of coverage on the First Channel of
Public Television of Armenia, the gap between it and its rivals was
insignificant.
Finally, the fourth category included the Labor Socialist Party of Armenia,
which was an explicit outsider in terms of the interest received from TV
channels during the pre-election promotion – both overall, and on 6 of the 7
studied. It received the least coverage and was referred to much more seldom
than its rivals. The Labor Socialist Party of Armenia was also the only that
received no connotation reference.
AS TO THE FIRST FIGURES ON ELECTORAL LISTS of the parties/bloc, running in
elections to the Yerevan Council of Elderly (in fact, the candidates for the
Mayor’s office), the greatest coverage, as noted above, was given to the
leader of Popular Party Tigran Karapetian. The aggregate airtime allocated
to him during the pre-election promotion on 7 TV channels studied more than
five times exceeds the relevant figure for Heghine Bisharian (number one on
"Orinats Yerkir" list) and Gagik Beglarian (number one on Republican Party
of Armenia list), who were the second and the third in terms of coverage.
Notably, the politicians who headed the lists of "Prosperous Armenia" and
"Dashnaktsutiun", i.e., the parties who were the second and the third in
terms of aggregate coverage, found themselves the fourth and the fifth in
the "ranking of the first figures". To a certain extent this could be
explained by the fact that the election campaign of "Prosperous Armenia"
made an emphasis on the reputation of the party leader Gagik Tsarukian,
while number one on the municipal list, Harutiun Kushkian, was in the shade
of the latter. In the case of "Dashnaktsutiun", the main factor apparently
was the traditional prioritization of collegiate principle, rather than a
personality. The leader of the Armenian National Congress Levon
Ter-Petrosian during the pre-election promotion was the last in terms of
aggregate airtime he personally received, falling even behind the leader of
Labor Socialist Party of Armenia Movses Shakhverdian. This was the direct
consequence of the fact that Ter-Petrosian, unlike the other first figures
on electoral lists, refused to be interviewed and to take part in discussion
programs.
THIS PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN was most intensively covered by "ALM" TV
channels. The aggregate airtime this channel gave to 7 parties/bloc was more
than twice as much as that given by the other two most active TV channels,
"Yerkir Media" and "Kentron". Notably, 62.1% of all airtime, allocated by
"ALM" to 7 parties/bloc, was given to Popular Party. Another significant
feature is the fact that all three TV channels that made up the trio of
leaders in terms of attention to elections had distinct political
preferences, as mentioned above. This can be interpreted to the effect that
the wish of TV channels to contribute to the victory of a certain political
force is a more powerful factor, stimulating their interest in elections,
than their mission to inform the public about important political campaigns.
DURING THE PRE-ELECTION PROMOTION the most balanced coverage of elections
was that on the air of the First Channel of the Public Television of
Armenia. The time, allocated to parties/bloc in the editorial coverage, was
distributed relatively evenly: Armenian National Congress (greatest volume)
received 4,639.9 sec., while the Labor Socialist Party of Armenia (least
volume) had 2,392.7 sec. In terms of frequency of reference the first here
was the Republican Party of Armenia (67), the last – the Labor Socialist
Party of Armenia (15). 97.4% of references of parties/bloc on the PTA First
Channel were neutral.
In terms of airtime allocated to all parties/bloc during the pre-election
promotion the most balanced, after the PTA First Channel was the Second
Armenian TV Channel. These two are followed by "ArmNews", "Shant",
"Kentron", "Yerkir Media", "ALM".
In terms of frequency of reference to parties/bloc during the pre-election
promotion the most balanced, after the PTA First Channel, was "Shant". These
two are followed by the Second Armenian TV Channel, "ArmNews", "ALM",
"Kentron", "Yerkir Media".
Finally, in terms of the third dimension of balance, the share of neutral
references to the parties/bloc during pre-election promotion, "Yerkir Media"
TV channel (99%) surpassed even the PTA First Channel (97.4%). The third in
this ranking is "Shant" (97.3%), followed by "ArmNews" and "Kentron" (96.3%
each), Second Armenian TV Channel (96%), "ALM" (90.6%). 9 out of 10
connotation references, recorded on the air of "ArmNews", and 12 out of 13
on the air of Second Armenian TV Channel were received by Republican Party
of Armenia and they all are positive. In other words, but for the particular
liking these broadcasters have to Republicans, their performance along this
dimension of balance would look much better, too.
