Author: Vardanian Garo

HOW IMPARTIAL ARE THE ARMENIAN MASS MEDIA
By N. Muradian

AZG Armenian Daily
12/02/2008

Local

How impartial are the Armenian mass media in illustrating the political
events on the very eve of the presidential elections. the chief editors
of "Azg", "Hayeli" and "Yerkrir" newspapers tried to find the answer
to this question during the yesterday discussion at the "Urbat" club.

Vasak Darbinian, editor-in-chief of "Haylel, considers that speaking
about impartiality is ridiculous, as unfair conditions are set against
their candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian.

Editor-in-Chief of "Azg" Daily Hagob Avedikian noted that one part of
the newspapers openly support Serge Sarkisian, and the other half –
L. Ter-Petrosian.

"It appears that the most attention is paid to the election campaign
of Ter-Petrosian. There is no civilized approach in information. Both
the candidates, in some sense, have to solve the same the same
dilemma – to be or not to be. With the little difference that Serge
Sarkisian is trying to save hios own skin, realizing that he is
to face serious problems in case of failing to become a president,
and Levon Ter-Petrosian, whom we support openly both in ‘Hayk’ and
‘Taregirk’, is trying to save the country," stated Vasak Darbinian. He
also declared that the National Television of Armenia is the main
source of disinformation.

"The press is sick, and the disease is not a new one.

Do not blame our society, as our press is not addressed to it. The
society is in the worst conditions nowadays. Partial information
is not information, that is why or society is not interested in
it. The society suffers from this, and that affects the elections,"
said Mr. Avedikian.

"6 years ago was losed the ‘A1+’ TV-Channel. We would have
quite a different TV company if it still existed," said "Hayk"
editor-in-chief. Hagob Avedikian argued that in any case the situation
would be the same and thesociety would be deprived of the opportunity
of receiving correct information.

Answering whether, finally, the press spreads rather propaganda or
information, Mr. Darbinian said that his reporters are given the
opportunity to express themselves freely.

Armenian National Committee of America
1711 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Tel. (202) 775-1918
Fax. (202) 775-5648
Email [email protected]
Internet

PRESS RELEASE
February 11, 2008
Contact: Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Tel: (202) 775-1918

ANCA MOURNS PASSING OF CHAIRMAN TOM LANTOS

WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA)
joined today with Armenian Americans from across the United States
in mourning the loss of long-serving California Congressman Tom
Lantos, a Holocaust survivor and human rights champion who, in his
final months in office, played a vital role, as Chairman of the
U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, in this panel’s adoption of
the Armenian Genocide Resolution.

In separate letters to Congressman Lantos’ wife of 58 years,
Annette, and to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, ANCA Chairman
Ken Hachikian underscored the gratitude of the Armenian American
community to Chairman Lantos for his leadership in rejecting the
powerful forces of denial and securing, this past October, his
Committee’s passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution. Hachikian
also shared the hope and expectation that the full House of
Representatives will, in the coming weeks, complete the Chairman’s
unfinished work by securing full Congressional recognition and
commemoration of this crime against all humanity.

Speaking on the PBS Newshour on October 11, 2007, a day after the
Resolution’s adoption at the committee level, Chairman Lantos told
correspondent Margaret Warner that, "This is one of those events,
Margaret, which has to be settled once and for all: 1.5 million
utterly innocent Armenian men, women and children were slaughtered.
And the Turkish government, until now, has intimidated the Congress
of the United States from taking this measure. . . I think it’s
important, at a time when genocides are going on in Darfur and
elsewhere, not to be an accomplice in sweeping an important
genocide under the rug."

Elected to office in 1980, Lantos was Chairman of the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs and one of the country’s leading
champions of human rights. In 1983 he co-founded the Congressional
Human Rights Caucus. Commenting on her husband’s passing, his
widow noted that his life was "defined by courage, optimism, and
unwavering dedication to his principles and to his family." The
date for a public memorial service has not yet been set.

#####

Apo Torosyan: Interview

08- 02-2008

A Rigid Sense of Honor, Brainwashing and Escaping the Ottoman Past.

NEW YORK – When it comes to the Turkish Government, it’s relatively
simple to understand why there is a rigid policy of denial and
rejection concerning the Greek, Assyrian and Armenian Genocides of the
early 20th Century:

No one wants to make restitution and return stolen properties. Once
land is claimed; once it’s occupied, the occupants don’t want to give
it back, especially if they’ve been living there for decades.

But why do Turkish people, in general, have such a hard time accepting
historical facts concerning the genocides of Asia Minor’s indigenous
Greek, Assyrian and Armenian populations, and why do they so resolutely
deny and reject clearly documented historical accounts?
According to Apo Torosyan, a Greek-Armenian documentary filmmaker,
there are three major stumbling blocks: an absolutist sense of honor;
decades-long brainwashing; and a deeply rooted collective consciousness
Turks have inherited from their Ottoman/Moslem past.

