Adoption of the bill on making amendments to the Law on Advertising will entail worsening of the financial situation of media outlets and, in consequence, it will deal a blow to their independence. This is what political scientist, head of Media Advocate initiative Aghasi Yenokyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am today.

“This means that either media outlets will have to knock on the doors of the authorities or the oligarchs who are close with the authorities, or they will simply close down. The authorities’ argument is that betting has a negative impact on the population,” he emphasized, adding that, if we take a look at the economic situation in Armenia, it is devastating. “It’s clear that when a business is in a difficult situation, the first thing it does is it reduces expenses for advertising. In this sense, the number of advertisements has dropped significantly in not only Armenia, but also the whole world since solvency has decreased in all parts of the world. So, to avoid declaring bankruptcy, international companies represented in Armenia seek to not spend money on advertisements,” Yenokyan added.

The Armenian government intends to permit electronic media outlets to advertise betting only between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.