Needs Assessment of Armenia’s Public Television Company A Report Commissioned by the OSCE Office in Yerevan Report Authors: Richard Lucas, Independent Consultant Michael Randall, Project Manager (Europe & CIS), BBC World Service Trust Movses Hakobyan, Programme Coordinator for Internews Armenia Address: BBC World Service Trust, 301NE Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH Contact telephone: +44 20 7557 3959 Contact email: [email protected] 1 The views, findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OSCE or OSCE Office in Yerevan. 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................5 2.0. The Mission...........................................................................................................................................6 2.1. OSCE .................................................................................................................................................6 2.2. BBC World Service Trust ...................................................................................................................6 2.3. The Assessment Team ......................................................................................................................6 2.4. Objectives ..........................................................................................................................................7 2.5. Activities .............................................................................................................................................8 3.0. Background...........................................................................................................................................8 3.1. The Public Television and Radio Company of Armenia ....................................................................9 3.2. The Council of Public Television and Radio ....................................................................................10 3.3. The Charter......................................................................................................................................11 3.4. Criticism of PTV ...............................................................................................................................12 3.4.1. Pro-Government Bias ...............................................................................................................12 3.4.2. Advertising Volumes.................................................................................................................13 3.4.3. Prevalence of Entertainments Programming............................................................................13 3.5. The Political Environment ................................................................................................................14 3.6. Changes in the Law .........................................................................................................................14 4.0. Analysis...............................................................................................................................................15 4.1. Political Will at PTV..........................................................................................................................15 4.2. PTV Management ............................................................................................................................15 4.3. Market Position ................................................................................................................................16 4.4. Financial Position.............................................................................................................................17 4.5. Technical Issues ..............................................................................................................................17 4.6. News Programming .........................................................................................................................17 4.6.1. News Organisation ...................................................................................................................18 4.6.2. The “Haylur” News Service.......................................................................................................19 4.6.3. Politics, Fairness and Balance .................................................................................................22 4.6.4. Editorial Policy ..........................................................................................................................23 4.6.5. Future Developments in News .................................................................................................23 4.7. Current Affairs Programmes ............................................................................................................24 4.7.1. Programming Policy .................................................................................................................24 4.7.2. Performance Indicators ............................................................................................................25 4.7.3. Regular Programmes................................................................................................................25 4.8. Other Programmes ..........................................................................................................................27 4.8.1. Armenian Soap Operas ............................................................................................................27 4.8.2. The Programme Schedule........................................................................................................28 4.8.3. Government-made Programmes..............................................................................................29 4.8.4 Films and Dramas......................................................................................................................29 4.8.5. Website.....................................................................................................................................30 4.9. Programme Plans ............................................................................................................................30 4.9.1. Second Channel .......................................................................................................................30 4.9.2. New Programming Strands ......................................................................................................31 4.10. Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................31 3 RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................................33 5.0. Building Capacity at PTV...................................................................................................................33 5.1. Previous Training .............................................................................................................................33 5.2. BBC Consultancy.............................................................................................................................33 5.3. Developing Editorial Guidelines.......................................................................................................34 5.4. Management Consultancy ...............................................................................................................34 5.4.1. Financial Management .............................................................................................................35 5.4.2. Marketing and Promotion .........................................................................................................35 5.5. Newsgathering .................................................................................................................................36 5.5.1. Deputy Director of News Programming....................................................................................36 5.5.2. Reporting Skills.........................................................................................................................36 5.5.3. Financial and Economic Journalism.........................................................................................37 5.5.4. Camera Operations and Picture Editing...................................................................................37 5.5.5. News Graphics .........................................................................................................................37 5.5.6. News Programme Redesign.....................................................................................................38 5.6. Programme Development ................................................................................................................38 5.6.1. Creative Programming..............................................................................................................38 5.6.2. Talk Show Production...............................................................................................................39 5.6.3. Programme Presenting.............................................................................................................39 5.6.4. Documentary