Financial support from international foundations and foreign embassies to the Armenian media has sparked a debate, with some saying such efforts would give journalists a chance to work more freely. Critics, however, insist change must come from within the country’s own dynamics.
Foreign support for Armenian media has grown in recent years, following a regional pattern. “Hedq” (Trace) one of the best-known online portals, moved into print format last September with the support of the British Embassy.
Boris Navasaritan, president of the Yerevan Press Club, said he thinks journalists who receive international support can work more freely. “Unfortunately, the rulers in Armenia have an oppressor mentality. However, the world is changing rapidly. It is not possible for Armenia to [resist] change,” Navasaritan told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review during a recent visit to Istanbul.
Levon Barsghian, president of the Journalists Club Asparez in the northwestern Armenian city of Gyumri, said he agrees with Navasaritan, but added he believes the issue of foreign support should be tackled carefully.
“We thank all institutions that offer support for the freedom of speech and democracy,” he said. “But the political perspective of this support should be given attention, too. The only goal of such support must be about freedom of speech for the Armenian press. Opinions, political views and ideologies should not be forced upon anyone.”
Change coming from inside
Lucia Najslova, chief editor for Zahranicna, a foreign policy magazine in Slovakia, said the momentum for media reform has to come from Armenians themselves. “An ‘imposed’ change will most probably not be a lasting one, nor will it be genuinely embraced by the majority of the people. Change can, however, be assisted by those who went through similar experiences. It is wiser to learn from the errors of your fellows than from your own.”
Najslova compared the Armenian media with those in Eastern European countries. “In the past 20 years, during the restoration of democracy in the former Czechoslovakia, we certainly did receive a lot of help from foreigners who had good intentions. Without them, our liberalization would have been much more painful and longer. But there were also those who had no idea about the experience of the country they came to 'civilize.' We experienced a number of entertaining moments, being put into positions in which we supposedly had yet to learn how to dine using cutlery.”
According to Navasaritan, one of the most modern printing houses in Armenia was founded in the early 1990s with the support of the Eurasia Foundation, which had support from the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, as well as other governments, private foundations, corporations and individuals. Then, the Open Society Institute, funded by billionaire investor George Soros, and Internews, another global nonprofit organization, opened offices in Yerevan.
“Armenians’ enthusiasm in embracing foreign investors entering the media sector should not be surprising,” Aslı Tunç, dean of the communication faculty at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, told the Daily News. “I believe that this is a strategic move for Washington to create a competitive media market in Armenia. Those efforts cannot make any country’s media independent, but training programs and financing civil society organizations might increase the level of journalism standards in the long run.”
Nevertheless, Navasaritan said he believes the Armenian press has become more free thanks to international support. “Over 50 television channels and 20 radio stations have started broadcasting since the early 1990s. Moreover, various international foundations have supported journalists in hiring lawyers when they were attacked,” he said.
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