On February 28, the Public Television of Armenia allocated 71 minutes to the topic of the constitutional referendum, 1 minute of which was allocated to the supporters of the “NO” campaign, 21 minutes to the “YES” supporters and 49 minutes were neutral remarks. The Public TV also aired “YES” and “NO” campaign video clips of up to 1-minute duration each.
For the second consecutive day, the Public Television of Armenia broadcasts a report on the “YES” logo (10 minutes). In its analysis of the results of the February 27 broadcast monitoring, “Media Advocate” Initiative stated that by that very report the Public Television was carrying out a “YES” propaganda and mentioned that conversely no separate report had been prepared for the “NO” campaign.
Hayk Hovhannisyan, a member of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), was the guest of the Public TV. In an interview, referring to the Constitutional Court, Hovhannisyan stated that it had made a wrong decision regarding the SJC. That is, no contrary opinion is presented. This is also a violation of professional ethics, and the fact of presenting such a unilateral interview in the period preceding the referendum, may also be viewed as “YES” propaganda.
The program “Rules of the Game” hosted media expert Gegham Vardanyan, photographer Vaghinak Ghazaryan, education expert Serob Khachatryan and president of Goris Press Club Susanna Shahnazaryan. The speakers were neutral and did not favor any side.