In this regard it is important to note that ahead of elections and during
the pre-election promotion, all negative references to parties/bloc, their
representatives were made not by the TV journalists themselves, but were
contained in the opinions voiced by discussion program/newscast
participants. Meanwhile, the positive references in some cases were made by
journalists.
THE BALANCED COVERAGE OF ELECTIONS to a large extent can be estimated also
by the list of guests in discussion programs of the TV channels researched.
The most even representation during the pre-election promotion was ensured
by the PTA First Channel (representatives of all political forces, running
in elections, were invited 1-2 times) and Second Armenian TV Channel (2-3
times). At the same time, the greatest number of guests took part in the
discussion programs of "Yerkir Media", owing to this even the least invited
party, the Labor Socialist Party of Armenia, took part in 5 programs of the
TV channel. 4 political forces were not invited (or did not want to take
part) in the discussion programs of "ArmNews", 2 – on "ALM", "Kentron" and
"Shant" TV channels, each.
The most frequent participants in discussion programs of all 7 TV channels
studied were representatives of "Dashnaktsutiun" (30 times), the least
frequent were those of Armenian National Congress (17) and Labor Socialist
Party of Armenia (9).
ALL POLITICAL FORCES used the free political advertising on PTA First
Channel in full. At the same time, paid advertising volume on the same TV
was used by four out of seven parties/bloc. Republican Party of Armenia,
"Orinats Yerkir", "Prosperous Armenia" and Armenian National Congress were
the closest to using up the limit of paid advertising on the First Channel,
stipulated by the resolution of the RA Central Election Commission of May 2,
2009. The Labor Socialist party of Armenia had no intention to spend money
on paid air, whether of private or public broadcaster.
Five out of seven political forces, running in elections, placed their
pre-election promotion materials on the air of "ALM", four – on "Yerkir
Media", "Kentron" and "Shant" each, three – on Second Armenian TV Channel
and "ArmNews" each. In terms of paid advertising airtime used, the leader
was "Yerkir Media", followed by PTA First Channel, "Kentron", "Shant",
Second Armenian TV Channel, "ALM" and "ArmNews". Yet it should be kept in
mind that more than half of promotional pieces on the air of "Yerkir Media"
was placed by one party, "Dashnaktsutiun".
Most paid advertising on 7 TV channels studied was used by "Prosperous
Armenia" party. The second here was the Republican Party of Armenia, the
third – "Orinats Yerkir". All three of these parties, included in the ruling
coalition, accounted for more than three quarters of all paid political
advertising aired by the channels studied during the pre-election promotion.
The fourth party, "Dashnaktsutiun", used paid air only on one TV channel,
"Yerkir Media". The same is true for Popular Party that placed its paid
promotion only on the air of "ALM". Armenian National Congress placed such
materials on the air of First Channel and three out of six private channels
studied.
The data above show that the paid airtime for pre-election promotion was
only fully used by pro-governmental forces. This once again brings forth the
long-debated issue of the unduly excessive tariffs for political advertising
that do not contribute to ensuring equal opportunities for pre-election
campaigns.
At the same time, a whole number of materials were recorded during the
monitoring that can be perceived as pre-election promotion by indirect
signs, sometimes quite eloquent, that are not, however, accompanied by an
appropriate title on the TV screen. The monitoring group is not aware of any
investigation into such issues being made by the National Commission on
Television and Radio that is to control the adherence of broadcast media
with the electoral legislation.
Overall, it is necessary to note that the insufficiently distinct
definitions and omissions in the legislation, the lack of an adequate
control over its implementation remain the main factors that disallow
eliminating the traditional deficiencies in the election reporting, along
with the lack of plurality in the broadcast sphere.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE STUDY
Monitoring objectives: to determine and define through analysis of
quantitative data
– the effectiveness of legislative regulation of the broadcast media
(primarily, the public ones) activities and the level of observance of the
legislation by the TV channels during the elections;
– the level of attention of broadcast media of Armenia to the elections of
Yerevan Council of Elderly;
– how adequate the broadcast media were in informing the electorate about
parties/party bloc, running in the elections of Yerevan Council of Elderly;
– how adequate the broadcast media were in ensuring the access to air of the
candidates to Yerevan Council of Elderly to express their views and
opinions.
To meet these objectives, methodologies of qualitative and quantitative
monitoring were applied. The qualitative monitoring included studying
legislation and other official documents, relevant for the elections process
in Armenia, conversations with media heads, journalists, politicians,
representatives of the public, as well as the analysis of public statements,
opinions voiced regarding the media activities at pre-election time.
