I’ve written many times about how appalled I am with the low quality of the journalism practiced by the State-supported media empire of American-Armenian Gerard Cafesjian and local Kocharian sycophant Bagrat Sarkisian, and not least about the role CS Media plays in rationalizing or covering up falsified elections. This isn’t hearsay and in actual fact is documented in numerous reports and analysis of the media in Armenia.

For all its glitz, Armenia TV in particular is a disgrace, and as I mentioned to a few people here recently, the one question that remains unanswered is why Cafesjian continues to allow it to operate as it does. The newly bought out The Armenian Reporter is little better and seems content to just pump out nationalistic rose-tinted stories from the “homeland” which bear little or no resemblance to the reality faced by most of the population.

What is most distressing, however, is the lack of tolerance and downright predujice that many of its journalists show. In January 2006, for example, Alex at Cilicia.com’s Life in Armenia blog was particularly perturbed by the blatant homophobia displayed by presenters on Armenia TV.

As I was unwinding with an Armenian TV program just after coming home from the airport, an entertainment reporter on that enlightened TV channel called Armenia TV, owned partly by the Cafesjian Foundation, was reporting on the Elton John/David Furnish same-sex civil union, made possible by recent, progressive legislation in the UK. Then at the conclusion of the report, the female reporter non-chalantly went on to say, “Unfortunately, the numbers of homosexuals in society are growing,” but she concluded at least homosexuals offer good entertainment!

[…]

Sure, Armenia and Armenians (including those in the Diaspora) talk of joining Europe and the rest of the world, but at the very least, even if they are not going to fundamentally change some of their most regressive attitudes, the public discourse should be aimed at creating a tolerant environment for all ideas and kinds of people to coexist. That’s the least that the somewhat progressive elements of Armenian society (in Armenia and Diaspora) can push for.

Because really, modernization and progress should not only be measured with the number of western clothing stores and restaurants that become operational in a 2-mile radius of Yerevan.

And then there is the added layer of not understanding why a persecuted nation would so readily persecute any other minority, be it ethnic, racial, religious or sexual. As I’ve said before, it matters not that your name ended in ian in 1915, […] we of all people must understand that bigotry and oppression are the same wherever and whenever they take place, and we must be the first ones to put our dignity on the line to stop oppression.

Today, writing for Armenia Now, Vahan Ishkhanian writes that Armenia TV appears to be going even further and is working with nationalist and extremist forces inside government to go after “enemies of the nation.” Basically, read anyone different and who wants to live their life the way they choose without harming anyone else in the process.

Four interrogate one. This is not a Customs service, where a suspicious passenger is asked questions; neither is it a police department. This the “Late in the Night” program at Armenia TV that would more fit to be called “Late Inquisition”.

Two journalists, a clergyman and the fourth a nationalist I don’t know, interrogate a Buddhist. A discussion in its form, the program holds no discussion, but questioning and charges. Gagik and Nelli are journalists, but there appear no intentions to investigate or inform – only to accuse and intimidate.

The nationalist says: “Any sect is an enemy to our state and people.” Asked if the program’s guest is “his enemy”, the nationalist answers “Of course.”

The guest, Artashes Gazaryan, is a Buddhist, one of only about four or five in Armenia. He has created a website (www.buddhism.am) to inform others of his religion. Among other information, the site contains information about the possibility of inviting a Buddhist teacher to lecture.

The KGB, through the face of Armenia TV, discovered the website and tricked Gazaryan to appear. Rather than a discussion of Buddhist belief, Gazaryan was asked: “Are you baptized?”, “How were you married if you are not a Christian?” “What means did you use to get to Thailand?” and string of other questions apparently aimed at collecting information for building a case against him that would inflame other nationalists.

His inquisitors implied that Gazaryan’s parents had failed in their religious duty, by raising a son to become something other than Armenian Apostolic Christian.

I watch and am reminded that the KGB used to interrogate dissidents about how they got “anti-Soviet” literature, whom they gave the books to read, why they read “different” books or held “different” beliefs.

[…]

The interrogation ends up with accusatory conclusions in which on nationalist lectures that “plurality of beliefs leads to the deterioration of the state and is called high treason”.

Great. Armenia TV hits a new low and provides ample reason for Cafesjian to pull out of the venture immediately if he truly believes in the establishment of an independent media in Armenia rather than one that serves the same function as the State propaganda machine did during the Soviet era, and which also (not coincidentally) protects his business and political interests in Armenia and the Diaspora by perpetuating the system here.

What really takes the biscuit, however, is when the Armenian Buddhist, Artashes Gazaryan, raises the issue of freedom of speech and belief. The response of the journalist at a time when official policy is to move closer to European integration is really outrageous, but typical of a station such as Armenia TV. In February 2006, for example, three of Cafesjian and Sarkisian’s TV stations also allegedly attempted to spread black propaganda about a major human rights organization in Armenia.

On February 4-6, 2006, for three days “Armenia”, “TV 5” and “ArmNews” TV companies, being under the control of the authorities, aired a piece, aimed at discrediting the activity of Helsinki Committee of Armenia. There was an attempt to present our activity, implemented by the grant of OSCE, as espionage. Disregarding the norms of professional ethics, the authors of the piece, deceitfully interviewed President of Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardian and Chairman of Helsinki Committee of Armenia Avetik Ishkhanian, and doing arbitrary montage, used the material for official propaganda purposes.

Sure, Vahan and Avetik Ishkhanian are brothers, but that doesn’t change anything about the long list of charges against Armenia TV. Moreover, Ishkhanian’s conclusions and observations are not only to be expected, but they are also well and truly hit the nail on the head.

Nelli responds with disparage: “That’s called European values, globalization” – suggesting apparently that globalization and European values are the same thing and, as it seems, are at odds with being Armenian. One can conclude from her definition that thinking means not being Armenian. And if she succeeds in her efforts to keep Armenian identity by that means then people willing to think will stop being Armenian. And I believe there will be lots of such people.

If I didn’t see Nelli, I would think she is a woman at least beyond 60, who has been closed up in a basement for the last 20 years of her life unaware of the Soviet Union’s demise. Her understanding of what is criminally prosecuted comes from the Soviet times, when anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda were criminally prosecuted and even tougher when an unregistered organization was created for that purposes.

[W]hy [does] Armenia TV, whose shareholders include American Armenian Gerard Cafesjian, whose money was earned in a free country, allows itself to be used against freedom in Armenia.

Outrageous and just another reason why I personally believe that Gerard Cafesjian’s “investments” in Armenia have done more harm than good and why he has personally done little that can be considered of benefit to the nation at this stage in its transition. Of course, if I’m wrong here, it’s quite simple. Cafesjian’s people would immediately respond and put things to right.

However, they didn’t when Cafesjian’s lawyers apparently helped keep A1 Plus off the air, and they didn’t when Armenia TV was part of the falsification machine in the 2003 presidential election.

TV ‘Armenia’, another nationwide private broadcaster, allocated the incumbent 65% of its primetime news coverage which was overwhelmingly positive in tone. In comparison, the channel generally ignored the opposition front-runners who each received only 2% of approximately equal proportions of negative and positive primetime news coverage.

For me, that says it all. Vahan Ishkhanian’s opinion piece is here and the Armenian Buddhism site is here. It should also be pointed out that such attitudes are coming more and more to the fore at a time when racism is seemingly increasing in Armenia as well.