Petros Ghazaryan, the responsible of political and news programs of the Public Television of Armenia, (Armenian Public TV/1TV), posted a Facebook status which shows that he is engaged in a campaign against the hero of Artsakh, Vitaly Balasanyan.
When asked about the tension on the border, Balasanyan, referring to Nikol Pashinyan, answered, “Go and ask him, he was the one who met Aliyev in an elevator”. The pro-government propaganda considered this phrase as a disregard to Nikol Pashinyan. They launched a counterattack against Vitaly Balasanyan.
In fact, Petros Ghazaryan joins the attack by using popular but simple propagandistic steps on his own Facebook status: “Nikol Pashinyan is the Prime Minister chosen by us, so any disregard to him is a disregard for all of us, thanks to the so-called “elevator ceasefire”, (the phrase is used to refer to Pashinyan-Aliyev unofficial meetings, due to which, the tension on the border was eased, the public believed) the number of the victims on the border has decreased, corruption has been eradicated in the army etc.”
Petros Ghazaryan has not added any new arguments to the Anti-Balasanyan campaign, furthermore, he once again shows himself as a pioneer of the pro-governmental propaganda. The “Media Advocate” initiative has repeatedly touched upon the biased attitude of the Public Television and the unbalanced media, due to which the news outlet has become a propaganda unit.
Petros Ghazaryan’s Facebook status shows that the biased propaganda on public-funded Public Television is not only by the directive of the authorities, but it is also the personal standpoint of its political and news programs responsible.