Quantitative monitoring included counting and measuring of TV programs
directly.
Monitoring Methodology
All materials of the airtime studied were subdivided into two types:
1. Editorial coverage;
2. Pre-election promotion (political advertising), allocated to the
parties/bloc, running in the elections of Yerevan Council of Elderly.
All the necessary data for monitoring were recorded in two tables. Table
No.1 presented the parties/bloc, running in the elections of Yerevan Council
of Elderly and the first two figures in the electoral lists of parties/bloc.
Table No.2 presented the first figures in the electoral lists.
1. The main study unit was TV piece.
2. Monitors recorded the references (in units), their connotations/nature
(positive [+], negative [-], neutral [0]), as well as the airtime (in
seconds), allocated to 7 parties/bloc, running in the elections of Yerevan
Council of Elderly, in the editorial coverage of the broadcast media
studied. The party/bloc "accounts" also received the portion of references
(their connotations) and the airtime given to the representatives of these
parties/bloc (their statements, speeches, quotations, as well as
descriptions of their activities, opinion and comment about them by other
persons). The references (their connotations), airtime dealing with the
first two numbers in the electoral lists of the parties/bloc were recorded,
regardless of the capacity these figures appeared in. In the cases with
other representatives of a party/bloc, as well as with the representatives
of an election headquarters/proxy of a party/bloc, the references (their
connotations), airtime were only recorded when their party affiliation was
somehow stressed in the TV piece.
The connotation (positive, negative) references were seen to be the ones in
the pieces that leave an undoubtedly positive or negative overall impression
on the audience about the party/bloc or its representatives. In the cases
when the connotation was not that certain, the reference is recorded as
neutral. All doubts of the monitor were interpreted towards recording a
neutral reference. Moreover, if the piece informed that any
person/organization had publicly announced its support/or lack of support to
the party/bloc, the reference to this party/bloc was recorded as
positive/negative, respectively.
In each TV piece only one reference and only one connotation sign was
recorded for every party/bloc or its representatives.
Any appearance of the first two figures in the electoral list of a
party/bloc in a TV shot, which was not a part of the piece where the
party/bloc was mentioned, was also considered to be a reference. If the
appearance in the shot was a part of the piece where the party/bloc was
mentioned, this did not count as an additional reference.
The reference (its connotation), airtime, allocated to the first figure in
the electoral list of party/bloc were recorded in Table No.2, as well as in
the appropriate column of party/bloc in Table No.1.
Apart from recording the airtime, allocated to the number one in the
electoral list, the capacity in which it appears was also studied. Thus, the
airtime was differentiated and classed appropriately, according to whether
it was allocated to the first figure for the coverage of his/her:
1. Official and professional activities;
2. Activities that are not directly related to professional or official
duties.
3. The monitors also recorded and measured the volume of the materials,
i.e., the airtime (in seconds), allocated to the party/bloc for pre-election
promotion in broadcast media studied (17.00-24.00) and marked on TV channels
as "pre-election promotion". The volume of paid and free political
advertising was measured separately. The political advertising slot that
started but did not end till 17.00 was not monitored. The political
advertising slot that started but did not end till 24.00 was studied in
full, until its end.
4. The monitors recorded the participants of discussion programs
(interviews, guest in studio, talk shows) for the TV channels studied by a
separate list, mentioning the TV channel, the title of the program, the
name(s) and position(s) of the participants invited. If the discussion
program participant was not the first or the second in the electoral list of
party/bloc, but other representative of party/bloc or its election
headquarters/proxy, and in the program this status was specified, in the
list of discussion program participants the program was recorded as
featuring the party/bloc.
INCIDENTS WITH MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES ON VOTING DAY
On May 31, on the day of elections to Yerevan Council of Elderly, at several
polling stations incidents with media representatives occurred. During a
press conference on June 2 the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression
presented the cases of impeding the professional activities of journalists
on voting day.
