Prime Minister: If the problem is in the boycott, there will always  be reasons

ArmInfo.The responses of the Prime Minister of Armenia to questions from the media and civil society are being boycotted by those media that have recently  launched a massive campaign to boycott the coverage of the  government's activities.  RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated  this live on his Facebook page on Monday.

He noted that the same media can boycott a possible press conference  of the Prime Minister, and there will always be reasons for that. "I  would like to remind you that during the early parliamentary  elections, the political leaders of these media outlets boycotted  live discussions," Pashinyan said, adding that he did not see  condemning statements in these media outlets about why these leaders  do not participate in political discussions in front of the public.

Pashinyan expressed surprise at the position of the Azatutyun radio  station (RFE/RL's Armenian service), which during one of the press  conferences expressed dissatisfaction with the fact thatt it was not  given the opportunity to ask a question. <But at all press  conferences, all questions are voiced. And anyway, what is this  topic? If the media want a press conference, let them contact the  government press service, explain what the problem is, and the press  service will discuss it and respond>, the prime minister said, adding  that the press conference is not an end in itself, but an opportunity  to communicate with the public, and now we are communicating with the  public>, the head of government said.

It should be noted that about 40 media outlets of Armenia, including  radio RFE/RL's Armenian service, Factor TV, Tert. Am, issued a  statement in which they declared a boycott of today's questions to  the Prime Minister. ArmInfo also joined the boycott, believing that  the format of answers to questions chosen by Nikol Pashinyan does not  at all correspond to the topic of the day. It is not clear on what  basis the choice of questions to the Prime Minister is based. If  Pashinyan needs to seriously prepare for questions that have an  international foreign policy orientation, then it would be right to  find a different format for his speech.  But such a format of a  conversation with a representative of the state channel, during which  questions from other media are voiced, cannot be called free  communication with the press.