Monitoring of Armenian Online Media Coverage of May 6, 2012 Elections to RA National Assembly

Monitoring of Armenian Online Media Coverage of May

6, 2012 Elections to RA National Assembly

(06 February 20 May, 2012)

June, 2012

Open Society

Foundations –Armenia

Journalists for the

Future

JFF's Monitoring of Coverage of the May 6, 2012, Parliamentary Elections by Armenian Online Media

2

Contents

About the project …….........................................……………………………………………..…….…………...3

Methodology of the monitoring ……...................………………………………………………………….........5

9 parties/bloc included in proportional electoral system ……..……........................................................….......7

Report and conclusions on the monitoring result………..………………………………………………….......8

Overall number of references concerning parties/bloc by each website (05-20 May)……………………….11

Chapter 1

Number of references in online media by parties…...........................................................................…………12

Chapter 2

Nature of references in online media (positive, negative, neutral)…………………………….……………...16

Chapter 3

Number of references by the three representatives of parties/bloc ……………………….……………….....21

Chapter 4

May 5: Silence Day................................................................................................................................................22

Chapter 5

May 6: Elections Day ...........................................................................................................................................24

Chapter 6

Types and Nature of Articles/Stories by Sources, Number, Genre and Media Content...................................25

Owning News: General Picture..............................................................................................................25

Number of sources in news stories......................………………………………………………………26

News stories by genres ………...................................…………………………...……………………..27

News stories by media content ……....................................…………………...………………………28

Chapter 7

Diagrams for each website: Number of references, nature, number of sources, genres, media content …....29


3

About the Project

This monitoring is conducted by the Journalists for the Future NGO (JFF) with the financial

support of the Open Society Foundations-Armenia (OSF-Armenia).

The aim of the research is to study Armenian online media coverage concerning parliamentary elections

during the 3 months of pre-election period and 2 weeks after the elections, i.e. February 6 – May 20, 2012

(105 days).

There has been no research of online media conducted in Armenia during electoral processes. The need of

such monitoring has risen during the recent 3-4 years with the increase of Internet users and the decrease

of prices. The number of news-making websites increased too.

In 2007, during the Parliamentary elections there were less than 10 Armenian active online media outlets.

Today, there are 224 websites registered only in the “News and Media” section of Circle.am rating system.

The leading 50 websites have 1.000-150.000 visitors per day (Not all news websites are registered in this

system. e.g. Azatutyun.am and PanArmenian.Net).

Expansion of social networks in Armenia also conduced to increasing the number of online media visitors.

Especially in Facebook, almost all the Armenian websites have their corresponding page where they share

the links of all articles from their website. For example, the News.am Facebook page has more than 50.000

«likes».

Despite the fact that TV remains the most required media in Armenia, online media outlets are already able

to affect the news-forming of traditional media with the variety and efficiency of their information.

The current research will allow understanding the impartiality of online media in covering such an

important social-political event in Armenia as parliamentary elections.

Besides the number and nature of references, their types of sources, number, genres and media content

have been monitored too.

Current report presents the results of monitoring for it’s full length, as well as by following periods:

Pre Official campaign – 62 days (February 6 – April 7)

Pre-Elections Period/Official campaign – 27 days (April 8 – May 10)

Post-Elections period – 16 days (May 5 – May 20)

Notes: the Silence Day (May 5) and the Election Day (May 6) are presented independently


4

The monitoring has been conducted over 10 Armenian online media outlets selected through data of the

Circle.am rating system and the survey among media experts:

1in.am

7or.am

A1plus.am

Azatutyun.am (RFE/RL service in Armenia)

Civilnet.tv (.am)

Lragir.am

News.am

Tert.am

Panarmenian.net

Panorama.am

All the references concerning 9 parties/bloc participating in the elections by proportional electoral system

and/or the first three persons in the proportional list of each party found in above-mentioned websites'

«News», «Politics», «Video» categories were registered and studied. If the livestreams of websites were

recorded and published in the monitored categories of their websites, they were monitored too.


5

Monitoring Methodology

The monitoring methodology is based on the analysis of quantity and quality indexes. These indexes are

based on the data registered by observers.

All the references concerning 9 parties/bloc participating in the elections by proportional electoral system

and/or the first three persons in the proportional list of each party have been studied.

References Concerning Parties/Bloc and Their Nature

1. The reference of each party was characterized only in one variant (positive/negative/neutral)

2. If there are no references about the below mentioned parties/bloc then the material was not

protocolled.

3. References concerning the first three persons representing a party/bloc were protocolled separately

only when the reference did not concern the party/bloc and without mentioning that they belong

the party/bloc. In all other cases, referencec concerning the above-mentioned persons are

protocolled as party/bloc cases.

For example, if Tigran Sargsyan is represented as a Republican Party of Armenia member in the reference

or he speaks about the activity of the Republican Party then he is viewed as a party representative.

And if the article tells about the RA Prime-Minister Tigran Sargsyan it is registered as a reference

concerning the first three representatives of the RPA.

The reference was protocolled only once (1 point) per publication.

If the publication referred to the coalition of the Republican Party, Prosperous Armenia (Properous

Armenia) Party and Contry of Law Party the three members of the coalition received one point each.

But if the reference said: “One of the members of coalition – the Prosperous Armenia – conducted tree-

planting,” only that party was mentioned, and other members of the coalition did not get points.

If the reference concerned the union of the Prosperous Armenia, Armenian National Congress (ANC) and

Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun the three members were indicated. But if the

reference said: «One of the members of the union – ANC – appealed to the Constitutional Court,» only ANC

is indicated.


6

NATURE OF REFERENCES

Saying positive and negative references, those references are meant that unconditionally impress the

auditory positively or negatively about parties/bloc or leaders/representatives.

Those references that cannot be classified as anyway are protocolled as neutral. All doubts of an observer

concerning a reference are also interpreted as neutral.

Only one characteristic refering a party/bloc or its leaders/representatives is registered per publication.

FORM OF REFERENCES

MAJOR ARTICLE: any reference the main plot of which is a party/bloc from the below-mentioned list has

been considered as fully dedicated material.

PARTIAL REFERENCE: any reference the main plot of which is not a party/bloc from the below-

mentioned list but partially refers to it, is registered as partial reference.

If the main plot refered to more than one parties/bloc from the below-mentioned list each party/bloc of the

publication has been registered as partial.

REFLECTION: any reflection, mentioning of a party/bloc from the below-mentioned list is registered as

reflection.

Only one variant for each party is protocolled (Major article, Partial reference, Reflection).


7

9 Parties/Bloc Included in Proportional Electoral System

1. BHP (Bargavach Hayastan/Prosperous Armenia Party)

1.1. 1st 3 persons of BHP: Gagik Tsarukyan, Vardan Oskanian, Vardan Vardanyan

2. ZhP (Zharangutyun/Heritage Party)

2.1. 1st 3 persons of ZhP: Raffi Hovhannisyan, Khachatur Qoqobelyan, Zaruhi Postanjyan

3. ANC (Armenian National Congress bloc)

3.1. 1st 3 persons of ANC: Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Stepan Demirchyan, Aram Z. Sargsyan

4. ARF (Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun)

4.1. 1st 3 persons of ARF: Vahan Hovhannisyan, Armen Rustamyan, Artyush Shahbazyan

5. DPA (Democratic Party of Armenia)

5.1. 1st 3 persons of DPA: Aram G. Sargsyan, Lenser Aghalovyan, Armen Hovsepyan

6. CPA (Communist Party of Armenia)

6.1. 1st 3 persons of CPA: Ruben Tovmasyan, Vazgen Safaryan, Tachat Sargsyan

7. RPA (Hanrapetakan Kusakcutyun/ Republican Party of Armenia)

7.1. 1st 3 persons of RPA: Serzh Sargsyan, Hovik Abrahamyan, Tigran Sargsyan

8. MHP (Miavorvats Hayer/ United Armenians Party)

8.1. 1st 3 persons of MHP: Ruben Avagyan, Gurgen Hovsepyan, Gayane Andreasyan

9. OEK (Orinats Yerkir/ Country of Law Party)

9.1. 1st 3 persons of OEK: Arthur Baghdasaryan, Heghine Bisharyan, Armen Yeritsyan


8

Report and Conclusions on the Monitoring Results

Throughout the monitoring 16.726 articles/stories in 10 websites were registered. There were 32.589

references about the parties/bloc.

Including:

Pre Official campaign (February 6 – April 7) - 8,569 stories have been registered with 14,292

references about the parties/bloc

Pre-Elections Period/Official campaign (April 8 – May 4) - 5,369 stories have been registered

with 11,386 references.

Post-Elections period (May 5 – May 20) – 2,788 stories with 6,911 references (including the Silence

Day (May 5) – 88 stories with 152 references, and the Election Day (May 6) – 544 stories with 1,537

references).

The most references concerning the parties/bloc were published by Tert.am, 1in.am, Panorama.am and

News.am. The least number of references in monitored categories (see the methodology) belong to

Civilnet.am and Azatutyun.am websites.

It must be mentioned, though, that Azatutyun.am stood out by the large number of own video and audio

stories. Civilnet.am published videostories too and they were the third after Azatutyun.am and A1plus.am

in this kind of activity. By publishing its own materials they again occupied the third position.

In all the 10 websites, leaders by the overall number of references are the Hayastani Hanrapetakan

Kusaktsutyun (Republican Party of Armenia), Hayastani Azgain Congres (Armenian National Congress)

and the Bargavach Hayastan Kusaktsutyun (Prosperous Armenia Party). In particular, the Republican Party

(each third reference belonging to the Republican Party (35%)) had 24% of references concerning the first

3 members of the party without mentioning their belonging to the party. In these cases they were named

by their positions.

In most cases, the number indexes directly reflected activity of the parties dividing them into leaders,

averages and outsiders. And the index of the reference nature clearly shows an emphasized attitude towards

the parties/bloc as well as absence of journalistic impartiality.

The 71% of references in online media concerning the parties/bloc were of neutral nature, 21% - negative,

and 7% - positive. This reflects the prejudiced coverage (28%) of elections. And the unequal percentage

(21% /7%) speaks for the large number of one-sided publications.

The picture becomes clearer if we take a look at the index of the nature of references by each website. In

this case, we can see that attitude of the websites towards the parties/bloc and their division into “favorites”

and “non-favorites”.

1in.am more often published positive references concerning the Heritage Party, the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Armenian National Congress, and negative references

about the Republican Party, the Country of Law Party and the Prosperous Armenia Party.


9

7or.am published positive references about the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Armenian National Congress, and negative references

concerning the Country of Law Party, the Heritage Party.

Azatutyun.am published mostly positive references about, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-

Dashnaktsutyun, the Prosperous Armenia Party and the Heritage Party, and negative references concerning

the Republican Party, the Prosperous Armenia and Country of Law Party.

Civilnet.am had more positive references concerning the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun, and negative references concerning the Republican Party, the

Country of Law Party.

Lragir.am’s positive references concerned the Heritage Party, the Armenian Revolutionary

Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Armenian National Congress, the negative references concerned the

Republican Party, the Country of Law Party and the Prosperous Armenia Party.

News.am published positive references about the Republican Party of Armenia and negative

references about the Republican Party, the Country of Law Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party.

Tert.am had special trend concerning the Republican Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party, the

Country of Law Party publishing mostly neutral articles. 60% of positive stories in Tert.am concerned the

Republican Party of Armenia.

PanArmenian.am published positive references about the Republican Party of Armenia, and

negative references concerning the Republican Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party and the Country of

Law Party.

Panorama.am is an exception by the large number of positive references concerning the Republican

Party. There are a number of positive references about the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-

Dashnaktsutyun, the Republican Party of Armenia, and negative references about the Country of Law

Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party and Armenian National Congress.

A1plus.am published positive references about the Heritage Party, the Armenian Revolutionary

Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Armenian National Congress, and negative references concerning the

Country of Law Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party and the Republican Party.

As we can see, in some websites the nature of references are quite equal – there are both positive

and negative references concerning the same party/bloc, and in other websites the nature of references are

polarized.

It is important to mention, that 11% of the publications does not have a clearly reflected source of

information, and 80% mentions only one source. In case of a large number of positive and negative

references, such an attitude speaks for the journalistic inactivity.

There is a lack of genre in publications: the overwhelming majority of the publications are news, press-

conferences, research results and seldom analyses and interviews.

From the media content point of view, multimedia tools are used seldom even if no extra efforts are

needed for their implementation.


10

No precisely developed journalistic approach is noticed concerning the reliability of the reported data,

the source of the facts and information, the preservation of comprehensive coverage principles.

There is no clear distinction between rumors and reliable information.

In some websites re-publications from other websites overwhelm the number of own material. This trend is

noticed in 1in.am (25%), Tert.am (38%), PanArmenian.am (23%), Panorama.am (22%) websites where each

fourth material is the full reproduction of another media publication, and Tert.am copied other media most

often.

In the case of existence of all the above-mentioned problems, the following steps are important to increase

the level of the quality of the online media content and its reliability.

Increasing the number of unbiased and comprehensive coverage.

Securing the variety of analytical material and genre diversity in general.

Rejecting the publication of unreliable information.

Enriching media content.

Developing professional skills for working with facts, data and information.

Demonstrating unbiased journalistic initiative.

Mentioning sources to assure the reliability of information.

Decreasing the number of re-publications from other media.


11

Overall Number of References Concerning Parties/Bloc by Each

Website (February 06 – May 20, 2012)

• Tert.am – 4.994

• 1in.am – 4.706

• Panorama.am – 4.462

• News.am – 4.154

• PanArmenian.Net – 3.580

• 7or.am – 2.970

• A1plus.am – 2.727

• Lragir.am – 2.446

• Azatutyun.am – 1.370

• Civilnet.tv – 1.180

Monitoring of Coverage of the May 6, 2012, Parliamentary Elections by Armenian Online Media 12

CHAPTER 1

Number of References in Online Media by Parties

During the monitoring period, in 16.726 registered and monitored articles published in 10 websites parties

were mentioned 32.589 times in three triples.

The Republican Party of Armenia, the Armenian National Congress and the Prosperous Armenia Party are

in the leading triple. In particular, the references on the Republican Party overwhelmed (11.256), the

Armenian National Congress (5.309) and the Prosperous Armenia Party (5.226) are the second and third

respectively. As we will see later, these parties often exchange their places because of closeness of their

indexes.

The Heritage Party (3.416 references), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun (2.988)

and the Country of Law Party (2,606) occupy interim positions. Indexes of the Heritage Party and the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun are quite close to each other and show the same

trends. The picture is different in case of the Country of Law Party. If during the pre official campaign

period the indexes of the Country of Law Party are quite high and keep close to the indexes of the other

parties of the triple, during the pre-elections period the number of references decreases and do not grow

any more.

