A New Headache for the Media: The Government Will Achieve Its Goal

In post-war Armenia, where every family contemplates whether to continue building their future in Armenia or leave the country after the quarantine regime, the Armenian authorities are making every effort to render Armenia unappealing for the Armenians to live in.

The constant absurd tightening of laws will ultimately lead to the depopulation of Armenia, and it is interesting to consider who benefits from this. Let's clarify with a specific example: The Armenian government has put forward another legislative initiative aimed at the media and is once again attempting to restrict advertisements broadcasted through media outlets.

Specifically, the initiative proposed by the Ministry of Finance of Armenia suggests that instead of the 20% volumetric limitation on lottery advertisements on news websites, a more inconvenient and almost impossible time-based restriction be applied, stipulating that lottery advertisements through news websites can only be conducted between 22:00 and 07:00.

At the same time, fines amounting to up to 100 times the minimum wage will be imposed on media outlets that violate this regulation. Moreover, when introducing this draft, the government did not consult with the media outlets operating in the field and did not inquire whether it is technically possible to place advertisements on an hourly basis. It was merely put up for public discussion and received voices from all sides.

However, this is going to become a real headache for the websites, if not an impossible task to comply with the law's requirements. The operation of websites differs significantly from that of television broadcasts, and placing advertisements by the hour is simply unfeasible. In reality, what does the government, which lost the war, aim to achieve? To deprive the media of advertisements.

Moreover, they have pursued this goal since the very first day they came to power, and as an example, it suffices to recall the initiatives of My Step faction MP Hrachya Hakobyan, which are now being continued by the State Revenue Committee and the Ministry of Finance.

It is no secret that media outlets are financed precisely through advertisements, including lottery ads. Thus, the lotteries exist in our country, function, and yet their advertisements are to be restricted just to the websites. We emphasize that this limitation will not lead to a reduction or exclusion of advertisements in the internet domain, as the internet allows for unrestricted advertising on any social media platform, and to receive its effectiveness.

In other words, lottery organizers will receive their money one way or another, gambling will continue to develop in our country, but the media will endure significant financial losses, and some may shut down, thus achieving the real goal of the current government of Armenia. And this is done swiftly, without discussing it with the media outlets, while the government today should pursue one goal: to eliminate the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the 44-day war in Artsakh.

But leaving this important matter aside, the government is making efforts toward closing media outlets.

This was reported by the