The moral obligation of the press is to be the accurate
reflection of the Will of The People; the Defender of the Truth;
the Voice of Righteousness — H.H. Aram I, Catholicos of The Great House of Cilicia
BY APPO JABARIAN
JULY 19, 2019
EXCLUSIVE TO
USA ARMENIAN LIFE MAGAZINE
Early this year His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of The Great House of Cilicia had declared 2019 the YEAR of The Armenian Media and had announced that a pan-Armenian conference would be held July in Antelias, Lebanon.
The 2019 Armenian Media, conference was unprecedented. This three-day conference gathered Armenian independent media, and the three traditional ARF-Tashnag, ADL-Ramgavar and SDHP-Hunchakian political party-controlled outlets together for the first time since the cold-war era’s 1958 fratricidal Armenian civil strife in Lebanon. Namely, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Ramgavar Party (ADL) and Social Democrat Hunchakian Party media were present under one roof at the Catholicosate of The Great House of Cilicia. Present political party-controlled and other special interest-controlled organs included Aztag Daily (Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)-Lebanon), Asbarez (ARF-USA); Armenian Mirror Spectator (Ramgavar Party (ADL)-USA), Baikar Weekly (ADL-USA), Zartonk (ADL-Lebanon) of; Ararat Daily (Social Democrat Hunchakian Party-Lebanon), Azad Artsakh (Gov.-Artsakh), Alik Newspaper (ARF-Iran) among others.
Independent media included USA Armenian Life Magazine (Independent-USA), HYE Kiank Armenian Weekly (Independent-USA), Nor Haratch (Independent-France), Azad Khosk (Independent-Cyprus), Yerepouni (Independent-Lebanon), Orer Magazine (Independent-Czech Republic), Radio Vatican-Armenian Section (Vatican) and others.
It also attracted several party-controlled along with independent media outlets from Armenia.
Throughout the conference His Holiness Aram I Catholicosate of The Great House of Cilicia was seen taking copious notes. A number of the ideas by the participants were incorporated into the pontiff’s closing remarks giving timely validation to essential concerns.
Armenia PM Nikol Pashinyan’s wife Anna Hakobyan also participated. In her opening statement she remarked: “Today, the media is in a crisis, and, that is, the media in Armenia and media outlets in Armenian communities of the world are also in a crisis. Thus, this conference is appropriate and anticipated more than ever. I hope the participants of this conference succeed in identifying the most in-depth issues, discuss them and seek solutions.”
Mrs. Hakobyan obviously referred to political party- and oligarch-controlled media outlets that are being exploited by the former ruling class to orchestrate their own return to power in Armenia. Now it has become clear that the main reason why political party- and oligarch-controlled media outlets are silent on corruption within the left-over bureaucracy in Armenia and in Etchmiadzin and its satellites (More details on this topic to follow in future articles).
On the Diaspora level, one could easily tell how some of the three traditional political parties — ARF, ADL, SDHP media organs’ editors and their party operatives (party-controlled freelance writers) tried to turn the conference into a propaganda platform for their media outlets claiming that the parties saved the media in the Diaspora effectively taking credit away from the independent media. (More details to follow).
As one of the panelists of the July 2 opening day, I presented the topic “The role and the mission of the free press in a rapidly changing information field.”
I emphasized: “1) The media as a decisive force needs to protect Armenian readers ensuring a healthy way of thinking and fend-off negative influences applied by non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) that are foreign-financed and backed by such funds as Soros; 2) The free Armenian press must make the Armenian readers aware of our their internal problems, This can promptly heal our internal diseases and put into motion a process of correcting wrongdoings; 3) With the lack of transparency and accountability, there is massive exodus of Armenia and Armenian Diaspora organizations and structures.”
I elaborated: “Unmasking negative issues, currently there are two Armenian schools of thought, “AMOT EH” (“IT’S SHAMEFUL”) vs. “AL GU PAVEH” (“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”). “AMOT EH” Armenian school of thought followers generally come from old school of thinking that “it’s ‘amot’ to show our dirty laundry to our neighbors. Usually the followers of this was thinking have an average age of 55 years and up.
Whereas, “AL GU PAVEH” (“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”) Armenian school of thought followers generally come from NEW school of thinking that, “Enough is enough. We need to clean house and make life more bearable for all.” This was the generation who carried out the “Velvet Revolution” of 2018. The Armenian free press, Armenian readers and Armenian organizations should speak openly with transparency with each other for the sake of consolidating our collective strength.”
Furthermore, I stated that “In the face of overabundance of Armenian news, the Free Armenian Press must help the readers, listeners and viewers develop strategic thinking, and acquire ability to differentiate between truth and fake news. Our people deserve to be properly informed. To my surprise most of the panelists and participants knew the details of my current investigative reporting of Arch. Hovnan Derderian of the Western Diocese and the death threat I was subjected to … I was elated that most of the core ideas I presented as a panelist to protect and support the Free Press, Freedom of Expression and Investigative Journalism were accepted by the participants and was befittingly included in His Holiness Aram I’s closing remarks.
His Holiness Aram I closing remarks to Armenian media reps, empathically stated: “I wholly share your concerns, your crises and your expectations. They are not just yours, but also all ours. … The Armenian press for us, is not just a news source, but a sacred mission. … it is our expectation that it enjoys the unequivocal and solid support of our homeland, the church, the organizations and our nation.”
In echoing the pronouncements expressed during the preceding days of the conference by a number of free press reps including this writer, H.H. Aram I underlined: “Along with our media workers, we must also hear The People, their evaluations and expectations. Let’s not forget that without The People the press loses the purpose of its existence. … No press can exist without freedom. … We talked about freedom driven by a sense of responsibility and accountability, as well as the moral obligation of the press to be the accurate reflection of the will of The People; the defender of the Truth; and the voice of righteousness!”
His Holiness Aram I concluded: “The Armenian press … should give great importance to critical and analytical articles so that — in case of a necessity, it can criticize and awaken the church, the authorities and structures and bring them to order as well as keep people aware of a contemporary national and international issues.”
During the closing session, as I took my turn in the presence of His Holiness Aram I, media colleagues along with the conference organizers, I said: “Years ago, I had written an expose on Catholicosate of The Great House of Cilcia’s mishandling of historic Bird’s Nest Armenian Orphanage in Lebanon. Just before the announcement of this conference on Armenian Media I thought that USA Armenian Life Magazine and Hye Kiank Armenian Weekly maybe black-rolled and would exclude me from this conference. But to the credit of His Holiness Aram I and the Catholicosate of The Great House of Cilcia, I was included in the participants’ list. I have always believed that Armenian spiritual servants and leaders along with lay organizational leaders should always accept constructive criticism with a noble spirit. Therefore, it is my proposal that we, as people, adopt noble response to media exposes or criticism as a permanent norm in our community relations. I am grateful that His Holiness’ tolerance and acceptance of being targeted to public scrutiny and criticism should become a source of inspiration and his noble response should be emulated by all community- and faith-based organizational members and leaders.”