The Democratic Party of Armenia, the Communist Party of Armenia and the United Armenians Party

finish at the bottom of the list with the lowest indexes.

The indexes are as follows during dfferent monitoring periods (pre official campaign, pre-elections period

and post-elections period).

Pre Official campaign – in 8.569 articles of 10 monitored websites the parties have been mentioned 14.292

times. Articles with references concerning the Republican Party of Armenia (5.825), the Prosperous

Armenia Party (2.158) and the Armenian National Congress (2.087) owerwhelmed.

The Heritage Party (1.594), the Country of Law Party (1.191) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-

Dashnaktsutyun (1.148) occupied the fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively. This is the only time when

the Country of Law party is rated the fifth. In all other cases it is the sixth.

The Communist Party of Armenia (636), the Democratic Party of Armenia (632) and the United Armenians

Party (520) finish the list.

Pre-Elections Period - in 5.369 articles of 10 monitored websites the parties have been mentioned 11.386

times. Articles with references concerning the Republican Party of Armenia (3.600), the Armenian

National Congress (2.002) and the Prosperous Armenia Party (1.747) owerwhelmed again. As we can see,

during the pre-elections period the Armenian National Congress and the Prosperous Armenia Party

exchanged their places.

The Heritage Party (1.747), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun (1.158) and the

Country of Law Party (840) occupied the same interim positions. Only the indexes of the Country of Law

Party are very low that is why there is a strong polarization between the first and the last members of the

triple.


The Democratic Party of Armenia with 318 references has passed the Communist Party of Armenia (294),

and the United Armenians Party (243) is on the bottom of the list as always.

Post-Elections period – there were only 2.788 articles with 6.911 references on the parties/bloc during the

May 5- 20 period. The quantitative trends are the same with slight changes of positions: the Republican

Party of Armenia is the leader (1.831), and the Prosperous Armenia Party (1.321) and the Armenian

National Congress (1.220) change their places again.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Heritage Party exchanged positions too,

and now the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun is the fourth (682) and the Heritage

Party is the fifth (668). The Country of Law Party is constantly the sixth. And as always the Communist

Party of Armenia (222), the Democratic Party of Armenia (218) and the United Armenians Party (204)

finish the list.

Diagram 1. Number of References by Parties (Comparative Indexes for the Pre Official campaign, Pre-

Elections Period and Post-Elections periods)

11

91

73

58

25

12

09

6

11

48

20

87

15

94

21

58

84

0

24

3

36

00

29

43

18

11

58

20

02

11

84

17

47

57

5

20

4

18

31

22

22

18

68

2

12

20

63

8

13

21

OEK

MHP

RPA

CPA

DPA

ARF

ANC

ZhP

BHP

Pre Official campaign

Pre-Elections Period

Post-Elections periods

Trends for overall indexes (the overall data for the 10 monitored websites for the whole monitoring period)

are the same for the first triple in the A1plus.am, Azatutyun.am, Civilnet.am, Lragir.am, News.am websites.

And in the case of 1in.am, 7or.am, Tert.am, Panarmenian.net, the Prosperous Armenia Party occupies the

second place and the Armenian National Congress is the third.

Interim positions according to separate websites are occupied by the Heritage Party, the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Country of Law Party.

Exceptions are the Azatutyun.am and Panarmenian.net websites where the Heritage Party and the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun exchange their positions: in both cases the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun is the fourth and the Heritage Party is the fifth. Another

exception is Tert.am where the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Country of


Law Party exchange their positions the Country of Law Party occupying the fifth position and the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun – the sixth.

It is important to mention that references concerning the coalition and the joint staff are taken into

account. In case of the coalition, points are given to the Republican Party of Armenia, the Prosperous

Armenia Party and the Country of Law Party. References concerning the joint staff brought points to the

Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian National Congress and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-

Dashnaktsutyun.

Diagram 2. Number of References by Parties (Percentages) (Comparative Indexes for the Pre Official

campaign, Pre-Elections Period and Post-Elections periods)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

BHP ZhP ANC ARF DPA CPA RPA MHP OEK

Pre Official campaign

Pre-Elections Period

Post-Elections periods

Before the official start of the elections campaign, 41% of references concerned the Republican Party of

Armenia, the Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian National Congress were equal (15%). 11% of

references for the period concerned the Heritage Party. 8% of references belonged to the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Country of Law Party. The Democratic Party of

Armenia, the Communist Party of Armenia and the United Armenians Party had 1% of references each.

The difference between the Republican Party of Armenia and other parties/bloc decreases a bit during the

pre-elections period. The Armenian National Congress is the second (18%) and the Prosperous Armenia is

the third (15%). References concerning the Heritage Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-

Dashnaktsutyun during the promotion period are equal (10%). The Country of Law Party has 7%.

After the pre-elections period the Prosperous Armenia occupies the second position (19%), the Armenian

National Congress is the third with slight difference (18%).


During the monitoring, references concerning the first three persons of parties/bloc were registered

without mentioning the party/bloc (see Chapter 3).

This includes publications about official visits (president, prime-minister, president of the Olympic

Committee), messages and all other material where the member of party/bloc participated without

representing his party/bloc.

