LOCAL TV ‘CENSURED FOR AIRING TER-PETROSIAN SPEECH’
By Astghik Bedevian
Rdaio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 22 2007
A regional television station claimed on Monday to have incurred the
Armenian government’s ire by broadcasting former President Levon
Ter-Petrosian’s September 21 speech that contained harsh verbal
attacks on the authorities.
In his first public speech in nearly a decade, Ter-Petrosian described
Armenia’s current leadership as "corrupt and criminal" and called for
its ouster. His political allies offered to pay TV stations across
the country to air the 20-minute speech in full. Only two of them
accepted the offer.
The owner and chief executive of one of those broadcasters, the
Gyumri-based Gala TV, told RFE/RL that he did so despite a stark
warning from the National Commission on Television and Radio (NCTR),
a presidentially appointed body that issues and revokes broadcasting
licenses. Vahan Khachatrian claimed that officers of the Gyumri branch
of the National Security Service visited him shortly afterward and
warned Gala to stop covering Ter-Petrosian’s return to active politics.
Khachatrian said he will ignore the alleged warning. "I’m not afraid
of anything or anyone," he said, adding that tax officials in Gyumri
are now investigating the legality of his ownership of real and
other property.
Khachatrian also struck a defiant in a separate written statement
issued later in the day. "I want to emphasize that the Gala TV
company’s position will not change and that I, as the company’s owner,
will not tolerate any attempt at interference by any structure or
individual," he said.
The claims came just three days after Armenia’s leading media
associations expressed serious concern at reports that the government
has ordered TV channels in Yerevan and elsewhere in Yerevan to shun
events featuring Ter-Petrosian and, in particular, a rally which he
plans to hold on Friday.
The largest of the broadcasters, the state-owned Armenian Public
Television and Radio, denied this. Its chairman, Aleksan Harutiunian,
told RFE/RL that his H1 channel, the most accessible in Armenia,
will cover the Ter-Petrosian rally.
Other, local channels will not necessarily follow suit. Margarita
Minasian, chairwoman of another Gyumri channel, Tsayg, said she will
not send any correspondents to the rally. "We lack the technical
capacity to videotape events in Yerevan on a daily basis," she
told RFE/RL.
"We haven’t decided yet. We may and may not cover it," said Anzhela
Stepanian, who runs the news service of the private Alt TV station in
the southern town of Armavir. She argued that local news has always
been the main focus of her company.
All major Armenian broadcasters are loyal to the administration of
President Robert Kocharian and rarely air opposition criticism of
its policies. The only TV station not controlled by the authorities
was controversially pulled off the air in 2002.
Meanwhile, representatives of the pro-Ter-Petrosian Armat organization,
said on Monday that it has prepared video clips informing citizens
about Friday’s rally and have offered various channels to air them
as advertisements. They said none of them has agreed to run the ads
so far.
Armat and other groups supportive of the ex-president portray this
as an indication that the authorities are seriously worried about
Ter-Petrosian’s participation in the upcoming presidential elections.
Ter-Petrosian is increasingly emerging as the main challenger of the
election favorite, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian.