Vahan Babayan, Vice President of the Youth Party of Armenia, preparing for live campaign broadcasting, Public TV, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia for EurasiaNet 2007

As mentioned previously on this blog, one of the other important aspects of ensuring that the 12 parliamentary election meets international standards is access to the media. Already there is some controversy surrounding TV stations charging higher than commercial rates for political advertising or not accepting campaign ads at all. However, under the electoral code, all parties running in the election are guaranteed some free broadcasting time on Public TV.

Article 20. Pre-Election Campaign Through Mass Media

1. Presidential candidates and parties (party alliances) running for the National Assembly shall have the right to use paid and free air time (including live broadcasts) on Public Radio and Public Television, on equal conditions.

2. For every national election, the procedures for allocating free air time on Public Radio and Public Television to presidential candidates and parties (party alliances) running for the National Assembly, as well as the scheduling of such air time shall be set by the Central Electoral Commission on the following day after the deadline for registration of candidates.

3. Public Television and Public Radio shall be required to provide equal conditions for all candidates and parties (party alliances) running in any given election. News programs broadcast on Public Television and Public Radio shall present impartial and non-judgmental information about pre-election campaign run by candidates, parties or party alliances, making sure that fair and equal conditions are in place. The fact that certain candidates, parties or party alliances do not hold any campaign events or the lack of information about such events may not serve as grounds for the mass media to refrain from reporting on other participants’ campaigns.

[…]

5. Candidates and parties (party alliances) running for the National Assembly shall have the right to make use, on equal conditions, of air time on other radio and television stations, regardless of their form of ownership. The provisions of Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article shall equally apply to other radio and television stations, regardless of their form of ownership.

As part of my work for EurasiaNet, I visited Public TV last Thursday to photograph their one hour campaign slot, which also includes free and paid live air to politicians to address a television audience from its studio. When I was there, the most familiar politician to do so was New Times leader Aram Karapetyan. Although I could photograph Aram Karapetyan waiting for his scheduled time on air as well as Vahan Babayan, it was not possible to photograph in the studio during the live broadcast itself because of regulations not permitting the presence of unauthorized persons.

Anyway, concerns still remain, and in particular, although political parties do have their time on Public TV, commercial stations still continue to make access prohibitively expensive, and there is also the perpetual problem of news programs continuing to disseminated biased and often partisan news to their audiences. This is especially true given that Armenia’s one pro-opposition station, A1 Plus, marked its fifth anniversary off the air on 2 April. EurasiaNet has more.

Armenian opposition parties are complaining that high prices for television campaign ads and extensive coverage of pro-government political parties are skewing Armenia’s parliamentary campaign. International and local media monitoring reports appear to support the contention that the government and parties in power are dominating television election news coverage.

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Much of the trouble comes down to television ads. The Central Election Commission (CEC) has stipulated that parties must have access to two minutes of free television airtime and four minutes of paid airtime per day. But fees for television campaign ads are estimated to have at least tripled since the 2003 parliamentary voting. The opposition says it does not have the resources to cover the costs

[…]

A member of the political council of the hardline opposition Hanrapetutiun (Republic) Party agrees. “Everyone is saving their money to go on the air during the last few days [of the campaign], which greatly damages the party’s campaign,” said Suren Sureniants. (The official campaign ends on May 10). As a result, he added, the Republic Party is “trying to find other options” to get its message out.

[…]

Representatives of Armenia TV, the country’s largest private TV station, and Kentron TV, owned by Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukian, declined to comment to EurasiaNet about their campaign ad sales.

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“Everything is done deliberately,” commented Sureniants, terming the practice “a news blockade” backed by the government.

In response to the accusations, Public Television Deputy Executive Director Gnel Nalbandian told EurasiaNet that the number of parties taking part in the campaign renders providing equal airtime for all parties a challenge. “Of course, the broadcasts of public television cannot equally cover the events of all parties,” Nalbandian said. “Even technically, we are unable to cover the events of the 25 political parties participating in the elections and we have found ourselves between a rock and a hard place.”

[…]

The OSCE/ODIHR plans to publish a third report on the election campaign with fresh media monitoring details the week of April 30, said OSCE/ODIHR media analyst Ivan Godarsky. The media monitoring results will also be included in the organization’s final report, to be released “six to eight weeks” after the election, he added.

My thanks for Ruben Muradyan for facilitating access to Public TV.

Aram Karapetyan, Public TV, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia for EurasiaNet 2007

Public TV, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia for EurasiaNet 2007