Epress.am News from Armenia
The success of the 2011 Tashir Music Awards is evidenced by its high TV ratings and the fact that around 80% of the country’s population was watching the awards ceremony, said Tashir Media General Producer Mark Saghatelyan.
“The reaction and those criticisms which were heard a few hours later was very surprising for us. To tell the truth, we thought long and hard and realized that this is ‘black PR’ [negative public relations], and we already know who’s done this black PR,” he said.
Asked by a journalist to name those behind the smear campaign, Saghatelyan said, “our rivals.” To the journalist’s second question, as to whether he was referring to the Armenia Awards (organized by Valery Saharyan who was the producer representing Eva Rivas at the 2010 Eurovision Song Awards), the Tashir Media representative did not provide a direct response and only said, “they are those who two weeks ago organized another event.”
Recall, members of the public and NGO representatives criticized the awards show, with some local media reports calling it a “Feast during a Plague.” Shirak NGO and a group of Facebook users had urged the Armenian pop stars to donate the apartments they were awarded by President of Tashir Group Samvel Karapetyan to homeless families in Armenia.
Addressing this request, Tashir Media General Director Hayk Babasyan, also participating in today’s press conference, said people most likely thought that the awards ceremony was a charitable event.
“But it wasn’t a charitable demonstration, but a show program, and it turned out to be a magnificent show program,” he said.
“We put on such a show program that it amazed all of Russia — and let me add, in addition to Russia, also our diaspora Armenians, who watched this show, both in the United States and in Europe,” assured Saghatelyan.
According to him, though they’ve received only criticism from Armenia, in the Diaspora, there are very good and positive opinions.