Around 10.30 at the precinct 9/01 of Erebuni community of Yerevan the
bodyguards of RA National Assembly deputy Levon Sargsian evicted the
correspondents of "Chorrord Ishkhanutiun" newspaper Gohar Vezirian, "Hayk"
daily Tatev Mesropian and "Zhamanak" daily Marineh Kharatian out of the
station, by spouting oaths and using force. Notably, they hit Gohar
Vezirian by feet, and took away the recorder of Marineh Kharatian. According
to the RA Police report, at 10.45 an alarm about the incident at the polling
station was received from "Hayk" daily Chief Editor Gegham Nazarian. Later,
the Police informed that at 14.00 the bodyguard of RA NA deputy Levon
Sargsian has addressed to the Erebuni Police Department of Yerevan with a
notice. The notice stated that "while RA NA deputy L.Sargsian was voting,
the correspondent of "Chorrord Ishkhanutiun" newspaper Gohar Vezirian fell
upon them with oaths, thus disturbing the public order".
Around 15.00 at the precinct 8/01 of Malatia-Sebastia community of Yerevan
part-time correspondent of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily Artur Hovakimian
started taking photos of young men of athletic construction, who, according
to him, were intending to stuff the voting-box with ballot-papers. By
noticing this, the young people took away the photocamera of the journalist
and tore off his neck the journalist identity. To the remark of Hovakimian
that he is doing his work, one of the assaulters answered: "And my work is
to crash your head". The journalist was obliged to leave the polling
station. Later, the camera was returned to Artur Hovakimian, but yet without
the memory stick.
Around 16.20 about 20 young men with their hair shaved close entered the
precinct 8/05 of Malatia-Sebastia community. As correspondent of "168 Zham"
newspaper Armineh Avetian informed, six of them started to push back her and
Sona Ayvazian, the observer of Transparency International Anti-Corruption
Center, by twisting their arms. The others surrounded the tables and the
ballot-box, and two of them stuffed the ballots, Armineh Avetian said,
noting that they threatened her and took away the photocamera. Force was
also used against the correspondent of online publication Tert.am, Lilit
Tadevosian. According to the journalist, while she was trying to observe
what was going on near the ballot-box, she was pushed away and prevented
from taking photos.
A similar incident with correspondents of "Aravot" daily Lusineh Khachatrian
and Lusineh Shakhbazian took place at the precinct 8/20 of Malatia-Sebastia
community. As "Aravot" daily informed on June 4, 2009, a group of young
people with their hair shaved close entered the polling station and stuffed
the ballot-box. A certain Gevorg, introducing himself as Deputy Chairman of
precinct election commission, tried to throw out the journalists from the
polling station, stresses "Aravot".
Around 17.00 at the precinct 13/09 of Erebuni community a quarrel arose
between the Chairman of Precinct Election Commission Zhirayr Ayvazian and
the representatives of Armenian Service of Radio "Free Europe"/Radio
"Liberty". At first, the Chairman of Precinct Election Commission permitted
to take photos at the polling station, but later he prohibited the shoot of
the voters list. The remark of Radio "Liberty" correspondent that the same
lists are posted up outside, did not take any effect either. A group of
young men, gathered near the polling station, threatened the representatives
of Radio "Liberty" and "A1+" TV company.
Around 17.30 at the precinct 7/25 of Malatia-Sebastia community an assault
was made on the correspondent of "Aravot" daily Nelly Grigorian, who tried
to shoot the squabble between a young man with a nickname "Boko from
Noragiugh" and the proxy of Armenian National Congress. According to Nelly
Grigorian, the young man caught her by the clothes and taking away the
photocamera, left the polling station. The young people who were at the
polling station at that moment ran after him and returned with the camera,
but without the memory stick.
The representatives of Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression stressed
that they are also aware of other attempts to impede the professional
activities of journalists, of which they refrain to speak in details, as the
cases are already resolved by the journalists themselves.
The press release of the RA General Prosecutor’s Office, published on June
1, informed about the meeting on which the media articles and the received
alarms about the infringements on the voting day, May 31, were discussed.
"An appropriate prosecutorial control (…) on the procedure of examination
of alarms about infringements during the elections, including the articles
of media, is assigned", the Prosecutor’s Office emphasized, in particular.
The press release also reported that criminal proceedings were instituted
upon media articles on the cases of attacks against journalists, observers
and ballot stuffing at the polling stations of Malatia-Sebastia community.
The investigation of the case is entrusted to the RA Special Investigative
Service. Criminal proceedings on the incident with the journalist at the
polling station 9/01 of Erebuni community are instituted, too. The
investigation is conducted by the Erebuni Police Department of Yerevan.
"YERKIR MEDIA" CELEBRATED ITS 5TH ANNIVERSARY
On May 28 "Yerkir Media" TV company celebrated the 5th anniversary since it
went on air.
Yerevan Press Club congratulates colleagues and wishes success and
prosperity!
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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
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