Director of Channel 5 TV: We work for people who want to think and educate themselves; Channel 5 TV will present pleasant changes during the new season
During the new season, Channel 5 TV will present small, but pleasant changes. According to Director of Channel 5 TV Harutyun Harutyunyan, there will be cultural, children’s and political shows.
“When the TV station was established three years ago, I said this is a television channel for people who want to think and added that we are not going to air cheap shows for the lowest layer of society to sit and be charmed, and we are not going to tell lies and produce low-quality soap operas. It is better to produce a 5-10-minute quality film than 10 low-quality soap operas. I still think that television is also educational, no matter how much of a business it is. There was a time when people would ask why the quality of Armenian television companies is so low, and the directors of television companies would make the following statement that I have always opposed: “We show whatever the people demand.” This is a lie! There is no such thing! Look, it is much easier for people to eat fast food than make food at home. This means the people will take what is easy to ‘serve’ and what is easy to ‘digest’,” Harutyunyan told 168.am, adding that Channel 5 TV will start airing a great show for children in September — the long-anticipated children’s show will be shown along with sign language interpretation for hearing impaired children (there will be puppets that will ‘talk’ and show an animated film).
“We have launched a nice project under the title “Armenian Treasure Box”, which presents Armenian poetry in dialects through a show called “Language of Words”. We are also preparing a series of documentaries. There will also be a news program, which is our best product, and I can proudly say it differs from the news programs that all other media outlets in Armenia broadcast. We present everything that other media outlets don’t present. We are referred to as oppositional, but this is not the case. There is a concept — whoever is very liberal is viewed as oppositional. We are liberal, but not oppositional. Being oppositional is different. We are a liberal media outlet and talk about everything,” the director of Channel 5 TV said as he went into detail.
Talking about the difficulties with inviting all sides to interviews, that is, people who are pro-government or members of the opposition, Harutyunyan noted the following:
“The media and the society, in general, have been split into ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’ for the past three years. When we call government officials on the phone and are rejected, we voice record all this because we are open for everyone — let them come and speak, there is no problem at all.
We broadcast the “Face to Face” television show during which issues are discussed. It worked out, and the officials came to talk during one or two shows. It is very difficult to organize a debate in Armenia now. Ask any media outlet. One person asks why he or she should come and debate with the other interlocutor, while another person says he or she does not need to come. Basically, politicians don’t have elemental respect towards each other, and this affects the media.
What does Channel 5 TV want? If there is an issue or problem, it needs to be discussed, and everyone should express their views. We have turned the show into an interactive one, that is, during the show, the TV viewer can vote in favor of the first or second viewpoint, and in the end, one can clearly see the percentages of people who support this or that opinion. We will broadcast the show once a week, but if the politicians come, we will broadcast it twice a week. No guest’s remarks will be edited. If they are edited, it will be agreed upon. For instance, a debate is live, and we only tape interviews. I am not going to let you in on any secrets, but the journalist who will be on air is a famous and very interesting person.”
The director of Channel 5 TV Company informed that the television company will air high-quality and internationally resonant films and soap operas starting from September. There will also be sports shows. The television company also promises to turn mono performances into a film and present the daily life in a village.
Touching upon the current issues, Harutyunyan said the situation due to the coronavirus and the 44-day war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and the post-war situation had a major negative impact on the work of the media, particularly television companies.
“We felt the impulses before the outbreak of the coronavirus because when the economy is in a dire situation or on the path to destruction, sponsored programs are obviously terminated, and there is a sharp decline in the number of advertisements. If you monitor the Armenian television market, you will see that it is in an embarrassing situation. There are almost no advertisements on television channels, or there are very few advertisements, with a low budget. When you take a look at websites, you will mainly see advertisements of bookmakers, and there will be no more advertisements of bookmakers starting from January 2022. These advertisements have been banned on television for a long time already, but our television company has never aired such advertisements. So, the situation is such that we are constantly surviving at the expense of the subventions of the owner, with the hope for better days when the economy will be back on track and we will try to get back to work.
For this reason, if you pay attention, you will see that television companies mainly broadcast reruns of television shows. They can’t produce new shows because there is no funding. The economy is in an embarrassing situation, and it all starts from the economy. A lot of people blame television companies, stating that they don’t take action. Of course, the allegations are justified because the public might not be able to picture all this since we Armenians have not gotten out of this post-Soviet situation. Many people believe all television companies are grouped in one place, say, near the TV tower.
Unfortunately, we Armenians lack media literacy. People still look at television as television that existed in the Soviet era. They can’t even imagine that there is a television and radio commission that grants licenses and conducts oversight.”
Talking about indicators, the director of the television company stated that Channel 5 TV particularly has high indicators on social networks.
“Out of the media outlets producing television content, we are among the top three. There are days when we are on top. In reality, there are a lot of views from people aged 25 to 45 and 50-65, and there are fewer views from people over 65. Many people say our indicators are almost the same indicators of Armenian Public Television in terms of our operation. I wouldn’t like to compare our television company with other television companies since what we have is our own, but yes, perhaps we are close to Armenian Public Television in terms of approaches. Our competition is merely in terms of creating. We can’t compete in terms of funding. The people working at our television company are doing an incredible job.
Why do those who are close to the government criticize our television company? It is because we broadcast instructive shows. People can educate themselves because schools and universities are not doing what they are called for, and our television company is filling the gap. All governments, including the incumbent government doesn’t need an educated society. This is why the authorities are afraid of our television company. All governments have had problems with hearing the truth and have been irreconcilable, and we say the truth. Please, take a look at the products of television companies in Yerevan and the products of television companies providing coverage across the country, and then take a look at what we have done and our quality, and it will be clear why our television company is not so desirable for the authorities.
All the rest are at the same level. Look at what Freenews is doing (Freenews started broadcasting recently and airs shows that are ‘pleasing to the palate’ of the authorities), and you will understand why our television company is in the spotlight and under attack. We work for people who want to think, be educated, and for people who have higher education. This layer of society is slowly growing since nobody would watch our TV channel when we were established three years ago, but now, we receive many letters and have a large army of supporters, who are also very scrupulous,” our interlocutor concluded.
Ani Karapetyan
