The National Commission on TV and Radio (NCTR) has published the findings of its study monitoring local TV and radio stations between Jan. 21–27 during the Feb. 18 presidential election campaign period. 

While conducting the monitoring, NCTR took into consideration the following:

• the broadcasting time provided free of charge to presidential candidates 
• the broadcasting time provided for a fee to presidential candidates
• the duration of the participation of the candidate or his representative in the program
• the duration of the coverage of election campaigning by the candidate in news programs

Monitored were the TV stations H1, Armenia TV, Shant TV, h2, Kentron TV, Yerkir Media, ATV, Yerevan TV, AR TV, ArmNews, Lime TV, Mir TV, Shant TV’s Gyumri TV program, GALA TV, Tsayg TV, Lori TV, Ankyun Gumarats 3, Abovyan, Geghama, Sosi, and Ijevan, and the radio stations Public Radio, AR Radio intercontinental, 107 FM, Radio Hay, Russkoe Radio (Russian Radio), Radio Van, Radio Avrora, Impulse, and Gyumri’s Radio Shant. 

According to NCTR President Grigor Amalyan, there were no violations of either the Electoral Code or the Law on Television and Radio in the TV stations’ activities. 

“The monitoring showed that actually there was no discrimination on the TV stations’ part with respect to invitations — each candidate was free to choose to participate or not participate in the program,” says Amalyan. 

In his words, the lack of absolute proportionality in coverage seen in the monitoring results doesn’t testify to partiality. 

“We have to assess guaranteeing rights and equivalent conditions not from the perspective of complete equality in numbers, but rather, whether adequate opportunities were created for the candidates. Considering the characteristics of candidates’ campaign tactics, some of them simply refuse to accept TV stations’ invitations,” says Amalyan. 

According to NCTR’s findings, all the TV and radio stations combined provided the most broadcasting time to Raffi Hovannisian (2,160 minutes) followed by incumbent Serzh Sargsyan (1,604 minutes), and Paruyr Hayrikyan (1,008 minutes), with candidate Vardan Sedrakyan getting the least airtime (592 minutes).

Raffi Hovannisian and Serzh Sargsyan in terms of broadcasting time are also leading as those who’ve taken separate TV and radio stations’ broadcasts. 

The infograph displays the minutes (without seconds) provided to presidential candidates.

Anna Barseghyan