The Public Television, unilaterally covered the sensational Lanzarote convention both within the framework of the “Public Discussion” and “Let’s Understand” programs. The airtime given to the guests was violated, besides, most of the guests were representatives of the government or supporters of the government’s ideas. On May 17, 4 out of 5 guests of Petros Ghazaryan’s “Public Discussion” program spoke in favor of Lanzarote Convention adopted by the National Assembly on May 17. The Public TV company, which operates at the expense of the public, has been unilateral and served the authorities when presenting the sensitive issue of protecting children from sexual violence and sexual exploitation.
At the beginning of the program, Petros Ghazaryan mentioned that he has faced such a situation as the opposition refused his invitation, and that he has called 10 people to invite to the program. If Petros Ghazaryan was not for that situation, the program could have been organized another day, when it would have been possible to ensure multilateralism through the guests. By the way, on May 14, Petros Ghazaryan hosted Maria Karapetyan, a member of the “My Step” fraction, who voted against the convention.
During the program, of course, a number of concerns which are being discussed on Social Networks were raised, in particular, in relation to Article 6 of the Convention, according to which, sexual education will be taught to children in primary and secondary schools. Maria Karapetyan denied it and insisted that the convention does not oblige to teach sexual education. As for the “Let’s Understand” program, about 20 minutes of it were allocated for the guests supporting the convention and only 10 for the guests who were against the convention. All the concerns were voiced during the discussion, it was noted that no provision will be imposed and that it will be adapted to the national peculiarities.
