The accusations against the leader of the “Prosperous Armenia” party and the initiated criminal cases are accompanied not only by protests and boycotts but also by media wars and accusations of fake attacks.

Tsarukyan and his criminal cases, which became the number one issue on the agenda, also interested the international press. These references were translated or summarized on Armenian news websites and TV channels.

In addition to manipulations and misinformation, one can notice in them an issue regarding working with sources.

The idea presented in the Armenian media did not come from the New York Times

Referring to the famous American “The New York Times,” Tert.am titled the article: “In the country most affected by the coronavirus in the South Caucasus region, the parliament allowed the arrest of the opposition leader: The New York Times”

❌There is no such thought in the content of the periodical.

It is entitled “Armenian parliament backs arrest of opposition leader for fraud.”

The article, along with the developments around Tsarukyan, mentions the accusation voiced against the government: the economy and the failure of the fight against the coronavirus.

This is where contextual information is given in the news: “Armenia, a country of 3 million, had registered 17,489 confirmed coronavirus cases and 293 deaths as of Tuesday, and is the worst-affected country in the South Caucasus region. The government now expects the economy to shrink 2% this year, after previously projecting growth of 4.9%.”

However, the idea in the title is nowhere to be found. By connecting the contextual information and the news tert.am formulated it and attributed it to The New York Times.

The same news with the same content later appeared on analitik.am website and reached ArmNews TV the next day (in the video from 2:54 minutes).

❌ The author of the news is not the American periodical, but as the link alludes to, the British “Reuters” agency.

EVN Report does not mean European Report, English content does not mean international press

On June 16, the website armtimes.com, owned by the Prime Minister’s family, summed up the international press coverage of Tsarukyan’s case.

The issue of working with sources in the article can be noticed several times.

? Although it is only mentioned in one case that the publication quoted by them refers to the Associated Press (AP), however, two of the 7 publications quoted (usnews.com, yourvalley.net) repeated the content of the same news from the AP agency: with a proper link.

Another Dailyjournal.net article also cites the publication of the same AP news agency. There is no mention of this in the press.

? The content quoted from the nationalpost.com was also not its own reference. It was a reprint of the Reuters news agency quoted above with the appropriate link.

There is no wording in it that quotes PAP members that “political terror is being carried out against them.”

? The website has translated the news supposedly belonging to the “EuropeanReport” platform, which in one paragraph below it became “EVN Report.”

There is no website called “EuropeanReport.” The article has an active link to the publication of the “EVN Report” website.

In addition to the misleading link to the source, armtimes.com made another mistake in this episode.

The EVN Report, which initially started off by creating English-language, then Armenian-language content, is not an international, but a local platform.

The abbreviation EVN does not stand for European, but Yerevan.

The platform unites journalists, writers and analysts living in Yerevan, the Diaspora and beyond. Information about this is available in the “About Us” section of the website.

It is noteworthy that the same content appeared with the same errors in the summary of the news of 1in.am website “5 minutes less” (in the video, from 8:34 minutes).

The party’s statement is not a press release

Kentron TV, founded by the PAP leader and owned by Multimedia Kentron CJSC, also summed up the international press on June 17, not refraining from misleading and making mistakes.

?The first reference quoted from the international press of the TV company is not a journalistic text, but a political statement from the Russian “Rodina” party.

The TV station used almost the same sources as the armtimes.com website belonging to the above-mentioned political opponent and made similar mistakes in working with the sources. For example:

? The TV channel also only mentioned in the case of usnews.com that the news was quoted by the “Associated Press” (AP), but in one of the articles quoted by them, the news from the screenshots refers to the same source.

As mentioned above, the quote from yourvalley.net (Daily Independent) repeats the content of the AP agency news with a proper link.

Another article from dailyjournal.net, also referred to another publication of the American AP news agency.

? The content of the quoted nationalpost.com was also not its own reference, but the news of the above-mentioned “Reuters” agency with a proper link.

According to armtimes.com, the content of the site, which did not find a place on the website, is also quoted here, according to which the PAP members allegedly said that “political terror is being carried out against them.”

The examples given show that when reading the Armenian references of the international press, it is necessary to double-check the content before believing in its content and sources.

Arshaluys Barseghyan