YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 18-24, 2008
HIGHLIGHTS:
THE EMPTY SEAT IN "FACE OF THE COUNTRY" TV DEBATES
FOURTH "PRESS CLUB" SUPPLEMENT
FINAL PROGRAM OF "PRESS-CLUB" PRE-ELECTION CYCLE
DECEMBER REPORT ON BROADCAST MEDIA MONITORING
CEC APPROVED THE PROCEDURE FOR THE PROVISION OF AIR TO PRESIDENCY CANDIDATES
BY PUBLIC BROADCASTERS
ARSON ATTEMPT OF "ASPAREZ" OFFICE
"ARAVOT" PUBLISHED A REFUTATION OF ITS ARTICLE ABOUT "ARMENIA" TV COMPANY
"CAPITAL" BECOMES A DAILY
SEDRAK DAVIDIAN PASSED AWAY
WORKING MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND TURKISH JOURNALISTS IN ISTANBUL
PERSPECTIVE
MEMORY OF HRANT DINK DESERVES MORE THAN JUST SORROW
THE EMPTY SEAT IN "FACE OF THE COUNTRY" TV DEBATES
On January 23 on the evening air of "Yerkir Media" the first program of
pre-election TV debate series, "The Face of the Country", was broadcast. The
program is produced under a project of Yerevan Press Club supported by the
UN Development Program. The cycle is made of 6 programs. In the first three
of them representatives of RA presidency candidates will take part, in
others the debates would evolve between the candidates themselves. Among the
other urgent issues the discussion will center on the problems raised in the
talk-shows, earlier broadcast on five regional TV channels under the same
YPC project (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, January 11-17, 2008).
The invitees of TV debates of January 23 were the representatives of
presidential candidates Serge Sargsian, Levon Ter-Petrosian and Arman
Melikian. However, for different reasons the representatives of the former
two candidates refused to take part in this program, and their absence was
signified by an empty seat. In the debates, hosted by "Yerkir Media"
observer Mariam Barseghian, the head of the pre-election headquarters of
Arman Melikian Eleonora Asatrian and the Chairman of the Committee to
Protect Freedom of Expression Ashot Melikian took part. The discussion
centered on issues of political culture, administration of free and fair
elections, democratic reforms, and development of regions.
The next program of "Face of the Country" cycle will be aired by "Yerkir
Media" on Wednesday, January 30, at 21.40.
FOURTH "PRESS CLUB" SUPPLEMENT
On January 19 on the air of "Yerkir Media" TV company the fourth supplement
to "Press Club" program cycle was aired. The supplement deals with the
problems of media coverage of election campaign. In the supplements
journalists and public take part. The program is produced under the project
of Media Diversity Institute with the financial assistance of the US
Department of State Public Affairs Section.
FINAL PROGRAM OF "PRESS-CLUB" PRE-ELECTION CYCLE
On January 18 the final "Press Club" show went on the evening air of "Yerkir
Media". The guest of the program host, the President of Yerevan Press Club
Boris Navasardian, was the leader of "National Unity" party Artashes
Geghamian. The discussion subjects were the presidential elections, in
particular the election platform of Artashes Geghamian as a presidency
candidate nominated by the party.
The "Press Club" cycle was produced under a project of Media Diversity
Institute, supported by Open Society Institute Assistance
Foundation-Armenia.
DECEMBER REPORT ON BROADCAST MEDIA MONITORING
On January 18 "TEAM" Research Center and Yerevan Press Club published the
interim report (December 6-20, 2007) on monitoring broadcast media ahead of
presidential elections 2008. The monitoring was implemented from October to
December, 2007 by "TEAM" Research Center with the support of Open Society
Institute Assistance Foundation-Armenia, and with expert and resource
assistance of Yerevan Press Club. (See the interim reports for November and
October in the issues of YPC Weekly Newsletter, December 7-13, 2007 and
November 16-22, 2007, respectively.)
The monitoring covered the programs at prime time (18.00-24.00) of 8
broadcast media: 4 national TV companies – the First Channel of the Public
Television of Armenia, "ALM", "Armenia", Second Armenian TV Channel; 3 TV
companies in Yerevan – "Yerkir Media", "Kentron", "Shant"; 1 national radio
company – Public Radio of Armenia.
In December 2007 the format of the monitoring has undergone certain changes.