There are terms in the Turkish lexicon which are firmly embedded in the
Islamic consciousness of the Turkish people, Mr. Torosyan explained,
and when certain terms are so entrenched in the mindset of a nation,
people can’t help but develop certain attitudes.
"They are afraid of having to make reparations, of course, but it’s
mostly their sense of honor that prevents them from accepting what
happened. I lived in Turkey for 27 years, so my roots are from there,
and if there’s one thing I know about Turkish people, it’s that honor
is everything to them. In Greek, when you have a glass of wine, you
say, ‘Stin ygeia sou (to your health).’ In Armenian, you say,
‘Genatsut.’ In English, it’s ‘Cheers.’ One of the most beautiful
expressions is the Jewish expression, ‘L’Chayim (To life).’ The Turks
say, ‘Sherefe,’ which means, ‘For honor.’ There isn’t a single Turk who
wants to believe his grandparents were murderers. They can not believe
their ancestors could do such dishonorable things," Mr. Torosyan said.

"And most Turks today can not read Old Turkish, so whatever has been
written in the Latinized New Turkish, they believe in that. Since the
1930’s, history has been rewritten in Turkish schoolbooks," he said.

"Moslem rule does not tolerate non-Moslems. If you study the Koran
itself, you will find that there are orders to kill non-Moslems. In my
presentations, I go back to 1071, the year the Seljuks took over and
started conquering Anatolia little by little. From then on, there have
been rules and regulations in place that today still use words like
shariah, jihad and jizya, words that are rooted in the Moslem religion.
Words like that have a lot of weight behind them. Jizya is a special
tax for non-Moslem minorities only. They had to pay this tax because
they were lucky enough to be alive," he said.

"So certain words are used as a tool. The Young Turks, for example,
were atheists. None of them supposedly believed in God. They had
visions of the French Revolution in mind. The Armenians were so excited
about the prospects of freedom and democracy, and wanted to join with
them, but the Young Turks saw that the Armenians were looking for their
own independence, so the they inflamed Moslem sentiments against
non-Moslems. They said, ‘Let’s kill them.’ It was, ‘Join us under our
terms, or die.’ They gave up their atheistic approach, and used the
Moslem religion as a cover to inflame the public. The public was told
that Armenians and Greeks, who were non-Moslems, were traitors, and
according to the book (the Koran), if they kill non-Moslems, Moslems go
to heaven," he added.

Even today, Mr. Torosyan said, Turkish people still retain such
attitudes from their Moslem heritage. Ottoman mindsets and structures
still pervade the Turkish consciousness and system of governance, he
said, so in a way, the Turks are unable to escape their own sense of
revisionist history and accept historical facts because of their
Ottoman heritage and extreme sense of honor.

Apo Torosyan: …If you really want to know history, just take one page
of history, and cut that out of a book. Look at it; change the date;
change the names; and incredibly, you will find another page just like
it from another country and another culture.

…Oral history is more powerful than anything else, as far as telling
a story is concerned.

…Just because my ancestors were Greeks or Armenians, does that make
me so different as a human being?
"That hasn’t changed. This belief is still facing us today, and it’s
just incredible how it has penetrated the civilized world. In Europe,
there are riots going on right now under the Moslem banner. Europeans
are afraid of their Moslem populations," he said.

Mr. Torosyan is a second-generation Armenian Genocide survivor. Born
the son of a Greek mother and an Armenian father in Constantinople
(present-day Istanbul) in 1942, he witnessed, as a boy, the terrifying
events of the 1955 pogrom against the city’s Christians, during which
Orthodox priests were hanged and Greek businesses were destroyed all
over Constantinople.

He graduated from Istanbul’s Academy of Fine Arts in 1968 with a
Master’s Degree, and immigrated to the United States the same year,
settling in the Boston area.
His films include "Discovering My Father’s Village – Edincik (2003),"
"The Walk (2004)," "Witnesses (2005)," "The Gates (2005)," "Water
(2006)" and "Voices (2007)," and have been shown in film festivals, on
television and at colleges, universities and lecture halls.

"Voices" was recently shown at the Arpa Film Festival in Hollywood, and
was presented as part of the Genocide Documentary Program. In "Voices,"
Mr. Torosyan interviews three survivors of the Armenian Genocide and
one survivor of the Greek Genocide. Yeghsapet Giragosian remembers how
her mother died of thirst and her brother from starvation. Luther
Eskijian helped Armenian freedom fighters in Ainteb, Turkey at the age
of 6. Of Hovhannes Madzharyan’s family of ten, only three survived the
desert of Der el Zor. And Sossos Delis was born in Asia Minor. Members
of his family were massacred in Smyrna (present-day Izmir) in 1922.

