The growing conflict between the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) is reflected also in the media. It’s enough to track the stories, layout, and especially headlines of online news sites to grasp or reaffirm where the sympathies of these sites lie.
This was evident particularly the day after Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s tough speech against the BHK — within a few hours in the afternoon. Spread simultaneously were BHK leader Gagik Tsarukyan’s speech and the relentless comments of HHK members reinforcing Sargsyan’s speech.
The image on the front page of several websites was highly polarized:
- A HHK-sympathetic view plus Tsarukyan’s speech
- Exclusively BHK’s views
Individual headlines testify to the inter-party news war.
Headlines sympathetic to the BHK
- Serzh Sargsyan’s Speech was Nothing But the Scratching of Cat in the Corner
- What is Serzh Sargsyan Doing in International Platforms? Fact, Not a Notion. VIDEO
- Has Serzh Sargsyan Forgotten Who Raised Him and How?
Headlines sympathetic to the HHK
- Whoever “Gave Birth” to Tsarukyan Must Answer and Apologize: Armen Ashotyan (Video)
- Dear Boy, You Go Do Your Work: General Manvel on Tsarukyan
- [His] House is Bigger Than the Church [He] Built — How? Ashot Aghababyan
In general, this war of headlines is just the beginning. In social media, they are accompanied and will be accompanied by a volley of reciprocal insults, and different types of compromising stories and revelations.
Since yesterday, these two political parties have begun to flex their muscle with greater rigor in the press. Who has more resources to deceive, confuse, convince, and even temporarily attract to its side readers with the help of one-sided information? The fight between these two parties will continue also in the media.
Gegham Vardanyan