Firstly, the research covered the period not of December 1-15, 2007 (as
planned at first) but started on December 6, the official deadline for
nomination of presidency candidates, and went forth to cover five more days,
i.e., December 20. In fact, in December the monitoring was administered on
the days when the coverage was most typical, and was not conducted on
December 1-5 (period of uncertainty of nominees) and on the days preceding
the New Year and Christmas holidays (December 21-31), when the programming
of the broadcasters is adjusted to reflect the festivities.
Secondly, as compared to October-November, the list of monitoring objects
changed, too. The study object in December were all the nine candidates
nominated for presidency, as well as, similarly to the previous monitoring
months, the study targeted the leaders of parties who scored more than 1% at
the parliamentary elections of 2007 (but for those who cannot run in
elections by law). Besides, the December list of the politicians studied
included the RA President Robert Kocharian so as to determine the degree of
the broadcast media attention to the incumbent President in comparison with
candidates nominated. The list excluded the potential candidates, who
decided to refuse from running in elections.
Thus, on December 6-20 the monitoring object were 17 politicians. The
methodology of the research however remained unchanged throughout the three
months (see below).
"TEAM" Research Center and Yerevan Press Club have made the following main
conclusions:
DURING THE 15 DECEMBER DAYS the distribution of attention to the politicians
at focus of monitoring by 7 TV and 1 radio channels studied was about as
intensive as during the previous stages. Similarly to October -November, in
December three nominated candidates continued to remain the leaders in terms
of aggregate (on all 8 channels studied) airtime – the RA Prime Minister,
the Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia Serge Sargsian (42,731
sec.), the leader of the Popular Party Tigran Karapetian (39,091 sec.) and
the first RA President Levon Ter-Petrosian (14,497 sec.). The third place –
between Karapetian and Ter-Petrosian – was taken by the incumbent President
of Armenia Robert Kocharian (19,683 sec.), covered in the vast majority of
cases as the head of state.
77.7% of the aggregate airtime of Serge Sargsian was his coverage as an
official. As such, he had received much more attention than Robert Kocharian
(33,185 and 19,062 sec., respectively). In December in the references to
Sargsian, similarly to the previous monitoring months, the neutral
connotation continued to prevail (403 references), yet the Prime Minister
took the first line in the list of 17 politicians in terms of positive
pieces (79 versus 12 negative ones).
In December on the Armenian air the negative references to the first RA
President Levon Ter-Petrosian continue to dominate. In other words, during
the last month of 2007 the unprecedented phenomenon, recorded in November,
continued when the share of neutral editorial coverage of an Armenian
politician quantitatively fell behind that of negative: 103 negative
references to Levon Ter-Petrosian versus 100 neutral ones and 4 positive
ones. At the same time the share of negative ones in the total number of
references has somewhat gone down in December – 49.8% versus 58.7% – in
November.
The leader of the Popular Party Tigran Karapetian, who took the first line
in terms of aggregate airtime on the channels studied in October-November,
was this time the second. However, in December, too, this volume of coverage
was ensured solely by one of the TV channels – "ALM", owned by Tigran
Karapetian himself: a bit more than 98% of the aggregate airtime he
received, as well as all 18 positive references to the leader of the Popular
Party, are accounted for by "ALM".
The broadcast media studied did not neglect in December the other six
candidates, nominated for presidential elections, either. Their coverage was
mostly neutral, and the TV and radio pieces primarily presented their
stances, opinions as candidates, heads of parties. In terms of aggregate
airtime the four leaders were directly followed by five presidential
candidates, leaders of parties that nominated them: Artashes Geghamian
("National Unity"), Vahan Hovhannesian ("Dashnaktsutiun"), Artur
Baghdasarian ("Orinats Yerkir"), Vazgen Manukian (National Democratic Union)
and Aram Harutiunian ("National Accord"), respectively. The ninth candidate,
self-nominated Arman Melikian, received less aggregate coverage. Gagik
Tsarukian, the leader of "Prosperous Armenia" party (member of ruling
coalition), who has taken the line after him and before other candidates in
the table, has received most of his aggregate airtime on "Kentron" TV
channel. It is important to note here, however, that in December Gagik
Tsarukian was only the fourth in terms of airtime, allocated to him by
"Kentron", while during the first months of the study his was the most
covered of all politicians at focus on this channel.