In addition to the Arpa Film Festival, Mr. Torosyan has made
presentations to the Brandeis University Coalition for Tolerance;
Channel 26 TV in Glendale, California; Community Access TV, Channel 22,
"Witnesses," in Peabody, Massachusetts; the Connecticut State House in
Hartford; "Facing History and Ourselves" in Berlin;

Fresno University; the Flaten Art Museum in Northfield, Minnesota; the
Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg; Fordham University; the
Holocaust Center Boston North in Peabody; Horizon TV in Glendale; the
Human Rights Conference in Paris; the Human Rights Center in Istanbul;
the International Association of Genocide Scholars at Florida State
University; and the International Genocide Conference in Salzburg,
Austria.

Asked how his presentations and films have been received by Turkish
Americans, Mr. Torosyan said he has gotten a mixed response,
emphasizing that he is a big believer in public forums and enhancing
dialogue.

"When I e-mailed my press release, I also e-mailed Turkish groups –
Turkish newsmen, Turkish scholars, Turkish activists, even presidents
of Turkish associations here in Boston. Some of them are totally
against the Armenian Genocide, but somehow, none of them told me to
stop sending them any information," he said.

"What I’m doing is creating a dialogue. I met one gentleman, a Turkish
Ph.D from Harvard, during a presentation in Boston, after I got into an
exchange with Michael Gunter, who was denying all genocides except the
Jewish Holocaust. In that presentation, Mr. Gunter talked about how the
Armenians were traitors – there was a war; what happened to the
Armenians was not genocide; the routine rhetoric. So I said, ‘Sir. You
are quite aware of the word, genocide. You’ve been using it throughout
your presentation. Let me read this paper from Raphael Lemkin (the
Polish-Jewish legal scholar who first coined the term). This paper
tells the world in 1944 that what happened to the Armenians was the
first genocide of the 20th Century.’ Mr. Gunter’s reaction, of course,
was not to give me the time to read it. He knew what was coming," he
said.

"But this Turkish gentleman I was telling you about, his wife was
attacked by some hardline Armenians. And the poor girl was crying.

So I told her, ‘Listen. Not every Armenian is like that, so don’t judge
all Armenians by the actions of a few.’ And her husband came over, and
told me he would like to stay in touch with me because he thought I had
more knowledge and reason than rhetoric. I just received an e-mail from
him, and he writes, ‘I understand the Armenian Genocide. But what is
this about the Greek Genocide?’ I told him, ‘It’s impossible for me to
give you all the historical facts and details about it, but I hope
someday we can have a gathering. You create the gathering, and I’ll be
glad to bring the artillery – people of high caliber who can discuss
history – not with feelings; not with fighting; not with hate; not with
rhetoric; with facts. And let’s share our pain.’ He was grateful for my
response. He’s said he’s going to try to help organize something like
that. It’s time to let history be presented as it is, not as it has
been produced by the Turkish Government," Mr. Torosyan added, noting
that genocide is a universal, albeit tragic, human experience.

"That’s how I believe reconciliation can be achieved – through
recognition first – between any peoples. Genocide is an enormous
danger. It is all around us. It is like fire. It can happen anytime
just because we have oxygen. If you have the right political and
military circumstances and the right people, genocide will occur. I
believe we should be able to communicate instead of attacking each
other. But of course, we can not communicate in an uncivilized manner.
We have to put aside our feelings, no matter how much we feel hurt by
the facts," he said, adding that it has not been so easy to convince
some Turkish Americans because of their unconscious tendencies to
discriminate.

"I had a group of Turkish friends, almost 15 of them. They were fairly
well-to-do, but unfortunately, they were not as well educated as I
hoped they would be, so they were limited in their outlook. We would
have discussions, and they would tell me, ‘Look how we’re treating you.
You’re Armenian, but we’re not treating you any differently.’ They
didn’t realize that, simply by saying that, they were already
discriminating against me. ‘Why do you view me as an Armenian or a

Greek, and not as a human being just like you coming from the same
land? Just because my ancestors were Greeks or Armenians, does that
make me so different as a human being? The very fact that you’re seeing
me that way means you’re discriminating against me, just like my
ancestors were discriminated against,’ I would tell them," he said.

"My ancestors did not have a peaceful life under Turkish rule, and I
present that case. I make a historical presentation of the past 1,000
years about how minorities lived under Turkish rule and the oppression
of the Ottoman Empire. Armenians had to wear red. Greeks had to wear
white. Neither Armenians nor Greeks could walk on the same path as
their Turkish overlords. If a Moslem was coming from the other end of
the roadway, Christians had to step aside. They were not allowed to
build their homes higher than Turkish homes. They could not have their
bells ringing too loudly, or ringing at all. There was so much
discrimination. Turkish people say, "No, no, no. You guys didn’t
complain.’ But how could we complain? If we complained, we would be
dead," he added.

Asked if he felt his efforts to convey the facts about the genocides
perpetrated by Turkish authorities and mobs against Turkey’s Greek,
Assyrian and Armenian communities through documentary filmmaking were
penetrating the minds of people who were unaware that these tragic
events occurred, Mr. Torosyan said he felt his efforts were making an
definite impact, stressing that it is important to discuss the events
from the standpoint of genocide as a devastating crime against human
beings in general, not just against individual groups.

