{"id":6038,"date":"2016-03-04T03:18:53","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T03:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media.am\/the-future-of-armenian-newspapers-chorrord-ishkhanutyun\/"},"modified":"2020-07-21T20:59:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T20:59:11","slug":"the-future-of-armenian-newspapers-chorrord-ishkhanutyun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/viewpoint\/2016\/03\/04\/6038\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of Armenian Newspapers: Chorrord Ishkhanutyun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Media.am continues its interviews with chief editors of local newspapers on the problems and survival prospects of the print media in Armenia.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the end of the series, the overall trends will be summarized.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our interviewee is <\/em>Chorrord Ishkhanutyun (\u201cFourth Estate\u201d) chief editor Shogher Matevosyan.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

“Our paper has kept us all this time, now it’s our turn.”<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Chorrord Ishkhanutyun<\/em> daily paper<\/strong><\/u>
\nPublished since 1996.
\nCirculation: 1500
\nPrinting: black and white, 8 pages.
\nPrice: 200 AMD (about $0.41 USD)
\nRevenue sources: newsstand and subscription sales
\nOnline version<\/a> since 2000.<\/p>\n

The circulation is small; you say there\u2019s no advertising, no sponsors. So how you survive?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the current conditions, the circulation is quite normal. And we don\u2019t get advertising because those doing business are afraid of the people above. Advertising, ultimately, is financial assistance, and people to help us doesn\u2019t suit the government. <\/p>\n

My apologies. We do have one ad: Zvartnots Airport. Once a year, it places an ad; I don\u2019t know, perhaps it does so with all the papers along with ours.<\/p>\n

In other words, your stated ban on placing ads doesn\u2019t apply to businessmen such as Zvartnots\u2019 trust manager Eduardo Eurnekian?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t apply to this category of people, but they also don\u2019t particularly have a problem of competition, in order to place more ads. What do they need to advertise? It\u2019s one airport, after all. And the ad is mainly \u201cHappy New Year\u201d.<\/p>\n

Once, we even made a very funny attempt: without their knowledge and without any mockery, we advertised in our newspaper the goods of two major Armenian businessmen tied to the government, providing free advertising, and waited to see what would happen. As we expected, they didn\u2019t demand a retraction, [saying] that we didn\u2019t give you an ad. But Hayots Ashkharh [\u201cArmenian World\u201d] published piece after piece that they placed ads with us. That is, they demanded from [the businessmen], declare right now that you didn\u2019t give them money.<\/p>\n

Did Chorrord Ishkhanutyun<\/em> not have advertising during the years of HHSh [Pan-Armenian National Movement] rule as well?<\/strong><\/p>\n

During HHSh\u2019s time we didn\u2019t have problems because I was involved in business and personally financed the paper.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t have sponsors now. And we never have: if they\u2019ve shown goodwill, we\u2019ve had whoever happens. The sponsor\u2019s money doesn\u2019t make you dependent because they\u2019re only people from this sector; there\u2019s no problem of dependence. No, by saying sector, I don\u2019t mean the political. They\u2019re independent people who have businesses outside [Armenia], representatives of medium-sized businesses, our friends.<\/p>\n

Is Chorrord Ishkhanutyun<\/em> an opposition newspaper?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I consider this to be a free press. Now if every free thought the government considers opposition, [then] yes, it\u2019s an opposition paper. But in my opinion, this is simply a free press.<\/p>\n

If we were to depict it graphically, when were the highest and lowest peaks in sales?<\/strong><\/p>\n

From 2007\u20132010, it was the highest. The lowest, when we first began, in 1996, and now, at 1500. Due to the 2008 presidential elections, we made the print run 8\u20139 thousand. I\u2019ve always changed the print run, based on demand. Because I regret it very much when the paper remains in the kiosk; let it reach readers. I don\u2019t like the paper returned. 
\nOur profit is now zero, yes. But don\u2019t forget, that zero means also giving salaries to newspaper staff.<\/p>\n

What are the main reasons for the decline in recent years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emigration from Armenia, appalling poverty, and the internet.<\/p>\n

Which one more so?<\/strong><\/p>\n

All of them combined. Emigration of course very much contributed to this decline, and the internet too. There are newspaper readers and internet viewers. Readers left; perhaps viewers left too. And they don\u2019t \u2018view\u2019 as much from outside [the country]. <\/p>\n

It was for this reason that we doubled the newspaper\u2019s 100-dram price a few years ago, because our readers, those discontented with the situation in the country, emigrated.<\/p>\n

Now what helps a little bit is that we have our [own] printer: expenses have gone down quite a lot. Other printers don\u2019t have these rates. <\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t having a printer suggest printing in color, to attract readership?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. It\u2019s not candy, to lure with colors. When we were first printing, we would add a color to the paper, people at the newsstands would say, could you give me one of the blue, the yellow? But printing in full color is pointless. It would be too expensive.<\/p>\n

