From 11 to 20 September, 2019, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the wife of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Anna Hakobyan’s personality and activities.
35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 252 articles were declared, 51 of which were negative, 54 were positive and 147 were neutral.
Anna Hakobyan has been in the media spotlight for the past ten-day period. The positive and negative articles on the wife of the Prime Minister are almost equal, the positive articles, as shown in the graph, prevail the number of negative ones by few articles.
Black-dressed mothers held a protest in front of the government building. According to media reports, one of the mothers, who did not want to reveal her name, said that the so-called “golden swords” that the prime minister once spoke of, are now owned by Anna Hakobyan. Margarita Khachatryan said during the same protest: “Well, you are saying that our soldiers were killed for nothing, so give our children back.”
Anna Hakobyan’s visit to the US was also criticized. It is noted that Anna Hakobyan regularly participates in Nikol Pashinyan’s business trips. One of the media outlets regarding to this visit noted: “However, the most interesting thing in all this is the presence of the spouse of the Prime Minister Anna Hakobyan, what will happen if she did not accompany her husband this time?
Former member of Yerevan Council of Elders Marina Khachatryan posted a Facebook post accusing Anna Hakobyan and Arsen Torosyan of dismissing Edgar Khurshudyan, the head of the inspectorate. “According to rumours, Edgar Khurshudyan, the head of the Health and Labor Inspectorate, has been dismissed at the request of Minister of Health, Arsen Torosyan, and by Anna Hakobyan’s direct order.”
Anna Hakobyan visited Arvin Wixom, 2-year-old baby, who fell from the 6th floor. The publications covering her visit were assessed as positive. According to Congresswoman Judy Chun, she is quite impressed with Artsakh after meeting Anna Hakobyan and wants to visit it. “I would like to visit Artsakh to get acquainted with the situation, to see what is happening there and to be able to provide even more serious support to the establishment of peace in Artsakh in the future.”
For the first time Yerevan will host a film and television festival entitled “Reforming the World”. Anna Hakobyan was elected as an honorary president of this festival.
P.S. “Media Advocate” Initiative conducted another monitoring on Anna Hakobyan in the past ten-day period as well. Considering the monitoring results (No positive articles have been published on the wife of the Prime Minister), Mrs. Hakobyan negatively assessed the work done by the Initiative. We urge Mrs. Hakobyan to refrain from such assessments and not to question the impartiality of the initiative. Furthermore, every assessment or opinion voiced by the initiative is based on nothing but media publications.