Diagram 2.1. Numbers of References by Parties for the Whole Monitoring Period (%) (06.02-20.05).

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


Numbers of References (%)

To summarize the quantitative indexes, we should study percentage shares of references concerning the

parties/bloc for the whole period of monitoring.

More than each third reference concerned the Republican Party of Armenia, the Prosperous Armenia Party

and the Armenian National Congress share the second place with equal points (16%).

The Heritage Party is the fourth (10%), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun is the

fifth (9%) and the Country of Law Party is the sixth (8%).

The Democratic Party of Armenia, the Communist Party of Armenia and the United Armenians Party have

2% each.


CHAPTER 2

Nature of References in Online Media (Positive, Negative, Neutral)

NEGATIVE REFERENCES

Overall, 57% of negative references concern the Republican Party of Armenia. The Prosperous Armenia

Party is the second with 15% and the Contry of Law Party is the third with 11%: The fourth place occupies

the Armenian National Congress with 9% of negative references (Diagram 3). The Heritage Party (5%) and

the Armenian National Federation-Dashnaktsutyun ( %) are the fifth and the sixth respectively

The Democratic Party of Armenia, the Communist Party of Armenia and the United Armenians Party have

not received any negative references.

As we can see, the Country of Law Party was the sixth by the overall number of references, but it has

shown quite high results here, and the Armenian National Congress with the second place by the overall

number of references has lower indexes from the point of view of negative references.

Diagram 3. Overall Number of Negative References by Parties (%)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60


Negative References (%)

To uncover the dynamics of negative references we should study the comparative data for the pre official

campaign, pre-elections period and post-elections periods.


Diagram 3.1. Overall Number of Negative References by Parties (Comparative Data for the Pre Official

campaign, Pre-Elections Period and Post-Elections periods) (%)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


Pre official campaign Pre-elections Post-elections (%)

In the pre-official campaign period, the share of negative references of the Replican Party of Armenia is

quite high (62%). This party is followed by the Prosperous Armenia Party (13%) and the Country of Law

Party (12%), the Armenian National Congress (8%). The Heritage Party (3%) and the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun (2%) have lower indexes (Diagram 3).

The picture is almost the same for the pre-elections period: 55% of negative references concern the

Republican Party of Armenia, the Prosperous Armenia Party is the second (15%), the Country of Law Party

is the third (11%), the Armenian National Cognress occupies the fourth place (9%).

Maintaining the same order, the indexes of the parties/bloc show some changes: the shares of negative

references of the Republican Party of Armenia, the Country of Law Party and the Heritage Party have

decreased, and the Prosperous Armenia Party's and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-

Dashnaktsutyun's have increased. The number of negative references concrening the Armenian National

Congress haves slightly increased too.

POSITIVE REFERENCES

The overall picture of positive references, as compared to the negative ones, is quite balanced.

During the whole monitoring period, 35% of all the positive references concerned the Republican Party of

Armenia. The Prosperous Armenia Party (19%) is the second; the Armenian National Congress (17%) is the

third (Diagram 4). The Heritage Party (13%) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun

(10%) are rated as fourth and fifth respectively.


Diagram 4. Overall Number of Positive References by Parties (%)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


Positive References (%)

Diagram 4.1. Overall Number of Positive References by Parties (Comparative Data for the Pre Official

campaign, Pre-Elections Period and Post-Elections periods) (%)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45


Pre Official campaign Pre-Elections Post-Elections (%)

In the pre official campaign period, as in case of negative references, the Republican Party of Armenia has

the highest number of references, though 41% this time (57% negative references), the Prosperous Armenia

Party is the second with 18%, the Armenian National Congress is the third with 15%. Number of positive

references for the Heritage Party (13%) is quite high, while it had 3% of negative references. The Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun’s 6% is also high enough as compared to the negative references

index (2%). The Country of Law Party has 6% of positive references too.


During the pre-elections period, the Republican Party of Armenia maintains the leading position with

lower index (30%), the Prosperous Armenia Party is the second with 19%, the Armenian National Congress

is the third (17%). The Diagram shows that the Country of Law Party shows quite low results this time,

while the Heritage Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun have higher indexes

as compared to that of negative references (Diagram 4.1)

After the pre-elections period, positive references have divided quite equal among the leading three parties:

the Republican Party of Armenia (28%), the Prosperous Party of Armenia (25%), the Armenian National

Congress (25%).

The second triple consists of the Heritage Party (11%), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-

Dashnaktsutyun (8%), the Country of Law Party (2%) the result of which is closer to the outsiders’ results.

NEUTRAL REFERENCES

The Republican Party of Armenia (28%) is again leading by the overall number of neutral references only

with more modest result. The Prosperous Armenia Party that was the second by the positive and negative

references gives in to the Armenian National Congress (Diagram 5).

The Heritage Party (12%) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun (11%) are the

fourth and the fifth again.

The Country of Law Party is traditionally the sixth with 7%.