Only in one instance would it be justified: if it would be an issue advertising our country\u2019s elite, our genius \u2018two-faced-ers\u2019: he pays for advertising himself and takes the full print run home because his big, colorful photo is inside. It would be something else, but not a paper.<\/p>\n

At one time your paper\u2019s journalists were being assaulted, now the situation is calm and quite, and you breathe easily\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me say, this is a more sly situation. They\u2019ve finally decided to seriously drive this industry to the ground, and there are very few media outlets, editors, and journalists who stubbornly continue the fight at the civil level. They\u2019ve polluted the entire media industry very well. They\u2019re able to disseminate their so-called \u201csleeves\u201d everywhere. In any case, the press has been appeased very well.<\/p>\n

Including also your paper?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, not us. If us too, then we would\u2019ve had to be in a good situation. We would\u2019ve had stylish renovations done, we would\u2019ve been cruising with luxury cars. <\/p>\n

But they\u2019ve left you alone, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Probably they need one like this: one, two examples, so they can say and this is our opposition. One more thing: before, there used to be solidarity in our media sector, right? Regardless of whether they were from this side or that, they would unite on serious issues. Now it\u2019s each man for himself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"With<\/p>\n

Who are Chorrord Ishkhanutyun<\/em>\u2019s readers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have to charge our readers a luxury tax now because the people who read our paper are rich: officials, government, the authorities, village mayors, district mayors, people who conduct press reviews, and of course, those who hold free civic views, middle-class people 40\u201350 years old, for whom the newspaper is something akin to a morning exercise routine. <\/p>\n

You, nevertheless, don\u2019t try to engage the youth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We do. It\u2019s the youth that\u2019s a different type. They\u2019re not readers, they\u2019re viewers, but not of news sites particularly. They want to show their status updates, say their bit. They\u2019re not information consumers, they pass. They unload their information desires, give us a lot of information with it, and we take advantage of that.<\/p>\n

Chorrord Ishkhanutyun<\/em> is perhaps the only newspaper in Armenia that for years has maintained different genres of political satire: from pamphlets to caricatures. Does it help sales?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course. They\u2019re completely in a different style. There are people who cut out the caricatures and stick them somewhere. People liked \u201cThe Dream\u201d that we wrote \u2014 it\u2019s being shared on social media. <\/p>\n

The smallest outflow of journalists in the last decade is probably from Chorrord Ishkhanutyun<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, everyone\u2019s [still] around. There are new people too. Among them, those who who skills for writing and thinking. They might not even be fast but have a mind. There will come a time when the need for such a journalist will be felt everywhere. People can\u2019t just record facts and that\u2019s what decides their being a journalist. A journalist is a thinking person.<\/p>\n

Is it the end of print media in the world?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Definitely it\u2019s going to return. People will get tired of the horrible flow of pure news spread rapidly on social media; a crisis will come; and they will want to think a little. <\/p>\n

They\u2019ll think with the analysis pieces published online.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reading [news] pieces on websites constantly in this position [holds a mobile phone to her ear] doesn\u2019t allow time for thinking. I understand, this is a different culture. But superficiality is becoming widespread.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Those working for the [news] sites aren\u2019t journalists, they\u2019re robots. They enter [information] at once. They\u2019re many. There are few newspaper reporters; meanwhile, a newspaper reporter is an analyst.<\/p>\n

The return of print media will be the most powerful tool against nonsense. Shameful linguistic mistakes are made in this race to be the first to relay information. Everyone with such pleasure has made themselves out to be professors of Armenian, Russian, English. Widespread ignorance is spreading because the war of [news] sites, competition, is only about speed.<\/p>\n

How long will Chorrord Ishkhanutyun<\/em> specifically last?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have to do everything for it to constantly endure: our paper has kept us all this time, now it\u2019s our turn. We have to uphold this culture because it\u2019s our generation\u2019s child, so let it also depart with us.<\/p>\n

Haven\u2019t you heard? In the UK, for the first time in 30 years, a new daily newspaper was launched, called New Day<\/em>. It\u2019s issued by the Daily Mirror\u2019s publisher, who said, though we lose half a million readers each year, we\u2019re launching a new paper, we have something to say.<\/p>\n

Interview by Ruzanna Khachatrian.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media.am continues its interviews with chief editors of local newspapers on the problems and survival prospects of the print media in Armenia. At the end of the series, the overall trends will be summarized. Our interviewee is Chorrord Ishkhanutyun (\u201cFourth Estate\u201d) chief editor Shogher Matevosyan. “Our paper has kept us all this time, now it’s Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-viewpoint"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23271,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6038\/revisions\/23271"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}