Pashinyan Comments on Alexander's Incident Calling Journalists 'Verbal Prostitutes'

During a press conference, Nikol Pashinyan addressed questions from ArmDaily.am regarding his party member Vahagn Alexander's statement labeling journalists as "verbal prostitutes" from the parliament podium. When asked if he plans to take any steps to reprimand Alexander, as the leader of the political team and what he would do if he were a journalist or an editor, he stated: "I believe that Vahagn Alexander's expression should not be taken out of context, because he said something entirely different. He was referring to the very problematic situation we were discussing, addressing the incitement of violence and the promotion of illegality. If I were a practicing journalist, I wouldn't take those statements personally, provided I serve my profession honestly.

Secondly, in general, we have a clear strategy to resolve this problematic situation. We adopted it last year, and I consider it very important that media outlets operate transparently in Armenia. Today's media are demanding transparency and accountability from the government and high-ranking officials, but they are not demanding it from themselves; this is our credo. Journalists must operate and will operate transparently, which is why we have adopted legislation on the financial transparency and accountability of media outlets. By the way, I want to emphasize that we are implementing the same regulations for political parties and also establishing mechanisms for revealing the true owners of real media outlets, so that the public can identify potential political biases in the news.

Moreover, I am not saying that we demand puritanical journalism. Worldwide, journalism exists within the realm of political influences, but we consider it essential that the public can see the connections—both financial and political—so they can filter any news and opinions based on their cognitive frameworks, helping them focus on the core issues. Next, we are also making regulations to address journalistic ethics. We are not proposing that the government or any state entity should engage in this; rather, we must create legislative mechanisms for the journalism community to handle this themselves, establishing their own ethics and ensuring compliance with those ethical standards. We will consistently pursue this path. As for MP Alexander, he provided a political assessment, and it is quite challenging to consider that political assessment baseless in this context. Regarding the question of how I would relate to it if I were a practicing journalist, I would view it as not concerning me personally, because if it does, then it's not a good sign. By the way, Alexander noted that he pays his respects to all journalists who fulfill their professional duties diligently.