The Democratic Party of Armenia and the Communist Party of Armenia have 3% each and the United

Armnians Party has 2% of neutral references.

Diagram 5. Overall Number of Neutral References by Parties (%)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30


Neutral References (%)


Diagram 5.1. Overall Number of Neutral References by Parties (Comparative Data for the Pre Official

campaign, Pre-Elections and Post-Elections periods)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


Pre Official campaign Pre-Elections Post-Elections (%)

The overwhelming part of neutral references during the pre official campaign belong to the Republican

Party of Armenia (35%), 16% belongs to the Armenian National Congress and 15% goes to the Prosperous

Armenia Party. The Heritage Party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the

Country of Law Party again occupy interim positions.

During the pre-elections period, the first place occupies the Republican Party of Armenia (23%), the

Armeinan National Congress goes next, and the Prosperous Armenia Party is the third. It is worthy to

mention that 21% of the Armenian National Congress is quite close to the result of the Republican Party of

Armenia.

In the post-elections periods, the leader by neutral references is again the Republican Party of Armenia

(20%), and the Armenian National Congress and the Prosperous Armenia Party share the second place

(19%). The results of the Heritage Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun have

decreas by 1% as compared to the number of neutral references during the pre-elections period.

Thus, the Republican Party of Armenia, the Armenian National Congress and the Prosperous Armenia

Party are the leaders by the overall number of references. In cases of positive and negative references, the

Republican Party of Armenia is the unconditional leader, the Prosperous Armenia Party is the second, and

the Armenian National Congress is the third.

The picture changes in case of neutral references during the pre-elections period: though the Republican

Party of Armenia is still leading, the difference with the Armenian National Congress occupying the second

place is only 2%, and the Prosprous Armenia Party loses only 6% to the Armenian National Congress. The

result of the Country of Law Party is unique with awfully low number of positive references. In post-

elections period, the Republican Party of Armenia occupies the first place by the overall number of neutral

references, the Armenian National Congress and the Prosperous Armenia share the second place.


CHAPTER 3 Number of References by the Three Representatives of Parties/Bloc

without Mentioning Their Belonging to the Party/Bloc

The Republican Party stands out here which had 2.685 (24%) references out of 11.256 concerning the first

three members of The Republican Party without mentioning their belonging to the party.

Pre official campaign period, the 1.759 references (30%) out of 5.825 concerned the first three members of

The Republican Party without mentioning their belonging to the party.

It should be mentioned that in most of the cases references were about official speeches, visits, common and

unusual events. On the other side, there were stories about the three first members of the Republican Party

representing critics about government officials, economic, social and other analysis coverages.

During the pre-elections period, 759 (21%) out of 3.600 references concerning the Republican Party

concerned the first three presons of the party. 44 of these references were of positive nature, 537 – neutral,

and 178 – negative. Next go the Armenian National Congress and the Prosperous Armenia Party. 60 (3%)

out of 2.002 references of the Armenian National Congress concerned the first three persons of the bloc

without mentioning their belonging to the bloc. 64 references out of 1.747 concerned the first three

members of the Prosperous Armenia Party without their belonging to the party.

Post-elections period, 167 out of 1.831 references concerning the Republican Party concerned the first

three presons of the party without mentioning their belonging to the party The May 4 incident (see “The

Silence Day) and its coverages affected this fact. Some of the references are neutral (96), others are negative

(64) and only 7 references are positive.


CHAPTER 4

May 5. The Silence Day

On May 5, when the Silence Day was implemented according to the Election Code (when candidates have

no right to promote themselves or the parties), there still were references.

Overall, there were 88 stories in the monitored web-sites which contained 152 references about the

parties/bloc. Most references concerned the Republican Party of Armenia (74), the Prosperous Armenia

Party (28) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun (25).

The references mainly touched the following themes:

The balloon explosion during the May 4 meeting on the Republic Sqaure.

The session and the judgement of the Constitutional Cour (the appeal of ministers concerning the

publication of the voters' lists (the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian Revolutionary

Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and the Armenian National Congress)).

The meeting of Turkish journalists with the representatives of parties in order to cover the elections

(the Heritage Party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun).

The reception of International Obvservers Delegation by the Prime-Minister Tigran Sargsyan.

The incident of the Alapars village in Kotayq (the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Republican

Party).

It is symbolic that the above-mentioned articles in some cases contained references about the parties/bloc

and in some cases did not.

The leaders in publishing articles on these themes containing references about the parties/bloc are the

Panorama.am, 7or.am and 1in.am.

The least number of references in their articles on May 5 had the A1plus.am, Azatutyun.am and

PanArmenian.net.

127 references out of 152 were of a neutral kind, there were 4 positive and 21 negative references.

The picture is clearer if we see the nature of references site by site.

1in.am – 27 references, 22 neutral, 4 negative (the Republican Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party), 1

positive (the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun).

7or.am – 24 reference, 13 neutral, 11 negative (all concerning the Republican Party).

A1plus.am – 6 references, 4 neutral, 2 negative (the Republican Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party).

