Levon Ter-Petrossian expressed a very apt idea at the time – if you can call this administration “regime” in a mass media publishing legally (not at the level of samizdat), then there is actually no regime at all. Certainly, it is about despotism, which hasn’t been
there during the 20-year history of the independent Armenia and I hope it will never be there. More so now, when there are TV channels broadcasting in Armenia that express the opinions of the two parties and those parties – the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) – took an absolutely opposition attitude during the election campaign. Even if we don’t take into consideration websites and social networks, which are a relatively new phenomenon, and newspapers (opposition newspapers have always been there), then one can assert that the situation in the information field is absolutely new. Opposition TV channels haven’t broadcasted in Armenia – there was A1+, which was independent and which was deprived of broadcasting in 2002, the rest had been “free, but responsible” till April 2012.
Three things are left to do: 1. The political forces “owning” those two TV companies should maintain their relative independence; 2. Those mass media shouldn’t be too partisan and offer an opportunity to other oppositionists – the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and the Heritage Party – as well as representatives of the government and people outside the created system, to express themselves; 3. If the first two conditions are met, the government should be smart enough not to persecute these two TV channels. (By the way, it is interesting why the videos testifying to election fraud are not shown almost at all.)
The interweavement of those three conditions will contribute to healing the whole field of TV broadcasting – if two enjoy certain freedom, why shouldn’t the others enjoy it? You may say, “All the same, the internet is free.” However, first of all, the internet is available to only a third of our population. Secondly, newspapers and TV channels are still more professional than online resources not only in Armenia, but also around the world. If that optimistic scenario works, the television can really raise problems concerning the society more actively. Naturally, not everyone is interested in those – well, those citizens will continue watching TV series and TV shows.
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When they say that there is despotism in Armenia, it is just a rhetorical phrase, nothing more. Moreover, when they say that as a result of this election, nothing has changed, it is also an extreme exaggeration. It is generally a rule of life – every day brings something new.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