"ALM", SIMILARLY TO THE PREVIOUS MONTHS, is again the most "politicized" (in
terms of attention paid to politicians) of the broadcast channels studied
due to his owner. Tigran Karapetian received 70.1% of this channel’s whole
airtime, allocated to 17 politicians at focus in December. As compared to
"ALM", more than two and half times as little was the editorial coverage of
the politicians at focus on the Second Armenian TV Channel, followed by the
Public Radio of Armenia, "Kentron" and "Yerkir-Media" TV channels and the
First Channel of the Public Television of Armenia.
The least attention to the politicians at focus out of the 8 channels
monitored was paid by "Armenia" and "Shant". In terms of aggregate airtime
the leading four on these TV channels were Serge Sargsian, Robert Kocharian,
the Chairman of "National Unity" party Artashes Geghamian and Levon
Ter-Petrosian. The Prime Minister and the incumbent RA President took the
top lines on three other TV channels, too – the PTA First Channel, Second
Armenian TV Channel and "Kentron". Serge Sargsian and Robert Kocharian on
these TV channels are followed by Levon Ter-Petrosian, and on Public Radio
the first RA President was ahead of the incumbent head of state. Yet
Ter-Petrosian’s coverage on Public Radio was mostly negative (28 negative
references of 44 or 63.6%). In terms of negative references to the first
President Public Radio shared the leading position with "Kentron", yet on
the latter the share of the negativism is somewhat smaller (52.8% of the
total number of references). These TV channels account for more than half of
negative references to Ter-Petrosian, recorded under this research.
The picture on "Yerkir Media" is somewhat different from other channels.
Here the greatest editorial coverage was received by Vahan Hovhannesian, the
presidential candidate nominated by "Dashnaktsutiun". He is followed by two
other candidates, the leader of "National Accord" party Aram Harutiunian and
the leader of National Democratic Union Vazgen Manukian. Against the
background of generally balanced coverage of politicians at focus, in the
reporting of "Yerkir Media" two politicians stand out, with almost equal
number of references and a big proportion of connotationally colored: out of
24 references to Vahan Hovhannesian 10 are positive, and out 26 references
to Levon Ter-Petrosian 12 are negative. At the same time, unlike other TV
and radio channels studied in December, the coverage on "Yerkir Media" of
both Serge Sargsian’s and Robert Kocharian’s activities was purely neutral.
THE 17 POLITICIANS at focus were generally rare participants of "guest in
studio" programs. An obvious exception was made only by Tigran Karapetian,
but all 9 discussion programs in which he took part, were aired by his own
TV channel, "ALM". Out of the remaining 16 politicians only five (all
presidential candidates) took part in programs of this format in December.
As noted already at the previous stages of monitoring, the insufficient
representation of leading politicians on Armenian air, from both
pro-governmental and opposition camps, in some cases is due to their
closeness, reluctance to engage in dialogue with journalists, who raise
issues, sensitive for them. On their behalf the TV channels themselves are
not always active with regard to pre-election subject matter: in particular,
almost never have representatives of public organizations, seeking to ensure
democratic elections, become guests of discussion programs.
IN DECEMBER the advertising materials that directly or indirectly contribute
to the image of the politicians were only recorded on "Yerkir Media" TV
channel. On its air the several times the announcement about the festive
session devoted to the 117th anniversary of "Dashnaktsutiun" party, where
Vahan Hovhannesian was to speak, was broadcast.
It should also be noted that unlike October-November, on December air of the
channels studied the monitoring group has not recorded pieces broadcast as
editorial but having certain signs of advertising.
MONITORING METHODOLOGY:
All materials of the airtime studied were subdivided into two types:
1. Editorial coverage;
2. Paid programs and advertising/announcements (political, commercial,
public service).
1. The main study unit was TV/radio piece.
2. Monitors recorded and counted the references to politicians in the
editorial and paid coverage of the broadcast media studied. The number of
positive (+), negative (-) and neutral (0) references to politicians was
also counted. The connotational (positive, negative) references were seen to
be the ones in the pieces that leave an undoubtedly positive or negative
overall impression of the politician on the audience. In the cases when the
connotation was not that certain, the reference was recorded as neutral.
Each TV and radio piece recorded only one reference and only one
connotational sign for every politician. Any appearance of the politician in
the TV shot was also considered to be a reference.
