On June 17, TRC (Television and Radio Commission) Head Tigran Hakobyan presented the annual program “On the Activities of the Television and Radio Commission for 2019” in the National Assembly and answered the deputies’ questions.
Ani Samsonyan, a member of the “Bright Armenia” fraction, referring to the report, noted that the authorities had been invited to the ArmTV programs 42 times, meanwhile the opposition representatives were hosted only 4-5 times. In response, Tigran Hakobyan noted that the situation may have worsened this year, adding that, according to them, in 2019 the Public Television has maintained impartiality.
“Media Advocate” initiative has repeatedly mentioned the mistakes made by the Public Television both in 2019 and 2020. Many times, the Public Television did not comprehensively present the topic being discussed and resembled a pro-government propaganda machine.
Let’s present the violations revealed during the monitoring of the “Media Advocate” initiative only in May 2019, with their corresponding references:
Praising the authorities and “crushing” the opposition (May 3, 2019)
Who ordered the deceptive investigation? Why has the Public TV addressed the issue? (May 6, 2019)
When a biased campaign is also a personal standpoint (May 11, 2019)
The Imitation of a Balance (May 15, 2019)
The opposing side’s view is a rule of impartial journalism (May 24, 2019)
Growing dissatisfaction in “Lurer” (May 29, 2019)
Here are the violations revealed by “Media Advocate” Initiative in just one month. The TRC may have different perspectives on impartiality but the fact is, the Public Television did not maintain pluralism and presented unilateral information in 2019.