"Absolutely. I have thousands of notes from students and faculty – even
from a limo driver, when I had my show at the Florida Holocaust Museum.

The guy who drove me from the airport to my hotel was interested in the
subject. The next thing I knew, he even came and stayed to see my
presentation and my movie. This wasn’t even an Armenian or a Greek
person. His name was Lee. I’m talking about people who never even heard
of Armenians or know where Armenia is; who are not even aware that
there is such a thing as genocide, which I try to emphasize more than
anything else because, if I just try to discuss the issue by talking
only about the Armenian Genocide, then I’m just politicizing things.
But if I talk about genocide in general, then what happened to the
Armenians, the Greeks and the Assyrians also makes genocide a tragic
human experience," he said.
Discussions on genocide transcend the Armenian, Assyrian or Greek
nations’ experience, Mr. Torosyan said, citing that one can readily
point to Darfur or Rwanda as among today’s most poignant examples.

"If you really want to know history, just take one page of history, and
cut that out of a book. Look at it; change the date; change the names;
and incredibly, you will find another page just like it from another
country and another culture," he said.

His most potent weapon? Oral history and tradition, he said, adding
that he wished he could have thought about interviewing actual
survivors sooner than he did.
"Oral history is more powerful than anything else, as far as telling a
story is concerned. It’s too bad I jumped on this bandwagon so late.
Survivors of genocides from 90 years ago are dwindling into nothing.
How many people are 100 years old to remember? So there was this great
collection of witnesses to actual events who are no longer around to
tell us what happened on film. Many institutions have records, course,
but not very much on film," he said.

The future for documentary films about the genocides in Turkey now
rests with the descendants of survivors, he added, and those
individuals are still an untapped resource.
Is there any hope in making the issue more poignant for the mainstream,
Mr. Torosyan was asked? Yes, he said, especially among younger people.

"The only people I’m hoping do want to talk are people like this
gentleman from Harvard. He is more interested in learning. That’s the
difference between old timers, who are already brainwashed and can’t
question or doubt what they were told about history. Doubt is a sign of
intelligence. If you don’t question or doubt what you’re learning, then
there’s nothing more to learn. Younger people today believe in
questioning things. I believe that the human mind can expand because it
has the capacity to learn," he said.
So how does he plan to get through to people of Turkish heritage?

"I haven’t had a symposium yet. I still believe that facts, dialogue
and open forums are the answer to this problem and will ultimately
prevail. Younger people are much more open-minded. I have had several
Turkish students tell me they like my message, which is one of hope,
not hate. One Turkish girl recently told me she didn’t know about all
the things I was talking about, and said she wants to look into it
further. I think I unlocked her mind by giving her the key of doubt
about her nation’s past. There are a huge number of younger Turkish
people who are dying to learn more about their own history. They just
haven’t had the opportunity," Mr. Torosyan said.

By Evan C. Lambrou
Special to The National Herald
January 12, 2008

Lragir, Armenia
Feb 8 2008

WHY MINISTER FROM DASHNAKTSUTYUN IS SILENT

On February 8 at the National Press Club the press secretary of the
People’s Party of Armenia Ruzan Khachatryan pointed to the fact of
forcible participation of students and teachers of schools and
universities in the election campaign of the government candidate and
wondered about the silence of the minister of education and science.
She said when the ARF Dashnaktsutyun states they are not responsible
for the entire government, it can be understood somehow, but it
cannot be understood when the minister who is a member of the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun silences the fact that educational institutions are
instrumentalized in Serge Sargsyan’s campaign.

ARMENPRESS

SAINT VIRGIN HOSPITAL HAS RENOVATED INTENSIVE CARE
DEPARTMENT

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS: Health minister
Harutyun Kushkian opened today the renovated
department of intensive care and rehabilitation at
Saint Virgin Yerevan-based hospital.
The renovation was funded by a World Bank credit.
The department is furnished now with modern equipment.
The minister said the department is intended for
children but also treats grown-ups.
He said one of the government’s priorities for the
next three years is to have modern hospitals and
clinics not only in Yerevan but also outside it.
Last year the hospital treated 1,100 patients, the
majority were new born babies with different defects.
Over 1 billion Drams were spent to make this
hospital comply with European standards.

UNIBANK PROVIDES 1 MILLION DRAMS VISA GOLD PLASTIC CARD TO ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE CLIENTS

2008-02-06 17:11:00

ArmInfo. Unibank clients who invested in ‘Unistream Accumulative;
deposit participated in another quarterly drawing in Yerevan,
Wednesday.

Unibank press-service told ArmInfo 50 prizes were drawn: Grand Prize
Visa Gold plastic card with 1 million drams balance, Visa Classic
cards with 500,000 drams, 400,000 drams, 300,000 drams and 200,000
drams balance, and 5 Visa Classic cards with 100,000 drams balance
each. In addition, 15 Visa Classic cards and 25 Visa Electron cards
were drawn. The depositors can participate in the drawings for
several times till the expiry of the deposit contract. This time,
the depositors who made contracts before December 31 2007 participated
in the drawing.

