YEREVAN — On December 26, President Serge Sargisian of Armenia hosted a reception for mass media representatives at the Presidential Palace.
Sargisian congratulated the attendees on the occasion of the holidays.
He thanked the media “for the professional and coordinated activities carried out by the predominant part of our mass media outlets in August when Azerbaijan treacherously shot down our helicopter on the frontline and in November. The same, with minor exceptions, is true about the recent devaluation of the dram, when we were able to quickly overcome the signs of an artificial panic with the help of your conscientious work.”
While criticizing the occasional appearance of personal insults and categorization in the press, or the use of mass media outlets as tools for vengeance, the president in general praised the work of the Armenian media, declaring: “You have proven the claim that ‘freedom of press is dangerous in situations with the characteristics of war’ to be thrice useless. You have proven that persistently exaggerating the image of the enemy and imposing total censorship on military activities and defense issues under the pretense of war pursue no other goal than consolidating dictatorship.”