From 1 to 10 June, 2019, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the President of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Sargsyan’s personality and activities.
35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 895 articles were declared, 111 of which were negative, 11 were positive and 773 were neutral.
Negative articles on the Armenian President Armen Sargsyan over the past ten-day period ten times exceeded the positive ones. The articles on Armen Sargsyan have mostly been neutral or positive in different periods of our monitoring.
Armen Sargsyan was mainly criticized for nominating Vahe Grigoryan’s candidacy for the second time as a judge of the Constitutional Court. The news outlets reminded the president that Vahe Grigoryan did not perceive Armen Sargsyan as legitimate president a year ago. President’s step was qualified as a weakness.
A similar situation one could follow on the social networks. A part of the society thinks that instead of giving a tough response on the day of the blocking of the court entrances and coming out as a guarantor of the constitutional order, Armen Sargsyan preferred to make an unclear response, that is, according to the criticism, the president of Armenia is influenced by Nikol Pashinyan’s team.
Armen Sargsyan actually participated in political processes for the first time. According to Artak Zeynalyan, nomination of the same candidate for the second time is nothing but politics, and as the experience was unsuccessful, there were numerous criticisms, whereas adequate response almost was absent. Moreover, Emil Tarasyan’s explanations, in fact, turned to act against them. The press defined it as a self-confession, which confirmes that Armen Sargsyan considered Pashinyan’s political impact.