Unibank data say the deposits ‘Unistream Accumulative’ were in terms
of AMD, USD and EUR. The minimal deposit in terms of AMD was 35,000
drams, in terms of foreign currency 100 USD and 100 EUR. The terms
of the deeposit were 1-3 months. The annual interest for deposits in
terms of AMD was 6-10%, in terms of USD – 5-10% and in terms of EUR –
4-9%. Depositors are provided 80% overdraft from the initial amount
of deposit.

Ranking of Commercial Banks of Armenia prepared by the Agency of
Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo) says Unibank occupied the
second position by deposits to individuals by $87.5 million as of
January 1 2008.

INTERIM REPORT ON MONITORING THE COVERAGE OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS-2008 BY BROADCAST MEDIA OF ARMENIA

KarabakhOpen
06-02-2008 14:06:44

Since January 21, 2008 Yerevan Press Club with the participation of
"TEAM" Research Center and the financial support of the Open Society
Institute resumed the pre-election monitoring of the leading broadcast
media (launched on October 1, 2007). The interruption of December 21,
2007 – January 20, 2008 was due to New Year and Christmas holidays
when the programming policy of most media is focused at entertaining
programs and the monitoring would hence not yield a typical picture of
political debate coverage. The choice of study resumption date is due
to the kick-off of the pre-election campaign, when the RA legislation
spells out particular requirements for broadcasters to provide equal
conditions to all candidates in terms of campaign coverage.

Thus, the present study is implemented on January 21 – February 17,
2008 (pre-election promotion period).

The monitoring covers the same 8 broadcast media: 4 national TV
companies – First Channel of the Public Television of Armenia, "ALM",
"Armenia", Second Armenian TV Channel; 3 TV companies of Yerevan –
"Yerkir Media", "Kentron", "Shant"; 1 national radio companies – Public
Radio of Armenia. Yet the list of politicians, whose coverage is the
object of monitoring, is confined to the 9 RA presidency candidates. At
the same time if a representative of an election headquarters/a proxy
of the candidate appears in the piece, and this status is specified,
the reference/connotation and the airtime are recorded as pertaining
to this candidate.

The air monitoring hours have somewhat changed, too: since January
21 all the programs of 8 broadcast media, aired at 17.00-24.00 are
monitored. This is due to the time of broadcasting the pre-election
promotional materials of the candidates on the TV channels. In
particular, on the First Channel of the Public Television of Armenia,
in accordance with the decision of the RA CEC of January 21, 2008, the
pre-election promotion of the candidates is broadcast starting from
17.15. In the case of Public Radio of Armenia the airtime, allocated
for pre-election promotion, is studied from 13.30, because, in
accordance with the same decision of the CEC, it is at that time that
PRA begins broadcasting the pre-election promotion of the candidates.

As to the editorial coverage of PRA, it was studied, similarly to
the other channels, at 17.00-24.00. The programs that started but
did not end before 17.00 are not studied. The programs that started
but did not end till 24.00 are studied in full, until their end.

In other respects the monitoring methodology did not change
significantly in January as compared to October-December 2007
(see below).

THE PRESENT INTERIM REPORT includes the period of January 21-30,
2008. On these days the attention of broadcasters to RA presidency
candidates was distributed far more equally than during the previous
stage of monitoring (October-December, 2007). The aggregate time
allocated by all 8 channels studied to the candidate, supported by
the ruling collation, turned out comparable to the coverage of other
candidates. Prime Minister of Serge Sargsian received 29,442 sec.,
while the leader of "National Accord" party Aram Harutiunian who
received the least attention was given 12,720 sec. In terms of the
number of references, the huge gap between the politicians at focus
recorded in October-December was not observed during the first 10
days of the official campaign, either: Serge Sargsian appeared in
425 materials, while Arman Melikian, referred to least of all – in 133.

Moreover, if the coverage of the Prime Minister in his official
capacity is deduced from his total airtime, in terms of attention
received from all TV channels, he will fall behind the candidate of
"Dashnaktsutiun" party Vahan Hovhannesian and will have only a slightly
better figure than the candidate of Popular Party Tigran Karapetian.

On the First Channel of the Public Television of Armenia, the Public
Radio of Armenia and the Second Armenian TV Channel the leader in terms
of total airtime, allocated by these broadcasters to presidential
candidates, was Serge Sargsian; on other three channels, "Armenia",
"Shant" and "Yerkir Media" – Vahan Hovhannesian. On "Kentron" biggest
attention was paid to RA First President Levon Ter-Petrosian (but this
attention was mostly negative, as will be shown below). On "ALM" the
leader, at a traditionally big distance from the other politicians at
focus, is the owner of the TV channel Tigran Karapetian: the volume
of his coverage more than 1.5 times exceeded the time allocated by
"ALM" to all other presidency candidates. The dominance of the leader
of Popular Party on "ALM" is preserved even though he, in accordance
with the RA Electoral Code, stopped hosting author and discussion
programs since January 21. At the same time, the candidate status
allowed Tigran Karapetian to appear on the air of other channels
much more frequently than before – for the first time throughout the
monitoring his coverage on other seven channels exceeded the time he
received on the air of "ALM".

