Mass Media: Does Robert Kocharyan become a media baron?

ArmInfo.Accused of overthrowing the constitutional order by force, former President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan becomes a media tycoon. Both the Armenian media and the  "aware" users of social networks write about this.

Thus, according to this data, Kocharyan bought Ararat, ArmNews  television companies, as well as Blognews.am, News.am, Panorama.am  information websites.

"Obviously, Kocharyan will benefit from owning mass media sources  with a large audience, through which he will try to form public  opinion. The desire to own the media was expressed by Kocharyan when  he was arrested on the case of "March 1". That is, Kocharyan, who is  trying to present himself as a "political prisoner", decided to spend  his billions on discrediting the authorities, " Haykakan Zhamanak  newspaper writes.

Recently, the civilnet.am website published the data of the register  of legal entities of Armenia, according to which from August 10, 2018  a businessmen close to Kocharyan became the owner of the "Ararat" TV  company. His name is Armen Tavadyan. Prior to that, MP from the  Republican Party of Armenia Arman Sahakyan with 67 percent of the  shares and Alexander Aroyan with 33 percent of the shares were the  owners of the television company. Since August 10, Tavadyan became  the owner of 100 percent of shares.

As for "ArmNews", its shareholders did not change, the National  Commission on TV and Radio (NCTR) informed the newspaper. Armen  Poghosyan is considered the owner of 100 percent of shares. The  general producer of the television company, however, denied the sale  of the television company, saying that they are working on a new  season.  The second Armenian TV channel and Yerevan.today website are  also linked with Robert Kocharyan.  Shares of the channel since 2003  belong to Natalia Martirosyan and Samvel Mayrapetyan - 50 percent  each.  The NCTR reported that the executive director is Mayrapetyan.  The latter has been actively engaged in construction business since  Kocharyan's tenure and is considered a person from his closest  circle. During Kocharyan's tenure, Mayrapetyan won tenders for  buildings in the center of Yerevan. There are even some buildings in  the capital, that are known as the "Mayrapetyan building".

Blognews.am website is part of "PanArmenian", the largest media  holding, owned by Mikael Minasyan, the son-in-law of former Armenian  President Serzh Sargsyan. After Kocharyan was charged, the website  left the holding, and soon after that information appeared that it  had been bought by Kocharyan. According to the data of the state  register, Karen Antinyan is the sole owner of this website.  As the  newspaper writes, Panorama.am website, which is currently associated  with the name of Kocharyan, previously belonged to the head of the  staff of the Armenian parliament Ara Saghatelyan. According to the  state register, Ara Saghatelyan and Marina Manukyan remain the owners  of this website.  Chairman of the council of "Asparez'' club of  journalists, Levon Barseghyan, told in a conversation with Haykakan  Zhamanak that "the methods of fighting used by Kocharyan and his team  are out of date, because nowadays the words reach their goal  immediately without the help the media."