Lragir.am – 14 references, 10 neutral, 2 negative (the Republican Party, the Armenian Revolutionary

Federation-Dashnaktsutyun), 2 positive (the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian National Congress).

Tert.am – 15 references, 14 neutral, 1 positive (concerning the Republican Party).


Panorama.am – 25 references, 23 neutral, 2 negative (the Republican Party).

All other web-sites contained only neutral references: Azatutyun.am – 4 references, Civilnet.am – 15

references, News.am – 14 references, PanArmenian.net – 8 references.

There were 28 out 152 references concerning the first three members of the parties/bloc: 25 references

concrened the Republican Party (the speech of the President, the visit of the Prime-Minister to hospitals,

etc.), 2 references concerned the Prosperous Armenia Party representative Vardan Oskanyan (Facebook

post on the May 4 incident), 1 reference concerned the Armenian National Congress.

The representatives of other parties/bloc have not been mentioned in stories without their belonging to the

party.

CONCLUSIONS: Of course, the Silence Day concerns the parties, and the event coverage is the primary

activity of the web-sites. But in most cases the web-sites have choice: in some articles events are covered

with mentioning the parties/bloc, and some have no references concerning them.

And surely, as there is no ethical or legal ruling for the online media, the web-sites are directed at their

own discretion.

On the other side, in case of the accident some web-sites intend to cover the event in negative light trying

to turn it into an emotional impulse to affect the auditory and to form specific attitude towards a party/bloc.

The neutrality principle which is very important in journalism covering any kind of event, speaks for itself

especially in covering the accident.


CHAPTER 5 May 6. Elections

1in.am had 119 references 151 of which were neutral; most of the negative references concerned the

Republican Party of Armenia (18), the Prosperous Armenia Party (5), the Armenian Revolutionary

Federation-Dashnaktsutyun (4), and the Country of Law Party (3); there wrer 2 positive references

concerning the Prosperous Armenia Party.

7or.am had 126 references, 93 neutral, 27 negative and 6 positive. 20 negative references concern the

Republican Party of Armenia, 5 – the Hertiage Party, 2- the Country of Law Party; and the positive

references concerned the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian National Congress and the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun, each receiving 2 references.

A1plus.am – 129 references, 108 neutral, 18 negative (the Republican Party – 15, the Prosperous Armenia

Party – 3), 3 positive (the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian National Congress, the Armenian

Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun).

Azatutyun.am – 41 references, 33 neutral, 4 negative (the Republican Party, the Prosperous Armenia

Party), 4 positive (the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Heritage Party, the Republican Party).

CivilNet.am – 92 references, 64 neutral, 24 negative (the Republican Party – 16, the County of Law – 4, the

Prosperous Armenia Party – 3, the Heritage Party – 1).

Lragir.am – 100 references, 66 neutral, 33 negative (the Republican Party – 18, the Prosperous Armenia

Party – 8, the Country of Law – 4, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun – 3) 1 positive

(the Prosperous Armenia Party).

News.am – 145 references, 119 neural, 25 negative (the Republican Party of Armenia – 10, the Prosperous

Armenia Party- 9, the Country of Law – 2, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun – 2,

the Heritage Party 1). 1 positive (the Heritage Party).

Tert.am – 206 references, 167 neutral, 37 negative (the Republican Party – 17, the Prosperous Armenia

Party – 12, the Armenian Revolutionary Party-Dashnaktsutyun – 3, the Country of Law – 3, the Armenian

National Congress – 1, the Heritage Party – 1).

PanArmenian.net – 328 references, 320 neutral, 8 negative.

Panorama.am – 219 references, 185 neutral, 27 negative, 7 positive.

Thus, PanArmenian.net differs from other web-sites by both the number of references and the number of

neutral references, while polarized attitude is distinguished in 7or.am and 1in.am coverage.


CHAPTER 6

Types and Nature of Articles/Stories by

Sources, Numbers, Genre and Media

Content

Owning the News: General Picture

The next diagram reflects the percentage of publication of information from other media in the 10

monitored websites and the percentage of their own publications. Publications containing materials from

other media, social networks but to which was made an addition from the publishing website were

categorized under «own» references. And if a publication was fully taken from other media it was

categorized under «other media» references.

In overall 16.726 articles/stories, 3.168 (19%) fully or partially copied publications were found in which the

source was mentioned. If there were no sources in the publication, the news story was viewed as property

of the given website.

Exceptions were the cases when readers could learn about the source of a publication clicking the «read

more» hyperlink. There are plenty of examples, especially in A1plus.am where there are no any other

article/story reflecting the source in the content except the hyperlink. Anyway, such cases were more

exceptions than trends.

Diagram 6. News Source Owner

18%

82%

Own Media

Other Media


Number of Sources in News Stories

Diagram 7 reflects the overall picture of sources in articles. Among 16.726 monitored articles/stories, in

13.307 (80%) cases information received only from one source caused publication. No source was

mentioned in 1.826 (11%) publications. And only 1.593 (10%) news stories had more than one source.

As we see, the majority of publications had only one source. This reflects the inactive nature of journalistic

work, i.e. publishing what exists without extra efforts. While, it is impossible to present unbiased and

comprehensive coverage without efforts.

