From 1 to 10 July, 2019, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the Vice-president of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Alen Simonyan’s personality and activities.
35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 115 articles were declared, 18 of which were negative, 4 were positive and 93 were neutral.
There are many negative articles on the vice-president of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan in comparison with the total number of articles written about him in general and neutral materials in particular. Alen Simonyan’s idea according to which Armenia was defeated in the April war continues to be criticized. The media insists that after such cases, controversy arose in the CC, in particularly between Alen Simonyan and Sasun Mikayelyan. This conflict becomes more evident when we recall that Sasun Mikayelyan told journalists about some internal contradictions in the CC, and Alen Simonyan, in turn, denied Sasun Mikayelyan’s statement.
The news outlets remind that Alen Simonyan started an initiative to change the national anthem, and now they question whether it was not a show, since there is no news regarding this initiative now. Simultaneously with the hot discussions and rumors on the Istanbul Convention, the news outlets remind Alen Simonyans words according to which, LGBT marriages were a matter of time, and criticized him.
The CC congress is still being discussed in the media. Media reminds that according to the results of the voting, Alen Simonyan was only in the 18th place, which is considered to be a low position.
It turns out that, according to media releases and statements of some CC representatives, there are some problems within the political team. The deputy speaker of the National Assembly must continue his work because their cessation will be criticized both in the political field and in the press. To conclude, Alen Simonyan’s personal stance on the Istanbul Convention is now more important as a deputy speaker of the parliament and an individual who talked about LGBT community marriages legalization in the past.