3. The monitors also recorded and measured the material volume, i.e., the
airtime (in seconds), allocated to politicians for expressing their views,
opinions as well as judgments, narration about them made by others in
editorial and paid coverage of the broadcast media studied. Apart from
recording the general airtime, allocated to the politician, the capacity in
which the politician appeared was also studied. Thus, the airtime (in
seconds) was differentiated and classed appropriately, according to whether
it was allocated to the politician for the coverage of his:
1. Official and professional activities;
2. Activities that are not directly related to professional or official
duties.
4. The monitors recorded the participants of discussion programs
(interviews, guest in studio, talk shows) for the TV and radio channels
studied by a separate list, mentioning the TV and radio channel, the title
of the program, the name(s) and position(s) of the participants invited.
>From JANUARY 21 Yerevan Press Club started to monitor the coverage of
presidential elections of 2008 by broadcast media of Armenia. The monitoring
covers the period of pre-election promotion (January 21 – February 17,
2008).
CEC APPROVED THE PROCEDURE FOR THE PROVISION OF AIR TO PRESIDENCY CANDIDATES
BY PUBLIC BROADCASTERS
On January 21 the RA Central Election Commission made a resolution on the
procedure and the schedule of air provision by public television and public
radio to Armenian presidential candidates for their pre-election promotion.
The succession of candidates’ access to air is defined by schedule made
through random selection and approved by CEC. The air for pre-election
promotion is provided to candidates daily – from January 23 to February 17.
The political advertising is broadcast on the First Channel of the Public
Television of Armenia, and on frequencies 69.77 MHz, 1395 kHz and the
nationwide FM network of Public Radio of Armenia; the public broadcasters
ensure the parallel broadcasting on the air of "Shirak" public TV and radio
company. The broadcasting of pre-election promotion of public television
starts at 17.15, on public radio – at 13.30. In case of technical necessity
the public broadcasters may shift the timeframes specified, but not more
than 30 minutes.
On the public television each presidential candidate is entitled to 60
minutes of free and 120 minutes of paid airtime. The duration of daily air
for each of the candidates is defined as follows: a) during the period of
January 23 – February 10 – 2 minutes of free and up to 4 minutes of paid
airtime; b) February 11-16 – 3 minutes of free and up to 6 minutes of paid
airtime; c) February 17, the last day of pre-election promotion – 4 minutes
of free and up to 8 minutes of paid airtime.
On public radio each presidential candidate is allocated 120 minutes of free
and 180 minutes of paid airtime. The duration of daily air for each of the
candidates is defined as follows: a) during the period of January 23 –
February 10 – 4 minutes of free and up to 6 minutes of paid airtime; b)
February 11-16 – 6 minutes of free and up to 9 minutes of paid airtime; c)
February 17 – 8 minutes of free and up to 12 minutes of paid airtime.
If any of the candidates fails to use the time, allocated to him by the
schedules, no make-up time is given. The airtime, allocated to one
candidate, cannot be used by another candidate.
Public broadcasters give live air to the candidates, also with a host should
they wish so, or broadcast video, audio clips, provided by presidency
candidates.
ARSON ATTEMPT OF "ASPAREZ" OFFICE
In the early morning of January 19 at about 5.00 an attempt to set "Asparez"
Journalist’s Club of Gyumri on fire was made. A piece of cloth, soaked in
petrol and burning, was thrown at one of the windows of "Asparez" office. As
a result, part of the window burned and the glasses cracked. In the report
of the incident, placed on January 22 on the web-site of "Asparez", it is
noted that the Club resolved not to address the police (proceeding from the
fact that the investigations into the cases of attempted trespassing on the
property of the organization and its staff in 2002-2006 yielded no result).
Meanwhile, as YPC was told by "Asparez" Board Chairman Levon Barseghian, the
Gyumri police department started the investigative measures.
"ARAVOT" PUBLISHED A REFUTATION OF ITS ARTICLE ABOUT "ARMENIA" TV COMPANY
On January 19 "Aravot" daily refuted article "Has the ‘Alliance’ of the
Gafesjians and the Sargsians Failed?" published in "Aravot" on January 11,
2008 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, January 11-17, 2008). The refutation titled
"In reality ‘Armenia’ Flourishes" says the information about "Armenia" TV
company, published in the daily on January 11, is untrue. According to the
newspaper, the publication of the refutation is the result of a written
agreement, reached between "Aravot" and "Armenia".