IN FACT, the main problem of coverage of the current election
campaign is not so much in the distribution of attention between the
politicians, but rather in the big number of connotational references
and the polarly opposite nature of coverage for two candidates, Serge
Sargsian and Levon Ter-Petrosian. Out of 99 connotational references
(on all 8 channels) of the Prime Minister 93 were positive and only
6 were negative, while the First President had 72 negative references
and no positive.

Bias was present in the coverage of two public channels studied,
too. On the First Channel of PTA the balance of connotational
references of Serge Sargsian is 22 versus 0, respectively, while than
of Levon Ter-Petrosian is 0 versus 11; on Public Radio this figure
makes 7-0 and 0-6, respectively.

The biggest number of positive references to the Prime Minister is
made in reports on his election campaign.

Overall, the leaders in terms of positive coverage of Sargsian are
the PTA First Channel and "Kentron" (that has balance of 24-3).

"Kentron" was most prominent in the negative coverage of Ter-Petrosian,
too (0-29). It should be noted, however, that 23 negative references
to the First President were made by "What Newspapers Write About"
program, reviewing the print press (quite partial, too, because, as
numerous researches show, the newspaper market in Armenia is much
more diverse and pluralistic than TV and radio air, i.e., a very
targeted selection had to be made to get this number of negative
references). The other 6 negative references to Ter-Petrosian on the
air of "Kentron" were made by other politicians.

In general all the main trends of the period studied – a more
equal attention distribution for all candidates than that in
October-December, polarized treatment of Serge Sargsian and Levon
Ter-Petrosian and the relative impartiality towards all the remaining
seven candidates – characterized the activities of seven broadcast
media studied (while all these trends are displayed by "ALM" TV channel
too, it retains its traditional specifics, as noted above). This
gives ground to recall the hypothesis, defined at the previous stage
of the monitoring, about the coordinated strategy of covering the
current election campaign. This hypothesis makes an exception for
only one TV channel studied, "Yerkir Media", where Serge Sargsian
does not have a positive balance of connotational references (2-2),
and the most positively covered is the candidate of "Dashnaktsutiun"
Vahan Hovhannesian (7 positive and no negative reference). However,
the other trends noted, the more equal distribution of attention
between the candidates and the openly negative balance of covering
Levon Ter-Petrosian, are characteristic for this channel, too.

It is of course necessary to note here that in quantitative
terms the polarity of coverage of two candidates (Serge Sargsian
and Levon Ter-Petrosian) in January was not as apparent as in
October-December. If, as noted in previous reports, the share of
negative references to Ter-Petrosian at the previous stage of the
monitoring reached an unprecedented level of 50% of the total number
of references, throughout the 10 days of January this figure comes to
26%. It is also important to note that the coverage of Ter-Petrosian
in negative context consists mostly of public critical remarks to
his address made by other candidates. In particular, the channels
studied paid significant attention to the negative statements about
the First President made by the candidate of "National Unity" party
Artashes Geghamian.

THE MOST BALANCED (by two criteria – the distribution of airtime
and the proportion of connotational references) was the coverage of
this stage of election campaign on the Public Radio. Here, as well
as on the Second Armenian TV Channel 7 of 9 candidates were covered
solely in neutral context. The example of these media proves that
out of the supposedly coordinated (or directed) policy, dealing, in
this case, with Serge Sargsian and Levon Ter-Petrosian, the Armenian
broadcasters are quite able to cover election campaigns in accordance
with international standards.

Besides the two channels mentioned, a relatively balanced coverage was
recorded on "Armenia" and "Shant" TV channels. The latter, though,
having given during the 10 days studied comparable attention to 8
candidates (from 3,287 to 1,539 sec.), left only Tigran Karapetian
out of focus (7 sec.).

Unlike the previous monitoring stage it would be wrong to range the
media studied by the activeness of political process coverage, as
these indicators were quite "dense". It can only be said that Public
Radio (35,694 sec.) and "Kentron" TV channel (30,039 sec.) have gone
somewhat ahead, as compared to the 24,335 sec. of the total airtime,
allocated to all candidates by "Yerkir Media" that was ranked the
third along this dimension.

