From June 1 to 10, 2019, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s personality and activities. 5 news agencies were monitored: azatutyun.am, armtimes.com, 1in.am, lragir.am and Yerevan.today.
During the specified period 590 articles were declared, 70 of which were negative, 66 were positive, 454 were neutral.
• From 196 articles published in 1in.am, 148 were neutral, 34 were positive and 14 were negative.
The news agency mainly compares former and current authorities: the latters are represented in a better light. Negative articles that were published during the mentioned period mainly refered to the elections in the city of Abovian where the defeat of Nikol Pashinyan’s team was presented as a crushing. The news agency has also been concerned about the issue of Manvel Grigoryan.
• From 85 articles published on armtimes.com, 77 were neutral, 8 were positive: there was no negative article.
Armtimes.com news agency mainly responds to negative articles that are spread on the social networks and the media, representing the opposite viewpoint. For example, the incident with Maria Zakharova was mainly negative for Nikol Pashinyan but the media tried to use the situation in favour of Nikol Pashinyan.
• From 56 articles published on azatutyun.am, 2 were positive and 1 was negative.
The news service tried to do nothing in this ten-day period, but to represent the incident with Maria Zakharova in favour of Nikol Pashinyan. The news agency provided a platform to Zhirayr Sefilyan, a member of the “Sasna Tsrer” party, whose statements were intended to justify Nikol Pashinyan’s actions in relations with Russia. The elections in Abovyan was also slightly represented by the news agency.
• From 136 articles published on lragir.am 113 were neutral, 22 were positive and 1 was negative.
The news agency almost completely justifies Nikol Pashinyan’s steps, starting from the Artsakh issue to the relations with Russia.
• From 117 articles published on Yerevan.today, 63 were negative, 0 was positive, 54 were negative.
The news agency collected the viewpoints of all opposition figures and criticized Nikol Pashinyan for his economic and legal policies.
To conclude, one may notice that only one of the mentioned agencies represented a vivid oppositional position. Others either fully support the prime minister or try to act neutral.
The “Media Advocate” initiative will continue to monitor the news outlets and present the attitude of them to the ongoing political processes and political figures.
