The “Media Advocate” initiative carries out monitoring of Armenia’s online media on certain topics. The topic of our investigation this time was Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s press conference which took place on 5th of March. During 4.5 hours long press conference, the Prime Minister touched upon various topics. After the Facebook posts and the lives, which provide only unilateral communication, this press conference was awaited as it provided an opportunity not only to address the issues that were important to the Prime Minister but to the media, and, presumably, to the public.
The monitoring of 34 leading Armenian online media agencies declared 683 articles regarding the press conference, 200 of which were negative, 27 were positive and 456 were neutral.
There are two possible explanations for the predominance of negative reactions. On the one hand, the society did not get the answer to its questions: the perspective of Armenia’s development remains uncertain, it’s security issue, that is the future of the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, is still unclear. A significant part of negative reactions is related to Nikol Pashinyan’s incompetence, being an official, he remains attached to his former oppositional views and the methodology of a journalist and an editor.
On the other hand, the authorities claim that the Armenian media is under the influence of the opposition, and that is the reason why they spread false information. In this regard, it should be noted that the negative feedback is mainly in the form of comments and opinions, not news․
The further steps of the authorities will show which explanation they prefer; either receive the criticism and change the policy they pursue, or continue to label the media with “black” and “white” colors and make statements on spreading false rumors.
Aghasi Yenokyan
Head of “Media Advocate” initiative
