For Armenia’s television networks, Election Day was a day to be nearly just as accountable as Genocide Remembrance Day (Apr. 24), since every station is obliged to be guided by not only its owners’ interests, but also patriotic considerations.

In both cases, programming has to be full of content related to the day (on Apr. 24, it’s the innocent victims; on May 6, the honest voters). And most importantly, to remind viewers that justice has prevailed (in the elections) or it will prevail sooner or later (in the matter of genocide recognition).

You won’t invent something new, but you have to ensure round-the-clock broadcasting and try to prove that you possess all the information and you are spectacular at the same time.

On May 6, nearly all the TV stations had special programming, but attempts to present themselves as active and new were most felt at ArmNews and Kentron TV — also Yerkir Media, which traditionally has emphasized pointed reportages. 

Non-stop, ArmNews was trying to offer interviews, the election process, and vote counting by the Central Elections Commission, as well as to persuade the guests gathered in the small studio to debate on the topic of the elections. What kept ArmNews fresh was the number of guests and the inclusion of original songs as an electoral element (they were talking a little and singing a little). This local news station had quite pretentious and crowded programming, but at the same time it was very scattered and careless. Its newsfeed was so long, monotonous and “toothless,” that it scarcely attracted people’s attention. ArmNews generally tries to compete with the Internet (which is proven by the station having a prospective target), but in this competition, television is defeated from the start. ArmNews allots a lot of space to posts and opinions published on social networking sites, “fishing” for topics from people online. But this “loot” is not in and of itself content, but rather second-hand freshness, a filtered digest, which cannot replace a good prepared television reportage or analysis. A news digest and a reportage are different things.

On May 6, there were few politicians and campaign managers in the ArmNews studio: instead, there were a great many online personas — bloggers, singers, analysts with a mediated connection to politics and technologists. Probably for this reason a valuable election debate live on air didn’t happen on this channel. On that day, everyone was interested in electoral violations and the unbiased counting of votes, while the absence of active representatives of political parties live on air was making the discussions futile. The amusing bit on Chuck Norris’ candidacy or the vague opinions of international observers cannot be as engaging as the viewpoints of opposition parties running in the elections and the intrigue of vote counting. 

ArmNews director Artak Aleksanyan had placed a heavy load on his shoulders — to convince (viewers) that the load can be light and relaxing, which he didn’t succeed in doing. As we saw, the elections are akin to the red carpet rolled out during festivals, on which guests regularly appear, smile, wave and depart. And that’s not a bad thing, since as the ruling authorities tell us, the elections are festivities, a concert, fireworks.

Kentron TV “star” (i.e. talk show host) Petros Ghazaryan likewise did a lot of work on May 6 (as well as during the entire election period). He had more politicized guests and tried to convey his personal opinion and preferences, especially since Kentron did not attempt to disguise its party affiliation, liberating the journalist from pointless excuses. 

One thing is clear: pointed content didn’t make it on air, and as per tradition, the elections came and went on television like a free, fair, and transparent ghost.

Nune Hakhverdyan