In the last editorial of this year, I will not talk about the upcoming presidential election, nor will I talk about democracy and tyranny, particularly given the fact that none of them exists in Armenia. I want to write about something personal, since: a. the New Year stirs memories of that kind; b. in January, there will be no opportunity to write such a thing in the context of nominations, refusals to nominate and other “momentary” issues and events.
The thing is that roughly 30 years ago, I sat down before the camera and had my TV debut. I have said “roughly,” because I don’t remember the exact date, I just know that it was January 1983, when I was a fifth-year student of conservatory and wasn’t even 23 years old. God rest the soul of my first director Yura Gzoyan, may God grant longevity to my first editor Armen Harutyunyan and my first audio director Mesrop Pahlavuni – he has been playing a huge role in music shows – all three of them are highly-qualified musicians.
As any profession that you like, journalism, generally, and television, in particular, have become not only my lifestyle, but also – please, don’t get me wrong – my religion and my fatherland. And the issue here is not that people recognize you in the street; people who are interested in such vain things will never become professionals. The task is clearer and more important – to find an interesting story and tell readers, viewers about that in such a way that they don’t get bored. Certainly, there are people who struggle for the sake of something or do business through journalism, not looking for, but making up stories. It is normal; let everyone achieve his goals. Yet it has nothing to do with our profession. Guess what, even the regime has nothing to do with that. Certainly, it would be better, if conditions for freely expressing oneself were created. Certainly, the current situation, when the government is so dumb as to close an information agency, is very bad. However, let my politicized colleagues not object, if I say that interesting stories can be found even under the Communists’ or the Nazis’ rule and being subjected to their censorship.
Holidays will begin on Sunday. It is wonderful that I will spend more time with my family. It is very good that my relatives and friends and I will gather around the table. It is excellent that I will meet with my classmates. However, I will get bored on the 3rd-4th day of holidays – I will be depressed by the fact that I haven’t written an editorial or haven’t appeared on the screen today. I haven’t learned how to rest in these past 30 years.
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ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
