“The constitutional amendments will set the plan for the next 15-20 years in Armenia,” said director of the “yes” campaign for the constitutional amendments Mher Shahgeldyan yesterday during a seminar organized by the European Council’s informational office in the business center of the American University of Armenia with the theme “Professionalism of Media and Propaganda for the Constitutional Amendments”. He emphasized the important role that mass media play and their professionalism in the process of propagandizing the referendum. In his opinion, the legitimacy of the political processes depend on how informed the people are of the amendments. If we look at the “legitimacy of the referendum” from this point of view, we can state the fact that at the present, the referendum has a high level of illegitimacy. In any case, all the speakers emphasized the people’s right to be informed and receive free information about the referendum in their speeches. During her speech, special representative of the chief secretary of the European Council Boyana Urumova emphasized the key role the television networks play and stated that the people’s right to be informed was the basis for democracy. “People need to receive correct information so that they can make the right decision,” said Mrs. Urumovan. The press and nearly 100 journalists from state and regional television networks and journalist associations heard the opinions expressed on professionalism by specialists from BBC’s “Radio Slovenia”. “Mass media does not have the right to have an influence on the results of the elections or the referendum,” said chief editor of the United Kingdom’s BBC television network’s political department Ashok Ahir. According to Ashok, the results of the election are first evaluated by society. “Television networks play the most important role during elections or referendums. Our job is to maintain equality for all sides,” said Mr. Ahr. Chief editor of “Radio Slovenia” Goyko Bervar informed us that his country has a big experience in referendums and that there has been nothing unusual during elections and referendums in Slovenia. “All the media has to do is to be subjective and show the propaganda,” he says and adds: “As far as I know, the Armenian people are concerned about two issues today: will the president be able to get elected for the third term if the constitutional amendments pass and if those amendments will be applied after they get accepted. These are the types of questions that the people must know the answers to before going to the referendum.” Doctor and owner of the Turpanjyan center for political research of the American University of Armenia Lusik Danielyan answered some questions and said that there are many good clauses in the “law about Television and Radio” in the Armenian legislation. They give the mass media the opportunity to enlighten the important events taking place in the country free and subjectively.
However, the speakers forget one thing: 95% of the public and political figures saying “yes” or “no” are not even familiar with the old and new versions of the constitution, much less the proposed amendments. If they don’t even know why they are saying “yes” or “no”, what can the media do? So, it would be better to suggest the people propagandizing “yes” or “no” to read the existing constitution and the proposed draft as well.