A1 plus denied airtime- again..
As I ‘m sure many of you guessed, a1 plus ( the only functioning ‘opposition’ media outlet) were denied a frequency by the commision for licenses today. This time for a radio frequency. It came as no surprise but is once again a testimony to the fact that under the current government, the existence of impartial reporting is threatened. This is over the tenth competition they’ve taken part in, and have lost 2 radio frequencies to obscure new companies. The reason being - apparently, the “Ulyss” media company will pay their staff higher wages…what has that got to do with anything? I guess we can’t complain, the commision is just a puppet. They are just doing as they’re told. More on a1plus.am
It’s really sad that such hypocrisy continues to be tolerated by the politically active masses in Armenia. Any person who cares about democracy should have protested this decision. Why was it a heinous act to close the ARF media outlets in the early 90-s but ARF doesn’t really care that the same thing is happening to an independent media outlet?
Hypocrites.
Comment by nazarian — 5/26/2006 @ 6:22 pm
There’s an interview I conducted with the Director of A1 Plus the day after the TV station went off the air in April 2002 here. There are also a few pics of the demonstration staged in the station’s support from the same time here.
As for the ARF-D, to be fair they did support the station or rather, until Yerkir Media TV was allowed to broadcast instead. Interestingly, Yerkir Media TV is now often critical of the government, or should I say its opponents in the run-up to the 2007 parliamentary elections.
Nevertheless, I’ve also been encouraged to see that they screened Edik Baghdasarian’s film on trafficking to Dubai as well as work with us on a documentary film regarding homelessness in Yerevan. That was in 2005, but even this year they continued to cover the issue with Edik and I even though one of their own is the Minister for Social Security.
Still, we need A1 Plus back if only to ensure plurality in the broadcast media.
Comment by Onnik Krikorian — 5/27/2006 @ 9:40 am
The average Armenian does not have free access to information. Finding information in rural Armenia especially is like trying to find dry lavash in a bowl of khash. It is just not going to happen.
We have all of these groups of Armenians outside of Armenia but they do not seem to challenge the status quo in “Mer Hayastan”. They talk only of the Genocide and not of the struggles of the current Hayastan based Armenians with the left overs from the Soviet Era.
When will knowledgable people in Armenia and from abroad help change the culture of corruption and domination from the current political regime?
Comment by Anush — 5/27/2006 @ 4:02 pm
Demand Hearings on Firing of U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans
Send a Free ANCA WebFax to your Senators and Rep. Today!
http://capwiz.com/anca/issues/alert/?alertid=8794406&type=CO
It’ll take less than a minute to fill out! Please do it!
Comment by Dro — 5/27/2006 @ 8:15 pm
At least Armenian Government is not closing the media offices by firing missiles on them like democratic US government did to Aljazeera offices in Iraq.
Thank you!
Comment by Ruzanna — 5/31/2006 @ 3:45 pm
Dry lavash in a bowl of khash is brilliant. Thanks for making my day!
Why do you think the majority want to change the situation. The people I talk to, mostly inlaws, seem to be doing Ok, sure they complain, salary is low, things are expensive, gas is skyrocketing but it’s not at the point where people start setting themselves on fire. The blogs seem to be focusing on marginal (homeless, jobless) more than the mainstream population.
Comment by Tim — 6/1/2006 @ 3:55 am
Ruzanna, the end result is the same for both scenarios.
Comment by nazarian — 6/5/2006 @ 11:53 pm