From 11 to 20 November, 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, aravot.am, armtimes.com, azatutyun.am and 1in.am.
According to the monitoring, 486 articles were published on 5 selected websites regarding Nikol Pashinyan. 41 articles of which are negative, 42 are positive and 403 are neutral.
Both negative and positive articles have been written on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
According to Artur Ghazinyan, if we did not have Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan, who were perceived as anti-heroes, Nikol Pashinyan would never be a hero. According to Ghazinyan, “heroes” are formed because of the existence of “anti-heroes”, and the recent inactivity of anti-heroes has forced Nikol Pashinyan to stay alone with himself.
According to journalist Anush Dashtents, during the election campaigns neither Nikol Pashinyan nor his team made any hint that the Armenian language might be removed from the list of compulsory subjects taught in higher educational institutions.
Spartak Seyranyan, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau, responded to the question whether the Prime Minister knows to build or to destroy, noting that “1.5 years has shown that the government had a very effective methodology of destruction and appropriate human resources, but at least these 1.5 years show that it has neither personnel, nor plans or vision for building anything in different areas. Unfortunately, you may see what is going on in the region, what we discuss and talk about. A state in which the notions of back and front are highly conditional in terms of modern technics and technology. What are we talking about? Are these serious or not serious issues?”
Members of Yerevan Council of Elders from “Luys” fraction have reminded that previously Taron Margaryan used to buy city benches for 160,000 drams and Nikol Pashinyan used to state that those benches could cost cheaper, which means that Margaryan is involved in corruption. Now Hayk Marutyan is purchasing these benches by paying higher price. According to them, either Taron Margaryan has not been engaged in corruption or actually Hayk Marutyan currently deals with corruption.
According to Sevak Torosyan, the further development and solution of Robert Kocharyan’s case referring to March 1 Issue, depends exclusively on Nikol Pashinyan’s will.
The news that the gas price will not rise until spring 2020 has been assessed as positive. According to press reports, Serzh Sargsyan understands that the political activism against Nikol Pashinyan is not logical.
RA NA deputy Maria Karapetyan, referring to Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that Mel Daluzyan is under his protection, noted that the Prime Minister defends Mel Daluzyan from people who harshly criticize the former weightlifter all day long.
From 129 articles published in 1in.am, 7 were negative, 16 were positive and 106 were neutral.
Interview of Vahan Badasyan, Chairman of the Artsakh’s “United Armenia” Party, was published by the news agency. Touching upon “Vernatun”, Badasyan noted that it intends to gain concept of national character. According to him, “Vernatun” is only a matter of personal benefits because they want to unite, taking advantage of Nikol Pashinyan’s inability to fulfill the phenomenon of revolution.
In one of the analytical publications of the news outlet, it is noted that Nikol Pashinyan’s foreign policy is not qualitatively different from the policies pursued by Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan, which doubts the the fact of revolution undertaken by Nikol Pashinyan.
One of the print media articles was also published by the news agency. According to it, Nikol Pashinyan made a number of mistakes in public, which resulted dissatisfaction in various branches of government doubting the reason why they have to justify things which they strongly oppose. According to media, many teammates prefer not to be interviewed so as not to be persuaded to say something that is against their point of view.
According to another article published on the news agency, after Nikol Pashinyan’s response on Nzhdeh, during a meeting with Russian journalists, former government officials became more active, targeting the prime minister.
An article on “Vernatun” according to which Robert Kocharyan’s supporters unite against Nikol Pashinyan was published by the news outlet, as well as the news about the gas price.
From 120 articles published in aravot.am, 25 were negative, 11 were positive and 84 were neutral.
The news agency published Arthur Ghazinyan’s remarks on anti-heroes and heroes, the problems related to the exclusion of the Armenian language subject, Spartak Seyranyan’s interview, according to which, the government’s personnel is weak. “Luys” fraction’s remark on corruption case related to city benches and the fact that Robert Kocharyan’s case depends only on Nikol Pashinyan, has also been published.
MP Maria Karapetyan’s explanation on Mel Daluzyan assessed as positive. Commenting on the question whether the issue related to Amulsar will not lower Nikol Pashinyan’s rating, Tigran Ulikhanyan said that he does not see such a tendency.
From 100 articles published in armtimes.com, 1 was negative, 7 were positive and 92 were neutral.
Maria Karapetyan’s remark on Mel Daluzyan and in support of Nikol Pashinyan has also been published by the news outlet. The news that “GeoProMining” is joining the government’s initiative to plant 10 million trees has been welcomed and positively assessed.
From 76 articles published in armlur.am, 5 were negative, 3 were positive and 68 were neutral.
According to the news agency’s publication, Nikol Pashinyan should respond to the opposition’s criticism before discussing the budget.
According to the news outlet, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ordered to all to celebrate the New Year in Armenia. This refers both the officials and MPs.
From 61 articles published in azatutyun.am, 3 were negative, 5 were positive and 53 were neutral.
Speaking to Azatutyun, Ruben Rubinyan noted that Lavrov’s statements voiced in Yerevan were really noteworthy.
Founder of Antares Holding Armen Martirosyan noted: “Nikol Pashinyan plays the role of a pioneer because the public has a great interest in his book, and he makes them be interested in the works of other Armenian authors as well, he this way, acts as a unique momentum. I feel jealous when I visit any German bookstore where there one may find at least ten Georgian-language books translated, and not a single Armenian author. I hope that by the end of the year we will have Nikol Pashinyan’s book already in German bookstores; Macedonian and Albanian translations are done; the Turks are also interested.”
The statement, according to which, Tandilyan noted that she “regrets that Pashinyan did not become a statesman and remained the same opposition MP who used to make irresponsible statements.”