“Media Advocate” Initiative was informed that Gor Tsarukyan, Head of the Service of Economic Research at Public Relations and Information Center SNCO under the Prime Minister’s Office, posted a Facebook post referring to the post of political scientist Gagik Hambaryan, where Tsarukyan also made an offensive remark regarding some media outlets. He, in particularly, noted: “By the way, I would not have touched this case if that misinformation had not been disseminated without clarification or explanation by such media outlets as: Slaq, Blognews, 7or, 168, Hayeli, Zham and so on. Though, on the other hand, these media outlets may hardly be considered as media outlets, they disseminate every kind of misinformation resembling those chickens that catch every single seed.”
“Media Advocate” Initiative expresses concern over the statement of a state official. We would like to inform Gor Tsarukyan that the posts of political scientists and bloggers posted on their social network accounts are published not only by Armenian but also by many international media outlets.
“Media Advocate” is reporting that a state official has no right to label any media, as it is out of his or her jurisdiction. The management of the PRIC SNCO shall be attentive in such cases and shall refrain from dividing the media into its insiders and outsiders.
In addition, it should be noted that the political commentator’s Facebook post is his personal opinion. If the record is not made by a state official or a state institution, it may not be considered as misinformation, it is just an opinion.