THE INVOLVEMENT of the presidential candidates (and the official
representatives of their election headquarters) in discussion
programs of media studied remains not that frequent. Despite the
official launch of the pre-election promotion, on 8 channels in 10
days candidates or their representatives took part in such programs
36 times (it should be noted here that the monitoring group did not
take into account the interviews of candidates to the Public Radio, as
they were broadcast before 17.00 – i.e., the time when the editorial
coverage was not studied). The reason here, most probably, is not so
much the reluctance of TV and radio companies to invite candidates,
but rather the unreadiness of some politicians to engage in public
dialogue. The rarest participants of "guest in studio" programs were
Serge Sargsian and Levon Ter-Petrosian – two times for each, both times
it was the level of their representatives – who prefer a monologue form
of communicating with the voters. The most open on this stage of study
were Tigran Karapetian (6 programs, including 2 on "ALM" TV channel),
Vahan Hovhannesian, Vazgen Manukian and Arman Melikian (5 each).

They are followed by Artur Baghdasarian and Aram Harutiunian (4 each),
Artashes Geghamian (3). Similarly to the previous monitoring stage,
the broadcast media were little interested in the opinion of the
Armenian NGOs that observed the various aspects of the electoral
process. In any case, their representatives never appeared as guests
on the discussion programs studied. This may also be a component of
a coordinated (or directed) policy.

AS TO THE PRE-ELECTION PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS per se, the political
advertising, the monitoring does not give grounds to speak about
any obstacles for them on the channels studied. All candidates are
using the free air that they are entitled to on the First Channel of
the Public Television. The paid airtime (on all channels studied)
as of January 30 was used by six candidates, with the exception
of Tigran Karapetian, Arman Melikian and Aram Harutiunian. Vazgen
Manukian and Artashes Geghamian placed their advertising only on the
two public channels. Four candidates paid for the air of public and
private broadcasters. The leader in terms of promotional materials is
Vahan Hovhannesian (16,294 paid and free sec.), who used all seven TV
channels, but displayed no interest to Public Radio. He is followed by
Levon Ter-Petrosian (10,256 sec.), who was present on the advertising
air on all 8 channels studied, and Artur Baghdasarian (8,632 sec.),
who did not use the advertising air only on "Shant". Serge Sargsian
was only the fourth by this indicator (8,155 sec.), who has not so far
placed his advertisements on "Kentron" and "Yerkir Media" TV channels.

The most attractive for candidates out of media studied was the
paid air of the First Channel of the Public Television, followed by
"Armenia", "Shant", "ALM", "Yerkir Media", the Second Armenian TV
Channel, "Kentron". The least attractive was the air of Public Radio.

(Quantitative results of the monitoring are enclosed in tables.)

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE STUDY

Monitoring objectives: to determine and define through analysis of
quantitative data

– the level of attention of broadcast media of Armenia to presidential
elections;

– how adequate the broadcast media are in informing the electorate
about politicians, in ensuring their access to air to express views
and opinions, during pre-election promotion.

To meet these objectives, methodologies of qualitative and quantitative
monitoring are applied. The qualitative monitoring includes 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 includes counting and measuring of programs
in media directly.

Monitoring Methodology

All materials of the airtime studied are subdivided into two
types: 1. Editorial coverage; 2. Pre-election promotion (political
advertising), allocated to the presidency candidate.

1. The main study unit is TV/radio piece.

2. Monitors record and count the references to candidates in the
editorial coverage of the broadcast media studied. The number of
positive (+), negative (-) and neutral (0) references to candidates is
also counted. The connotational (positive, negative) references are
seen to be the ones in the pieces that leave an undoubtedly positive
or negative overall impression of the candidate on the audience. In
the cases when the connotation is not that certain, the reference is
recorded as neutral. All doubts of the monitor are interpreted towards
recording a neutral reference. Moreover, if the piece informs that
any person/organization has publicly announced its support/or lack of
support to the politician nominated as a candidate for presidency,
the reference to this politician is recorded as positive/negative,
respectively.

If a representative of election headquarters/proxy of a candidate
appears in the piece, with this status being specified, the
reference/connotation is recorded as pertaining to this candidate, too.

Each TV and radio piece records only one reference and only one
connotational sign for every candidate.

Any appearance of the candidate in a TV shot, which is not a part
of the piece where the candidate is mentioned, is also considered
to be a reference. If the appearance in the shot is a part of the
piece where the candidate is mentioned, this does not count as an
additional reference.

The measurement of these categories is made in units.

3. The monitors also record and measure the material volume, i.e.,
the airtime (in seconds), allocated to presidential candidates for
expressing their views, opinions as well as judgments, narration about
them made by others, in editorial coverage of the broadcast media
studied. If a representative of an election headquarters/proxy of a
candidate appears in the piece, with this status being specified,
the airtime he receives is also recorded for the candidate. Apart
from recording the general airtime, allocated to the candidate,
the capacity in which the candidate appears is also studied. Thus,
the airtime (in seconds) is differentiated and classed appropriately,
according to whether it was allocated to the candidate 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 also record and measure the volume of materials,
i.e., airtime (in seconds), allocated to the presidency candidate
for pre-election promotion in broadcast media studied (17.00-24.00,
for Public Radio – since 13.30 till 24.00), marked on TV and radio
channels as "pre-election promotion". The volume of paid and free
political advertising is measured separately. The political advertising
slot that started but did not end till 17.00 is not monitored. The
political advertising slot that started but did not end till 24.00
is studied in full, until its end. An exception is made only for
PTA First Channel and the Public Radio of Armenia, which, according
to the RA CEC decision of January 21, 2008, in case of a technical
necessity can shift the political advertising start time by 30 minutes.

