Recently, a false alarm was activated in the “Zvartnots” airport about the blasting of the Yerevan-Moscow flight and then the entire airport. Earlier, it seemed to me that some “jokers” simply want to play with people’s nerves. But when such blasts are declared after the Brussels terrorism and several hundred people working in the respective services are disturbed by this alarm, it seems to me that it is not just a joke rather than an earmarked propaganda against our social psychology and therefore, our security. I am sure that the fine of AMD 350 thousand is little for such a serious crime. I am not particularly in favor of any severity but this is the case when the citizen must be arrested for some time for the false alarm to threaten people. So that others would think 10 times before doing something like this. Incidentally, recently, the Georgian parliament has significantly toughened the punishment for such a crime.
It is also important to know how we, the media, is reporting the news on such false alarms (I say “we” because I do not have any reason to separate myself from the others). If an alarm is received that an explosion is going to be activated, it is not necessarily to report in a way as if it has to happen or has already happened. Given the fact that our readers and users tend to believe any horrible news and not to believe any good news, it is not necessary to manipulate people’s fears.
Write a headline that will say that Armenia will be erased from the map tomorrow, and there is no doubt that at the very moment, a few dozen people will “share” this material on his wall and the same number of people will post profound comments, “That’s the way it should be”, “nothing more to be expected,” “I have forecast it long ago” (especially those who do not live in Armenia would comment in this style). Nobody will read what is written in this article and what arguments are illustrated for the expected “Armageddon.” As to why it is so, it is a long-run conversation. However, I cannot say that we, the media, do not constitute a part for the creation of such negative expectations.
Certainly, the alarming news is the best “sold” in the world; people love to be kept in constant tension. But given the peculiarities of Armenians, perhaps, we need to remain abstained from intimidating people on every occasion.
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Aram ABRAHAMYAN
