The Yellowing of “Hairenik” Weekly

Vahe H. Apelian

I do not know how the term “yellow journalism” came about. But anyone who has a rudimentary interest in journalism surely knows that it means, quoting Wikipedia, “sensationalistic or biased stories that newspapers present as objective truth.” Regrettably the esteemed “Hairenik” Weekly is yellowing by the day.

One of the very outward indicators of the yellowing of a journal is the visual, that is to say, the unappealing snapshot the journal’s editor picks to publish about the person against whom the journal has positioned itself. A situation often encountered in social media.

 To supplement Hagop Balian’s latest article titled “The NIKOL PACHINYAN PHENOMENON, ARMENIA, THE REPUBLIC, ARTSAKH, AND….” ( ՆԻԿՈԼ ՓԱՇԻՆԵԱՆ ԵՐԵՒՈՅԹԸ, ՀԱՅԱՍՏԱՆ-ՀԱՆՐԱՊԵՏՈՒԹԻՒՆԸ, ԱՐՑԱԽԸ ԵՒ…), the editor has chosen to post the above snap shot of the Armenia’s PM. Instead of publishing the PM’s official portrait or a more dignified depiction, the editor of "Hairenik"  has chosen the not so appealing snapshot unrelated to an happening in the text. I would think both the editor of “Hairenik” Weekly and the author of the article, Hagop Balian, would go at length to choose a better depiction of themselves for posting publicly. Understandably, it is a very human reaction.

Hagop Balian is the quintessential political nemesis of Armenia’s PM Nigol Pashinyan and the government he leads. The first three paragraphs of his article pretty much sum up what Hagop Balian is expanding about in the article that accompanies the picture. Let me post here the Google translation of those three paragraphs.

“Is there such a progress in the history of peoples or not, that the person responsible for the defeat, the thousands of victims, the security of the homeland and the defense of the territories failed, no more and no less, whose policy is characterized by losses, who is forced to make concessions, whom he will accept head on, which are an existential threat to a motherland and its people, cling to the helm of his ship headed for the collision of the reefs.

I have often remembered the idea of the great French rationalist René Thekart that "common sense is equally divided in the world" and I added that he did not know Armenians. If he had been known, he wouldn't have said such a doctrinal word", because we don't think we got a share from that distribution.

One should be emptied of common sense, not to see and not react or remain a spectator in front of the presence of a ruined and ruining country, a country that is still the remaining fragment of the people's seized and kidnapped homeland. Remember the name of a book. Ravished Armenia... “

This time around Hagop Balian, not only disparages the PM for retaining the same position he occupied when Armenia lost the disastrous 44-Day Second Artsakh war; he also disparages and belittles the citizens of Armenia who voted for  him. He then wonders, and rhetorically asks. Has there been such a people in the “history of peoples” (Ժողովուրդներու պատմութեան).?

Yes, there has been.

The architect of the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli war was President Gamal Abdel Nasser. He came from the military and his rank was Lieutenant Colonel when he came to power. We all know that the war ended disastrously for the Arabs. President Nasser acknowledged the defeat and offered resigning from his office. I have a personal anecdote about that historical event. The lady who cleaned the hotel my father ran in Beirut was utterly distraught when she heard that President Nasser has offered to resign, so much so that she could not attend to her duties and confided her predicament to my mother, who prophetically, surely to calm her, told her not to worry. The Egyptians will not let him resign. Lo and behold, his announcement met massive demonstrations demanding Nasser to retain the helm of the country. The Arab people’s dignity was such that they would not let Israel see their leader humiliated further.

It is not the first time Hagop Balian claims that Nigol Pachinyan should have resigned. But what Balian really means to say is that Nigol Pachinyan should have  unliterally, on his own accord, forfeitedt his right as a citizen of Armenia to seek the office again. Right after the disastrous second Artsakh war, Nigol Pashinyan announced that he will resign after six months and he did, but also offered his candidacy to seek the office again. The people of Armenia, on June 20, 2021, elected him in a fair and transparent snap election. And when the opposition challenged the election, the highest court in Armenia, the Constitutional Court upheld the election and found it binding. For all those who may question the judicial impartiality and the independence of the Constitutional Court, should be reminded that the same court and the same justices unanimously exonerated president Kocharian from charges and released him from confinement, who thus went on to lead the opposition. I did not vote for Trump. I fault Trump for inciting the January 6 uprising that threatened the very foundation of the Republic. I will not vote for Trump. But I uphold his right to seek the office once again. He is innocent of all allegations until proven otherwise in the courts of the law and not the public.

Opposition is the hallmark of any democracy and free society. The yellowing of “Haierink” Weekly is not because it has politically positioned itself against the PM Pachinyan and his government. It is in the journalistic style it has resorted to, both in content and in visual.  There can be no justification for the editor of “Hairenik’ to allow in the esteemed historic "Hairenik" descriptions such as “the person who occupies the PM’s office”, or the “the lesser man” (martoog in Armenian) when referencing the PM of Armenia or ridicule his last press conference, calling it a “marathon” conference and sarcastically compare it to a Zelensky’s very long press conference, and all the while ignore the issues raised by the cadre of young and upcoming Armenian journalists who without hesitation or fear of reprisal questioned the PM of Armenia. if not gruelled him for 3 hours, 44 minutes and 41 seconds.