Levon Zurabyan, the coordinator of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), gave an interview to the Public TV Channel a few days ago. It was a normal, ordinary interview, during which the representative of ANC expressed the well-known assessments of that political force. Certainly, the atmosphere was a little tense, which was probably due to the fact that Mr. Zorabyan was not sure that he would have another opportunity in the near future to make a speech for such a big TV audience and he was hurrying to voice “criminal regime” and “rule of bandits” assessments as much as possible, as well as epithets about the president of Armenia, to some extent fearing probably that the journalist would not offer him that opportunity. If the oppositionists are offered an opportunity to make speeches on H1 and other TV channels, no such problem will occur and they will offer the real alternative to the present situation, rather than stress the “slogan” and “rally” definitions,. E.g. it is right that the most important problem of Armenia is forming legitimate government. However, in my opinion, the oppositionists are either deceived, or deliberately deceive the people, saying that it is possible through the president’s resignation. The past experience, as well as the attitude of the opposition parties these days, makes me assume that offering that path to legitimacy, they are trying to establish their own, not less illegitimate government. However, my opinion is certainly not the absolute truth – all that should be discussed without anxiety in various areas, including the television.
It is beyond doubt that the television is not the only means to discuss this kind of problems – websites, social networks and generally internet offer a good opportunity for that. This fact makes the strict control over the television and the situation when a speech of an oppositionist on H1 is perceived as the highlight of the week or even month obsolete and not contemporary. Censorship that is officially forbidden by the Constitution must be forbidden also in the real life – Amalyan Commission that is a tool of that censorship must be dissolved as an archaic institution. The oppositionists are not substantially harmed by that censorship any more – they have found and will continue finding ways to endorse their ideas. The only harmed are the TV channels themselves – if internet becomes cheap in Armenia in 5 or 10 years, they will just not be able to survive the competition.
The establishment should not fear the oppositionists making speeches on the small screen. It is quite normal and natural.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
