The Republic of Armenia bade farewell to President Serzh Sargsyan, and learned that he will run for the post of Prime Minister.

A farewell is always a summary of the results. And that summary proves in a very transparent and visible way, that over the course of ten years, the interactions between now former President Serzh Sargsyan and journalists have had a tendency to decrease.

Over the course of ten years of his presidency, Serzh Sargsyan’s interactions with the media and media outlets have evolved steadily.

At first they were many and varied, and then they became more restricted and predictable.

Serzh Sargsyan assumed the highest post of the Republic Armenia in a tragic situation: Recalling the first days of spring, 2008, in Armenia’s history will always bring with it the heavy burden (which stretches up till now) of having to explain the acts of violence, victimization of peaceful protesters and the bloody events which took place.

He came into power with an inauguration ceremony in a Republic Square which was surrounded by a blockade of police officers. The media began circulating the mysterious images of that day, when the newly-elected president walked alone along Liberty Square and the wind was whipping about a plastic bag.

Perhaps that was also the reason, that Serzh Sargsyan had the desire to appear in the media as an open person during the first years of his presidency. Communication with journalists and through journalists between the years of 2008 and 2011 was preferred as an attempt of confirmation.

For example, aside from his extensive press conference tied to his 100th day of being in office, he also interacted with journalists who met him in different environments.

For example, he would have working visits to Armenian province, where he would answer a group of (also local) journalists’ questions. For example, it is mentioned in president’s official website, that between 2008-2010 Serzh Sargsyan answered journalists’ questions during his visit to Lori Region’s Shirakamut village (2008), in Sardarapat (2009), at the airport (2009) before flying to Moscow, and during visits to Gegharkunik and the Shirak Region (2010).

He held a briefing during his visit to the Tavush Region (2010), answered media outlets in Tsakhkadzor (2011), again answered journalists’ questions (2011), convened a press conference for the occasion of being in office for one year.

During the same years, he gave two interviews to Armenian Public Television and Azat Artsakh newspaper, and again two times to Artsakh Public Television (2009, 2011).

In the future, the meetings between Armenian media and Serzh Sargsyan became more cautious and predictable. Serzh Sargsyan began to not respond to different journalists’ often unexpected questions, but openly showed preference to specific media outlets, which were previously selected, trustworthy and who would give, so to speak, “responsible” questions.

The boundaries of such media were also not immediately decided, rather were set again and again, a little at a time, slowly.

Armenia’s former president, who had passed through a nationwide election scheme, stopped holding press conferences, meeting with mass media representatives, eliminated the tradition of periodical briefings and ceased meeting journalists in unexpected places and without predefined lists.

The media wasn’t choosing Serzh Sargsyan, but Serzh Sargsyan was choosing the media.

And he was choosing candidly, without reservations and in a broad sense, as a result of this candidness, the media was deprived of the illusion of rights.

For example, in 2015, he gave an interview to a few television companies, but those television companies kept their silence until the moment when the official transcripts were published and the information became a “second update.” Then, in a similar format and almost with the same news staff, he also held an interview on a plane (2016).

And so the relations between the media and Serzh Sargsyan changed. Serzh Sargsyan was ready for unexpected questions, simply because he had ruled them out.

In the last year, Serzh Sargsyan trusted only one TV station to broadcast his thoughts. He gave a few interviews to Armenia TV (Banadzev, 2017, R-Evolution, 2017).

Nune Hakhverdyan

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