Hence, in such cases the slot of political advertising on the First
Channel and the Public Radio is to be monitored respectively from
16.45 and 13.00.

5. The monitors record 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. If the discussion program participant is not the candidate
himself, but representative of his election headquarters/proxy, and in
the program this status is specified, in the list of discussion program
participants the program is recorded as featuring the candidate.

Yerevan Press Club expresses its gratitude to Internews Armenia for
assistance in monitoring.

IN OPINION OF VICTOR ZUBKOV, ARMENIAN-RUSSIAN JOINT INVESTMENT PROGRAMS PROCEED SUCCESSFULLY

Noyan Tapan
Feb 6, 2008

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. Commodity turnover between Armenia
and Russia currently makes 700 mln dollars, even though there is
an opportunity to increase this index to 1 bln dollars in a short
period of time, the Armenian prime minister Serge Sargsian stated
at the February 6 joint precc conference with the Russian prime
minister Victor Zubkov. According to him, the Russian side started
to make invstments in Armenia actively, and the total amount of these
investments has passed the one billion dollar mark.

S. Sargsian said that the problem of transport communication
hinders rapid development of relations between the two countries,
and the transfer of Armenian Railway company to Russian Railways for
concession management will help solve this problem. It was mentioned
that Armenian building materials will be used in construction work
for organization of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi: these materials
will be transported to Russia by railway.

In the words of V. Zubkov, an agreement on improvement of the trade
regime and an agreement on promotion of bilateral cooperation in the IT
sector were signed during this visit. He attached special importance
to an exchange of notes about signing an intergovernmental agreement
on Armenia’s participation in activities of the international center
of uranium enrichment.

V. Zubkov said that Russia continues to be the major trade partner
of Armenia, with bilateral commodity turnover increasing by 60%
in the past two years. In his words, the joint investment programs
are proceeding successfully, involving various directions such
as atomic energy, diamond cutting, telecommunication, railway
transport. It was stated that regular operation of Kavkaz-Poti ferry
link will also contribute to further development of trade and economic
cooperation. The Russian prime minister stated that the first pilot
program of the ferry link’s operation has been successful: the first
shipment of cement has been exported from Armenia to Russia.

Speaking about "Property for Debt" program, V. Zubkov said that the
inventory making of Mars Plant has been completed, and valuation
of shares is now being done, after which private investors will be
attracted for relaunching the plant.

In response to the question about how the upcoming presidential
elections in Armenia will affect Armenian-Russian relations,
S. Sargsian replied that the relations between the two countries have
not only the rich past and present but also good prospects. According
to him, Armenia is connected with Russia by thousands of links,
and it is to Armenia’s advantage to maintain friendly relations with
Russia. "The Russian capital is at ease in Armenia. Other kinds of
relations are out of the question, and Armenian-Russian links will
gradually strengthen," the Armenian prime minister stated.

APPLICATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESOURCE OVER THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA IS NOT OF A MASS NATURE, THE LEADER OF THE ‘YOUR CHOICE’ ORGANIZATION SAYS

arminfo
2008-02-04 14:54:00

ArmInfo. ‘Application of administrative resource over the presidential
electoral campaign in Armenia is not of a mass nature’, – the leader
of the "Your Choice" public organization Harutyun Hambartsumyan told
journalists at "Urbat" club today.

He also added that candidates for president chiefly accuse each
other. For this reason presentation of their electoral programmes to
the electorate lags behind. This makes difficult for the voters to
make choice.

Hambartsumyan also said members of his organization have been holding
monitoring of the electoral process since 21 January and have been
presenting the results of monitoring every ten days.

RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT DELEGATION IN ARMENIA

Panorama.am
19:08 04/02/2008

Viktor Zubkov the chairman of the Russian Government arrives in
Armenia on February 5.

According to the press and public relations department of the RA
Government office, the delegation of Russian Federation consists
of minister of transport Igor Levitin, minister of information
technologies and communication Leonid Rayman, minister of industry
and energy Andrey Dementev, chairman of federative tax service
Andrey Belyaninov, chairman of atomic energy federative agency
Sergey Kirienko, deputy minister of trade and economic development
Kiril Androsov, deputy minister of foreign affairs Grigori Karasin,
deputy minister of finance Dmitry Pankin, deputy of military technical
cooperation federative service Aleksandr Phomin.

On February 6, the Russian delegation will have meetings with RA
president Robert Kocharyan, the president of the National Assembly
Tigran Torosyan, the Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, and the Supreme
Catholicos of all Armenians Garegin II.