The Risk of Corruption is High

Just because a media outlet officially refuses to show political outlets, this does not mean that it will not do so unofficially.
The Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression has continued to monitor the activities of media outlets in the regions of Syunik, Shirak, and Lori, with the support of OSI and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

During a round-table discussion held in Vanadzor Press Club, Ashot Melikyan, the head of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, announced that between April 8th and May 10th, the monitoring was carried on in Lori region. It was concluded that voters living in the capital were much better informed than those living in the regions during the pre-election period.
For the first time, discussions were held in Vanadzor Press Club on results of pre-election monitoring of the following TV stations: TV stations “Lori TV,” “Mig TV,” and “Va Ba” ov Vanadzor; station “Slav Media” of Spitak; station “Fortuna” of Stepanavan; and station “Ankyun+3” of Alaverdi. According to Arthur Sakunts, the head of Vanadzor Press Club, “Ankyun+3” advertised time for political advertisements at 8000 AMD per minute. We were informed from “Lori TV” station that they had also made public their rates for political advertisements (15,000 AMD per minute) in scrolling text.
It’s interesting to note that the “Fortuna” TV station of Stepanavan officially announced that they would not cover get involved in the pre-election campaign. Monitoring activities on “Va Ba” TV of Vanadzor revealed that 88% of airtime on political candidates was devoted to the majoritarian candidates, and 12% to the proportional candidates. The division of airtime for the majoritarian candidates of the 30th constituency was as follows: 2% was given to Viktor Dallakyan, 98% to Vahram Baghdassaryan. This TV station also showed a film about Vahram Baghdassaryan. It made the 42% of the airtime. With this the demands of the article 11 of the law “On TV and Radio” was violated: “In the mentioned period the TV stations are prohibited to broadcast any political or preaching materials in the form of a chronicle-documentary film.” For the proportional candidates the airtime of “VaBa” TV was distributed in this way: Orinats Yerkir-53%, Republican Party of Armenia-16%, People’s Way-14%, People’s Party of Armenia and Armenian Revolutionary party-4%, National Unity-3%, United National Liberal Party-2%. All the above was presented in the form of “journalistic coverage” and “VaBa” refused to show any forms of direct political advertisement. Samvel Harutyunyan, responsible for the TV station, answered the question of “Aravot” daily on why he had refused to show political advertisement: “The different financial possibilities of the parties would lead to unequal conditions from the start. Refusal provided all of them with free pre-election campaign.” He stated that refusing to accept paid advertisements was not due to external pressures. “Mig TV” shared the “equality” of such a system of showing political materials, which did not broadcast “officially paid” advertisement either. It gave 81% of its airtime to Vahram Baghdassaryan, 2% to Viktor Dallakyan, 9% to Larisa Paremuzyan and 1% to Vahan Madatyan. It showed a 19737 second film about Vahram Baghdassaryan and did not show any films about the other candidates. The airtime of “Lori TV” for majoritarian candidates was as follows: Viktor Dallakyan-46%, Vahram Baghdassaryan-33%, Karen Saribekyan-15%, Samson Khachatryan-4%, Arkadi Hambardzumyan-2%, Larissa Paremuzyan-0, 1%. The airtime for the proportional system was distributed in this way: People’s Way-18%, Republican Party of Armenia-26%, Orinats Yerkir-11%, “Zharangutyun”-10%, National Unity-9%, Armenian Revolutionary party-3%, “Prosperous Armeia”-2%.
According to monitoring results, Slav Media TV of Spitak referred to only one of two candidates nominated in constituency #29. This was Arkadi Hambardumyan and 100% of the political news was about him. The other candidate, Vahan Madatyan, got 0%. Surik Poghosyan, nominated in constituency #32, also received 100% of political media coverage. “Ankyun+3” of Alaverdi showed a film (1873 seconds) about Karen Saribekyan. The airtime was specifically “equal” for the proportional candidates: Republican Party of Armenia-40%, Impeachment-1%, “Zharangutyun” 2%, National Unity-1%.
Concerning printed media, newspaper “Loru Marz,” which published 10 issues during the pre-election campaign, also refused to present political advertisement. Manvel Mikoyan, editor-in-chief of the newspaper, informed “Aravot” that he had offered the majoritarian candidates (nominated in 4 constituencies) paid advertisement even with discounts. But, according to the editor-in-chief “they boycotted the newspaper.”
  Ruzan Minasyan
Vanadzor-Yerevan
"Aravot", 27.06.2006