Epress.am News from Armenia
There will be fewer incidents of fraud in the 2012 parliamentary elections, since the increase in number of media outlets will lead to broader coverage of the elections, said Hakob Avetikyan, editor of local daily Azg, speaking to journalists in Yerevan today.
“In the past 4 years, there was a social networks and internet boom in Armenia. And today this tool also has different significance than it did 4 years ago,” he said, stressing that users of social networks can also become news providers.
Also speaking at today’s press conference was Mesrop Movsisyan, director of the A1+ TV company, who didn’t agree with Avetikyan, saying what’s important today is quality not quantity.
“A mobilization of pro-government news outlets is taking place. It’s acceptable to say that they’re the news outlets belonging to oligarchs, but this isn’t quite so, since the same oligarchs belong to someone higher up and it’s that person higher up who’s dominating the industry,” he said, not specifying who he might be referring to.
The TV company director asserted that operating in the small country of Armenia today are 970 websites, 46 TV stations, and 210–212 newspapers, but, according to Movsisyan, none of them can operate in the entire field.
“If we take a look at [Armenian web resources rating site] Circle.am, the picture is reflected, like in a mirror. The top 12–13 places are clearly determined places, which have to dictate their way of thinking. If we consider all that’s happening there to be competition, then this country doesn’t have a news outlet at all. Because elementary math can convince us that all these figures are distorted, confounded. In this confusion, one person gains and we all know who that is. And that one person [who Movsisyan didn’t name], with those same 12–13 leading news outlets, will dictate what will happen in this industry during the election,” he said.