From 11 to 20 November, 2019, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the President of the National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan’s personality and activities. 35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 418 articles were declared, 72 of which were negative, 2 were positive and 344 were neutral.
Negative articles on Ararat Mirzoyan continue to prevail. Mirzoyan has not been positively assessed by the monitored news agencies this time either.
The press criticizes the visits of Ararat Mirzoyan and his delegations to various countries. These visits were described as “voyages”. On October 20-22, a 16-member delegation headed by NA Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan visited St. Petersburg. The press has repeatedly written about the cost of a single business trip per day, including the cost of air tickets. In case of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries it costs $ 1000-2000, in case of European countries, its twice or three times expensive.
Discussions over Meline Daluzyan continue. Political scientist Gagik Hambaryan notes that the news of Meline Daluzyan’s suicide attempt surprised Gyumri residents because Meline Daluzyan had no problems in Gyumri, she used to take her girlfriend to class as she was studying at a local university. Touching upon the discussion of this issue from the NA platform, Hambaryan wrote: “Let’s start with the thing whether the National Assembly’s main tribune should be used for 10 minutes to answer a fake question, because we all noticed who the author of the question was; Ararat Mirzoyan. To conclude, the question and answer was prepared in advance and Mr. Pashinyan had the answer with him.”
One of the analytical publications recalled the day when Ararat Mirzoyan and Lena Nazaryan lit smoke candles in the NA. The media agency linked this incident to supporting the LGBT community.
It is noted that “My Step” alliance overthrew a bill a few days ago, according to which Ararat Mirzoyan could become a member of the National Security Council and stated it was a stab in the back for Ararat Mirzoyan. The news outlet also noted that Ararat Mirzoyan is trying to link the incident to opposition politicians and does not consider this case as a tragedy.
According to a recent poll, Ararat Mirzoyan is considered to be one of the most popular politicians.
