May 4, the day before the Yerevan city council elections, was the “Day of Silence” when mayoral candidates and participating political parties have to cease campaigning; however, some local news sites were practicing “manipulation journalism” on that and the following day.

I’m talking mainly about pro-government sites. Manipulation is not only news that pursues a certain aim, but also not reporting a specific event. 

Yerkir.am on May 4 published specific instances of voters being bribed. It published the names of those distributing the bribes and the buildings where the bribes were being handed out. On the Day of Silence, 1in.am had no news about voter bribes; meanwhile, at 11:47 pm it was in 4th place on the Armenian web resources rating site Circle.am, while Yerkir.am, which reported specific instances of voter bribery, was in 45th place, with a little over 3,000 visits to the site.

News.am was in first place, though on the Day of Silence there was no mention of examples of Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) or Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) bribery attempts. Regardless, its newsfeed was updated once every 3–4 minutes. 

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Responsible sites took the “Day of Silence” literally — there was nothing about the political parties running in the city council elections —, while 168.am published an interview with  Armenian National Congress (HAK) parliamentary faction head Levon Zurabyan, where he discusses HAK’s relations with the Heritage Party and BHK. 

The “most silent” piece of election news on Tert.am on the Day of Silence was the piece “Police Coordination Group to Ensure Normal Course of Elections” published at 1:42 pm. The same news was published in a noticeable spot also by News.am, and by Slaq.am (though less prominently). This site has simply “made an entry” into manipulation journalism, publishing Emin Yeritsyan’s previous day’s Facebook post, according to which “the risk of violations in polling stations this time are the opposition’s.” 

The next day, Henaran.am, 1in.am, and News.am confirmed this “forecast.” These sites in the same order reported that in Yerevan district Malatya’s 8/23 polling station, a man was found with three ballots cast in HAK’s favor.  A little while later, News.am, with the assistance of the police, publishes the name of the man in question. He is HAK representative David M.

The pro-HAK site ilur.am later reports that the young man with 3 ballots was caught at the polling station by another HAK representative; that is to say, ilur.am doesn’t refute that there were ballots in HAK’s favor in the man’s hand. It is saying that those who wish ill upon HAK, in fact, have to be grateful to HAK for uncovering the violation. 

From the police press service’s point of view, ilur.am’s supplemental information is not particularly significant; it is not obliged to provide all its information to news outlets at once. But the other news sites could’ve inquired from the precinct’s electoral commission members or from trusted sources how this story came to light.

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The police press release about the electoral violation is the only targeted piece of news for the next hour on News.am; that is, for one hour, readers of Armenia’s most-read news website consider the biggest electoral violator to be HAK. 

That’s nothing; News.am was the first that, citing the spokesperson for the HHK campaign headquarters, reported that there were threats against HHK during voting. 

A question arises, when the police several hours later state that criminal proceedings have been launched against David M. but nothing about threats against HHK; that is, no criminal case — not even an allusion to an intent to open an investigation. 

Manipulation journalism mainly spreads to news consumers who have no political sway or orientation. It can also spread to those who are easily influenced. Manipulation likes such consumers, who find it hard to distinguish from the content which way the wind blows.

How are they to know that 1in.am’s target is BHK; ilur.am’s, HHK; National Assembly Vice President Eduard Sharmazanov’s wife’s owned Henaran.am’s target is HAK and BHK; and that nothing is sacred for News.am apart from Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his son-in-law Mikayel Minasyan?

Manipulation journalism gets news consumers or “society” ripe for shady aims. Aims such as the elections — or rather, especially the elections. Manipulation journalism is necessary to “plaster over” future illegal activities. 

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A classic example of manipulation journalism is ratings of politicians and political parties, which are usually broadcast on [state-controlled] television and published by pro-government news sites. Manipulation journalism has no follow up. Follow up, or consistency, is expressed by matching the overall picture with data from “sociological” surveys.

Another example of manipulation journalism is the “objectivity” of pro-government websites in covering some anti-government piece of news. These sites were created for exactly these aims. 

Let’s remember which news sites did not prepare their own coverage of the presidential election results, completely relying on the Central Electoral Commission instead: they are those constantly in the top spots on Circle.am — News.am and Tert.am. 

Mher Arshakyan

The views expressed in the column are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Media.am.