Armenian and Azerbaijani Media Reported More Widely on their
Countries’ Relations in 2009

Tert.am
14:06 – 30.01.10

Armenia-Azerbaijan relations were more widely reported by the media in
2009 than in 2008. This came about as a result of a recent survey of
Yerevan and Baku press clubs supported by the Eurasia Foundation and
Great Britain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Four print publications and four TV stations from Armenia and
Azerbaijan were monitored as a part of the study called
`Armenia-Turkey Relations in Armenian and Azerbaijani Mass Media.’

If in Armenia in 2008, between the months of September-November, there
were 8 articles published and 1 TV program aired on the subject of
`Armenia-Azerbaijan Relations Without a Direct Connection to the
Nagorno-Karabakh Issue,’ well then in 2009, there were 103 articles
and 39 TV programs on the same subject – and this, only in the month
of October.

In Azerbaijan, the picture is as follows: In 2008, from
September-November, there were 36 articles and 15 programs aired on
the same subject, while in 2009, there were 77 articles and 30
programs; again, just in the month of October.

On the subject of the `Issue of the Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Conflict and Armenia’s Position in it,’ there were 725 articles and
521 programs in Armenia between the months of September and November
in 2008. While only in October of 2009, there were 497 articles and
284 TV broadcasts on the subject.

While in Azerbaijan, there were 705 articles and 779 programs on the
subject of the `Issue of the Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
Conflict and Azerbaijan’s Position in it,’ for the same period
(September-November 2008). In October 2009, the study registered 640
articles and 542 TV programs on the same subject – much more than in
Armenia.

Speaking with Tert.am, Yerevan Press Club Director Boris Navasardyan
said that the fact that publicity on Armenia-Azerbaijan relations has
increased is, first and foremost, connected with Armenia-Turkey
relations.

`Generally, the negotiations on Armenian-Turkish relations and the
signed Protocols forced [us] to look more deeply into the future of
Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, and to tie those not only with the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue, but also with larger processes, which are
taking place in our region,’ said Navasardyan.

Baku Press Club Director Arif Aliyev, in speaking with Tert.am,
noticed that the big interest in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, as well
as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in recent years is characteristic of
Armenian, as well as Azerbaijani, media.

`However, 2009 was, without a doubt, a record-breaking year. In the
first place, of course, the launch of Armenia-Turkey relations have
influenced that; in particular, the signing of the Protocols, as well
as the possible influence of those Protocols on the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,’ he said.

According to Aliyev, the monitoring study’s main purpose was to reveal
how reliably media portray all that which is happening in neighbouring
countries.

`That also aims to clarify what type of image we, as journalists, are
creating about neighbouring countries, what stereotypes are we
creating for the public about the `other,’ since those, even if they
don’t directly influence the negotiating process, can harm the entire
environment,’ concluded Aliyev.