From 1 to 10 March, 2020, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the Minister Arayik Harutyunyan’s personality and activities. 35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored.
In the specified period, 403 articles were declared, 57 of which were negative, 11 were positive and 335 were neutral.
Many negative articles were published on the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Arayik Harutyunyan. Referring to the Law on Education and Science, the President of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia Radik Martirosyan noted that they had discussed the issues related to these spheres at a meeting with Arayik Harutyunyan back in 2018, but in the future any representative of the Academy neither worked out the draft version nor participated in the development of the project because of not being invited.
Many children were present among the crowd gathered during the referendum campaign. This has caused a wave of criticism on social networks and media. ESCS Minister Arayik Harutyunyan also participated in the very same campaign where one could notice children. Many have questioned whether the Minister did not notice the children attending the campaign during their class and whether it is normal when the child is not in class where he or she should have been but among the crowd participating in the campaign event.
According to another media outlet, Chairman of the Higher Qualification Committee Smbat Gogyan will soon resign. According to the source, he is experiencing working problems with Minister Arayik Harutyunyan. According to reports, Gogyan refused to fulfill Arayik Harutyunyan’s order and to deprive former rector of University of Economics Ruben Hayrapetyan of his academic degree.
In response to YSU lecturer Rita Saghatelyan’s question, Arayik Harutyunyan recalled the fact that she is the aunt of Ishkhan Saghatelyan, a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Supreme Body. This incident was also criticized. One of the news outlets, in particular, wrote: “The lecturer’s fault is that she has a kinship with the ARF representative. It is not decent for the people with the cruel experience of 37 to repeat the same practice of revenge on individuals just because they have ties to one or another party.”
