On October 5 “Azg” daily published an article “Is 4 mln. USD Little for Laudation
of the President?” The editorial was a response to the complaint, voiced by
“Haylur” newscast of Public Television of Armenia to the effect that the amount,
equivalent to 4 mln. USD, envisaged for PTA in draft state budget of Armenia
in 2006, is very small, even in comparison with other CIS countries. To this
“Azg” remarked that while 4 million USD per se is not a very big amount, “our
Public Television is not so public, and several hundreds of people are busy
with promoting the President Robert Kocharian, his family, environment”. To
confirm this, the newspaper listed the first four reports of “Haylur” newscast
on October 4. They all were dealing with the activities of the President, the
First Lady and higher officials of the country. Only the fifth news, as “Azg”
notes, was presented by the newscast to be the relations of European Union and
Turkey.
The next day, on October 6, “Aravot” daily published the opinion of the Chairman
of the Council of Public TV and Radio Company Alexan Harutiunian, expressed
in an interview to “Aravot” with regard to “Azg” piece. “I will not answer this
newspaper, I will only pull its owner’s ears”, the Chairman of the Council of
Public TV and Radio Company said.
