According to heads of TV companies of the region of Lori and town of Vanadzor, denying political advertisement during the May 6 parliamentary election will put both MP candidates and residents of Lori who are to cast a vote in an awkward position.
In previous years, they decided rational prices for political advertisement on their TV channels during the pre-election campaign, whereas according to the amendments to the Electoral Code made in 2011, advertising prices on TV channels per minute cannot exceed the average price for commercials during the 6 months preceding the election date and cannot be changed before the end of the campaign.
“MP candidates that think why the TV companies have denied political advertisement neglect the fact that they themselves, along with other MPs, have fixed the prices for advertisement broadcasted on TV channels. Perhaps they don’t think that TV companies, let alone regional TV companies, cannot help but work for those prices,” Karen Arshakyan, the president of Fortuna TV Company of the region of Lori, talks about the unprofitability of broadcasting political advertisement. He says that before fixing the prices for speeches broadcasted on TV channels, the representatives of the field should have been invited to the discussions in the National Assembly, in order to draw up a good law, “It wasn’t hard to invite, say that we have such a bill, come and participate in the discussions, express your opinions, in order that we pass a good law afterwards.” As a result, according to the representatives of the field, MP candidates and parties are deprived of the big possibility to present their pre-election programs, to have their say and the population that will cast a vote is deprived of the possibility to make up their mind and to be informed.
“People are deprived of the possibility to find answers to their thousands of whys. At the end of the day, they elect one who draws up laws concerning their lives,” Samvel Harutyunyan, the director of Mig TV and Radio Company of the town of Vanadzor, clarifies the consequences of denying advertisement and who has made a decision not to broadcast political advertisement after holding a council with the creative group and based on calculations.
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Karen Arshakyan explains that however much national TV channels broadcast political advertisement, the viewers in the region are more inclined to watch local TV channels, “The MP candidate will not talk about the problems existing in Lori, Vanadzor or Spitak, about topics concerning the voters on a Yerevan TV channel. Voter must know what an MP candidate, a party or an alliance visiting the given region have promised, in order to demand results in one or two years’ time.”
Anush BULGHADARYAN
