FACTOMETER
en
ру
հյ
On March 24, during a discussion on mass protests in Türkiye, the French-German TV channel ARTE’s “28 Minutes” program displayed a map of Transcaucasia without Armenia.
This mistake by the French-German TV channel was noticed by the “Nouvelles d’Arménie” periodical which wrote: “Scandal at ARTE: Armenia erased from the map displayed during the news program: mistake or manipulation?” This information started to actively circulate in the Armenian media on March 25 (1, 2,).
In addition, this sparked a wave of protest on the Armenian domain of the Facebook social network, and on the Facebook page of the “28 Minutes” program, users considered the TV company’s action unacceptable.
Several media outlets (“Aravot”, “A1+”) removed the publication after some time, as information surfaced that the actual recording of the program displayed the map of Armenia with its borders.
Fact Investigation Platform’s studies showed that ARTE later realized the mistake and uploaded the program on its YouTube channel with a new map. However, the program is only available within the borders of France. When trying to open it in Armenia, YouTube informs us that it is unavailable for our country.
Fip.am was provided by France with a copy of the map displayed during the program which now shows Armenia with its borders.
Details by the Armenian guest on the “28 Minutes” program
Fact Investigation Platform was informed that the representative of the French-Armenian community, political scientist Gaidz Minassian, was also present as a guest on the “28 Minutes” program. In an interview with Fip.am, Minassian confirmed that Armenia was not initially displayed on the map.
He also specified: “Yes, I was present at that program, I spoke, I answered questions, but honestly I did not see what happened on the screen, I did not see that Armenia was not shown. Honestly, I did not see it. Of course, I would have made a remark, how could I tolerate it? That program was recorded in the afternoon, March 24, and broadcast in the evening. When I was already watching that program at home in the evening, can you believe I did not see it again? That’s because I am so used to seeing the borders that I failed to notice. I received a phone call asking me: “Gaidz, did you see that the borders of Armenia were not there?” I was astounded and we decided to cause a stir, and it’s good we did so.”
Gaidz Minassian notes that the French-German TV company did not have any intent in not displaying the map of Armenia.
“There is no anti-Armenian implication. There was no border between Israel and Lebanon on the map shown during that program either. Someone carelessly drew that map and no one checked it. I and a few others called the TV company to demand an explanation and were told, “Sorry, we made a mistake.” That’s why the program was removed from the website, and later the program with the edited map was reposted on YouTube. There is no need to raise anti-French sentiments, there is no intent in what happened.”
On March 25, at around 9:00 PM French time (midnight Armenian time), during the same “28 Minutes” program on ARTE, its host, Élisabeth Quin, apologized to viewers, and Armenians in particular.
“We would like to extend our profound apology especially to Armenians, since yesterday, due to our collective mistake, the map of Armenia was not shown on the air. It was a very big mistake, but not an intentional one. We apologize,” Gaidz Minassian later conveyed the text of the apology from the TV company to Fip.am.
Hasmik Hambardzumyan