"CAPITAL" BECOMES A DAILY
Since January 22 "Capital" business weekly became a daily newspaper. It is
issued five times a week on 8 A2 pages. The Chief Editor of "Capital" is
Karen Harutiunian.
SEDRAK DAVIDIAN PASSED AWAY
On January 18 at the age of 45 the music editor of CITY FM station Sedrak
Davidian (DJ Sedrak) passed away.
Yerevan Press Club expresses its condolences to the family and friends of
Sedrak Davidian.
WORKING MEETING OF ARMENIAN AND TURKISH JOURNALISTS IN ISTANBUL
On January 19-21 in Istanbul a workshop was held, in which the journalists
selected through a competition in Armenia and Turkey took part (see YPC
Weekly Newsletter, November 9-15, 2007). The event was organized under
Armenian-Turkish team investigative reporting project, implemented by
Yerevan Press Club and ARI Movement (Turkey) with the support of Eurasia
Foundation. The project aims to produce high quality stories about issues of
mutual concern. At the seminar the principles of joint work were discussed,
the subjects of future publications and organizational issues regarding the
investigations to be made.
On January 19 the Armenian journalists took part in the manifestation in
Istanbul to commemorate the Chief Editor of the two-language
Turkish-Armenian "Agos" newspaper Hrant Dink, shot dead a year ago by his
editorial office.
PERSPECTIVE
MEMORY OF HRANT DINK DESERVES MORE THAN JUST SORROW
A year has passed since the assassination of Hrant Dink. The manifestation
in Istanbul by the editorial office of his newspaper, "Agos", brought
together about as many people (by various estimated up to 100,000) as the
funeral of the journalist in January 2007. The same slogans "We are all
Hrant Dink, we are all Armenian", the same sense of unification among people
who feel grateful to Hrant and who mourn their loss, the same emotional
speeches about democracy, tolerance.
Both the funeral and the manifestation a year later were covered by a whole
range of media – Turkish and foreign, also Armenian. This means that the
whole world got another chance to stop and think about the values that Hrant
was committed to and the challenge made by the shots of the young fanatic.
Hatred and violence cannot be a way of solving problems. Freedom is worth
fighting for. Cowardice and true journalism hardly ever go together. The
people, the public, the power must treat those few uncompromising in their
fight for dignity and justice with care, even if their being uncompromising
is sometimes "uncomfortable" for others.
But have these values gained more respect in countries that were
particularly dear to Hrant Dink during the past year? In Turkey where he
lived and that he was a true citizen of, and in Armenia, that was getting
increasingly important in his life after he was finally allowed to travel
abroad? The rapprochement of the two nations was turning into one of the
main subjects in the work of the journalist, playing a fatal role for him.
Unfortunately, the loss that the honest and reasonable part of mankind
suffered is far from becoming a lesson to us. And the problem is certainly
not the small provocations, made in Istanbul by nationalists on the
anniversary of Hrant Dink’s death.
In Turkey Dink’s son is brought to court for re-publishing an article by his
father in "Agos". Extremists threaten to kill a Turkish journalist for his
words "Hrant Dink was killed by the poison in our blood", alluding to the
well-known phrase that prompted Hrant’s prosecution by notorious Article 301
of the Penal Code of Turkey. In Armenia attempts are made to glorify Dink
through slogans like "1.5 million plus 1 victim of Genocide" that the
journalist himself would have certainly strongly challenged. The favorable
stance towards any Armenian politician, expressed in Turkish press, may be
used by some Armenian media to discredit this politician…
And what did the "honest and reasonable part of mankind" put forth to
counter this absurdity? The International Press Institute named Hrant Dink
the World Press Freedom Hero. The journalist’s name was recalled on a number
of other festive occasions. But his real commemoration would have been the
action – at least a very small contribution to what he had been dreaming
about, a small but a real step to mutual understanding of Armenians and
Turks. If not on behalf of the governments of the two countries that are
unready for this, then at least on behalf of the civil societies, his
colleagues in journalism. With unjustified expectations but persevering
hopes we stepped into the second year after Hrant Dink was killed. With
hopes that on January 19, 2009 those who would come to the manifestation
will be united not only in their sorrow but also in their optimism in future
that was so lacking presently.
Boris NAVASARDIAN
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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
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Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
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