From September 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: armlur.am, news.am, armtimes.com, a1plus.am and araratnews.am.
According to the monitoring, 455 articles were published on 4 selected websites regarding Nikol Pashinyan. 42 articles of which are negative, 22 are positive and 391 are neutral.
Both negative and positive articles were declared on Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan. Armen Ashotyan’s critical article addressed to the current authorities has been published by the news outlets. Armen Ashotyan touches upon different issues noting that “This is the last and the most important stage of the post-revolutionary “hangover”, and the chance of the country’s recovery depends on it. People in this group (addressing the supporters of the hashtag #SutNikol) have either understood the dangers of velvet ecstasy served to us, or have honestly analyzed not only that but also their own naivety, and, by passing the political catharsis, that is self-cleansing, have come to a unanimous and correct conclusion: Nikol Pashinyan was a false savior, a false sheriff, a false coin.”
Criticism continues over Robert Kocharyan’s case. Aram Harutyunyan, supporter of the second president, former presidential candidate, thinks that the government violates laws by its actions and that it is guided by the principle of “find a person, finding a case against him, is not a problem”.
The article, which states that Nikol Pashinyan continues to have a high reputation within the Civil Contract (CC) party, has been assessed as positive.
Below we present the publications of the news outlets and our study of positive and negative articles.
From 88 articles published in News.am, 28 were negative, 7 were positive and 135 were neutral.
Armen Ashotyan’s critical article has been published on News.am. Aram Harutyunyan’s opinion and the Amulsar issue have also been touched upon: by the way, “Media Advocate” initiative has repeatedly touched upon this issue in its observations. The news agency published Citizen’s Decision (CD) party’s statement according to which the government led by the prime minister, is trying to justify its decision to renounce the principle they had before by using additional incomprehensible and controversial arguments; “Life has proven that no political figure or force will be forgiven for that. Such kind of a deviation from speech and action can lead to a total crisis of trust.”
From 170 articles published in armlur.am, 2 were negative, 7 were positive and 79 were neutral.
Eduard Sharmazanov’s critical approach to Pashinyan-Sefilyan meeting has been published by the news agency. Former NA Vice Speaker noted: “First of all, the concern and shame are not about the active state of the former authorities, but the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan’s meeting with representatives of a party whose members have undertaken terrorist acts against the RA, as a result of which three policemen were killed. It was a meeting with one of the representatives of an organization, the act of which has been defined by the US ambassador to Armenia and other international organizations, as a terrorism. This is what should be a concern, not the fact that they evaluate our actions, that’s too much.”
Among the positive articles, one may find articles according to which 30.000 Armenians are preparing for a meeting with Pashinyan in Los Angeles and also the article that President Armen Sargsyan is trying to be careful in regard to Nikol Pashinyan, taking into account his actions.
From 86 articles published in armtimes.com, 3 were negative, 3 were positive and 80 were neutral.
Negative articles on the news outlet addressed environmentalists’ concerns over the Amulsar problem. Referring to the Prime Minister’s call, environmentalists have responded that Amulsar’s paths will not be opened, on the contrary. According to the news outlet, there are criticisms related to the the judicial system; “After the ex-deputy minister of culture Nazeni Gharibyan fired the artistic director of the theater Konstantin Orbelyan from the position of a director, protests began here as well. The Opera House staff organized a petition in support of Orbelyan and against Nazeni Gharibyan. They met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, but the meeting turned to be in vain. According to the RA Law on Local Self-government, Orbelyan cannot hold the positions of theater director and artistic director at the same time.
The theater staff presented to the Armenian Prime Minister counter-arguments of the 10 points based on which, Gharibyan dismissed Orbelyan. After not receiving a response for two months, Orbelyan filed a lawsuit. The court process is still pending.”
Lilit Makunts’ statement could be found among the positive articles: speaking on behalf of “My Step” faction, Makunts confirmed that it supports Prime Minister’s position on Amulsar’s case.
From 70 articles published in a1plus.am, 8 were negative, 1 was positive and 61 were neutral.
This news agency has published Armen Ashotyan’s article as well. The publication on Amulsar and Garnik Isagulyan’s interview according to which many judges are subjected to Nikol Pashinyan and fulfill the prime minister’s wishes, were considered as critical. The only positive article referred to Pashinyans meeting with Alexander Zeferin, where the latter presented soccer ball to Nikol Pashinyan.
From 41 articles published in Araratnews.am, 1 was negative, 4 were positive and 36 were neutral.
The article, according to which 30.000 people are preparing for a meeting with Nikol Pashinyan in Los Angeles and the article, according to which, the film dedicated to velvet revolution, is to be presented at the Toronto Grand Film Festival, were assessed as positive.
