The international media evaluation company ECHO Research and the European Foundation for Democracy has presented the new ECHO study “Media in Armenia 2008 – A Pre-election Analysis”.
The study, commissioned by the European Foundation of Democracy, was conducted on January 21-27. Roberta Bonazzi, the executive director of the Brussels-based European Foundation for Democracy, said the study embraced both pro-government and pro-opposition printed media during five days of a week (as newspapers are published only on five days of a week) and electronic media (during 7 days of a week) in Armenian and Russian languages. According to her, the careful study of 743 newspaper and TV stories and reports showed that in general mass media in Armenia seems to be free from government pressure. She said the conclusion was made based on the fact that all presidential candidates were given equal air time to express and convey their ideas and programs to citizens. Karen Prichard, sector director of Echo Global Research, said unlike TV channels the printed media had more critical stories containing such words as ‘unjust”, “anti-democratic’ and alike She said extremely opposite views testify to freedom of speech. The study showed also that media stories and reports did not focus much on the election manifestoes of the candidates and nearly 95 percent of all stories and reports were about their campaigning. About 23 percent of all stories were about ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who was followed by prime minister Serzh Sargsyan with 21 percent. Karen Prichard said these two candidates are apparent front-runners in the presidential race. Eleven percent of all stories were about a former parliament chairman Arthur Baghdasaryan and 10 percent about a deputy parliament speaker Vahan Hovhanisyan. Also 24 percent of all stories provided unfavorable coverage of ex-president Ter-Petrosian and his campaign and 22 percent were unfavorable for prime minister Serzh Sargsyan. The least criticized was Aram Harutyunyan. The semi-weekly 168 Zham (168 Hours) and the daily Aravot were found to be most free from government pressure. Karen Prichard said along with harshly critical and even hostile coverage, it in general it was tolerant. The European Foundation for Democracy (EFD) is a Brussels based think tank that works closely with European institutions, civil society, and individuals across ethnic and political divides in support of democracy and freedom around the world.