Aravot Daily newspaper is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its establishment. I have been the editor-in-chief of this newspaper for almost the entire time it has been in print- from December 6th, 1994. Therefore, I can speak about the principles we have had for the past quarter of a century. Our principles are not original; they have been outlined in many journalistic textbooks and in our newspaper’s code of ethics. It’s enough to simply read the code of ethics in order to understand everything.
Of course, people have attempted to give us political labels over the past 25 years, and if someone doesn’t like a certain article, they start talking about how it was a political order. In the past, I would get upset over such claims, but then I realized that the dumbest thing to do in journalism and in life is to try and justify yourself. If someone tends to think a certain way or if they pretend to think that way, let them be. The way that Aravot Daily is perceived isn’t as important to me as how well I can resolve problems I encounter is.
And the main issue we face is to be able to present the reader with information about anything without personal emotions. So, this means to be able to decrease the amount of aggression in society and trying to balance out different subjects. Is this difficult? Yes, very. But if you don’t try to give yourself challenging issues to resolve, if you simply try to follow the crowd, then it’s best that you not get involved in journalism. It’s best for you not to do anything, actually; the crowd will move without you.
If something negative is said in Aravot Daily’s commentary, then it’s done without any ill will and without the intention of hurting anyone. I think that any form of criticism needs to be done with good intentions and it needs to be aimed towards the phenomenon, not the person. There is a nice saying in Latin to describe this: in optimam partem- with best intentions. But we don’t need to attack or ignore those who don’t agree with what we say. We simply need to include their opinions, too.
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You may ask whether or not Aravot Daily is successful in doing all of this. I can say for certain not always, but I’m referring to our principles here. And as far as how well we live by our principles, well, it’s not us who are supposed to judge that.
Aram Abrahamyan
