Aravot: Russian TV neutrality due to Gyumri case relation to army prestige

The correspondent of ‘Aravot’ paper talked with Aleksey Gorbachev of ‘Nezavisimaya Gazeta’ newspaper (Russia).

“I heard of the incident the following day. I read about it on the Internet. Our newspaper published an article about it this week, and the article was the most read one,’ he said. 

The Russian journalist said that their paper covered that subject based on information of open Russian-language sources which were available to them. “The reports mainly described the incident and experts opinions: what happened and who should investigate the case,” Aleksey Gorbachev said. 

According to him, almost all Russian media outlets, including TV companies, covered the Gyumri incident. “What was presented by state TV channels was very neutral. I think that almost everyone heard of the incident. In my opinion, the neutrality of Russian TV companies is due to the fact that it is related to the prestige of the Russian army. The state TV channel presented it as an ordinary crime. Other media outlets said that the soldier was drunk or in mentally unbalanced condition.  It was also mentioned that it was not the first time – he wanted to run away previously, too”.