From 21 to 30 June, 2019, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the mayor of Yerevan, Hayk Marutyan’s personality and activities.
35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 225 articles were declared, 57 of which were negative, 8 were positive and 160 were neutral.
Mayor Hayk Marutyan was included in our monitoring list for the first time. The first ten-day period was not favorable for Marutyan. Negative articles on the mayor refer to a variety of issues. The public and the news agencies recalled Hayk Marutyan’s pre-election promises and compared them with the current situation. There may be found many publications on the social media and the news outlets related to waste management: the mayor is blamed for its current situation. Hayk Marutyan’s recent announcement has been a subject of discussion and complaint as well: according to Marutyan, the 60 km/h (kilometers per hour) urban speed should be reduced to 50 km/h. This announcement was followed by different comments, in which one could find only few positive ones.
Complaints also refer to the transport network. According to the media, no reform has been made and this is again presented as contradiction in the context of Hayk Marutyan’s promises and reality. There are also problems with tenders. When referring to waste disposal and Kamaz purchase, media outlets write about 60 million disappeared Drams.
It is positive that the mayor is criticized not for some personal matters, but for urban problems. But it is really negative that the urban problems, according to the media, gradually increase, whereas the solutions to them are delayed.