And another negative trend: 11% of publications had no clearly distinguished source which turns the

information into rumor.

Diagram 7. Number of Sources in News Stories

11%8%

81%

No Source

One Source

More than one


News Stories by Genres

Diagram 8 reflects kinds of references by genres. 14.364 (86%) publications out of 16.726 were “news”,

“press-conferences”, “researches” coverage, 1.024 (6%) were were analytical, editorial articles, 723 (4%)

were announcements/messages, and 376 (2%) were interviews.

Speaking about the developing journalism it must be mentioned that there is no multi-genre approach,

analytical publications and even interviews are rare. While, existence of this all would foster the increase of

a website’s readers and the general professional level of online media.

Diagram 8. News Stroeis by Genres in Percentage (%)

0

86

0

1

2

4

6

Essay

Other

Letter

Interviews

Announcement

Analysis/Editorial

News, press conferences


News Stories by Media Content

16.576 (99%) articles/stories out of 16.726 contained text, 14.964 (89%) – image, and only 1.096 (7%) news

contained video and 294 (2%) – audio materials. Audios were published mostly in Azatutyun.am. Videos

were presented mostly in Azatutyun.am, A1plus.am and Civilnet.am.

The indexes show that the use of multimedia tools is in germinal phase, and first of all this is about the

journalistic approach and not the need of extra resources. For example, recordings of interviews, press-

conferences would only foster the increase of reliability of a publication. While, only 2% of publications

containt audio.

It should be mentioned, that the picture is common for all the website categories (see Methodology). And

only A1plus.am, Azatutyun.am an Civilnet.am are exceptions in this list.

Diagram 9. News by Media Content in Precentage

2

7

89

99

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

Note. As the majority of publications contains more than one kind of media content (for example, text and

image, text and video, or text, video and image), the overall rates exceed 100% in Diagram 9.

Number and Nature of References of 10 Websites by Parties (06 February -20 May)

0500

100015002000250030003500400045005000550060006500


positive neutral negative


1in.am: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06 February -20 May)

0100200300400500600700800900



News Source Owner Number of Sources

75%

25%

Own Media

Other Media

78%

14%8%

No Source

One Source

More than one


1in.am: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06 February -20 May)

0

2

98

100

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

0

87

72310

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)


7or.am: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06.02-20.05)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700




92%

8%

Own Media

Other Media

65%

7%28%

No Source

One Source

More than one


7or.am: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06.02-20.05)

0

3

96

96

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

1

73

108

322

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)


A1plus.am: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06.02-20.05)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600




81%

19%

Own Media

Other Media

88%

4%8%

No Source

One Source

More than one


A1plus.am: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06.02-20.05)

0

26

99

100

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

0

86

1

11

110

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)


Azatutyun.am: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06.02-20.05)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400




99%

1%

Own Media

Other Media

66%

1%

33%No Source

One Source

More than one


Azatutyun.am: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06.02-20.05)

53

52

71

100

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

1

91

21410

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)


Civilnet.am: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06.02-20.05)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400




96%

4%

Own Media

Other Media

69%

12%19%

No Source

One Source

More than one


Civilnet.am: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06.02-20.05)

0

25

53

83

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

1

63

24

56

00

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)


Lragir.am: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06.02-20.05)

050

100150200250300350400450500




98%

2%

Own Media

Other Media

58%

36%

6%

No Source

One Source

More than one


Lragir.am: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06.02-20.05)

0

1

82

100

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

0

57

30

7

511

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)


News.am: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06.02-20.05)

0100200300400500600700800900

1000




88%

12%

Own Media

Other Media

81%

6%13%

No Source

One Source

More than one


News.am: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06.02-20.05)

0

5

96

100

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

0

93

05

110

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)


Tert.am: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06.02-20.05)

0100200300400500600700800900

10001100




62%

38% Own Media

Other Media

90%

1%9%

No Source

One Source

More than one


Tert.am: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06.02-20.05)

0

2

68

100

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

0

90

53

110

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)


PanArmenian.net: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06.02-20.05)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800




77%

23%

Own Media

Other Media

84%

5%11%

No Source

One Source

More than one


PanArmenian.net: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06 February -20 May)

0

0

97

100

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

0

51

00

49

00

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)


Panorama.am: Number and Nature of References by Parties (06 February -20 May)

0100200300400500600700800900

100011001200




78%

22%

Own Media

Other Media

86%

8%6%

No Source

One Source

More than one


Panorama.am: News Stories Genres and Media Content (06 February -20 May)

0

2

98

100

Audio

Video

Picture

Text

Media Content (%)

0

87

72310

Essay

Other

Lette

r

Inte

rvie

ws

Announcem

ent

Analysis

/Edito

rial

News,

press

confe

rence

s

Genres (%)

Monitoring of Armenian Online Media Coverage of May 6, 2012 Elections to RA National Assembly

Documents

Transcript of Monitoring of Armenian Online Media Coverage of May 6, 2012 Elections to RA National Assembly