ARMENIAN BLOGGERS AIM TO DIVERSIFY MEDIA, BOLSTER CIVIL

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000790 EUR/PPD-RASTEVENS-KLITZ, EUR/CACEN-JFARRELLY E.O. 12958; N/A TAGS: OPRC AM KMDR KPAO PGOV PHUM PREL SUBJECT: ARMENIAN BLOGGERS AIM TO DIVERSIFY MEDIA, BOLSTER CIVIL SOCIETY AND SUPPORT TRACK TWO DIPLOMACY -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. Armenians who engage in serious discussions in the blogosphere are still a rather elite, western-oriented group, although many ordinary Armenians use Russian-language social networking and other sites which can include a less informed debate of the issues. Internet penetration is still rather low, (around 10-12 percent, but access via mobile phones is growing quickly). At an Embassy roundtable, bloggers noted the important role that new media plays in an open press, civil society development, and as a tool of track two diplomatic efforts in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) conflict. They welcomed USG participation in online debates and suggested ways we could aid in the development of social media in Armenia, emphasizing the need for training and infrastructure support. End summary. -------------- -------------- THE ELITE ARE BLOGGING, ARE THE MASSES LISTENING? -------------- -------------- ¶2. On November 4, the Public Affairs Section held a roundtable discussion with some of Armenia's most active bloggers to discuss social and new media trends in the country. Participants discussed current blogging demographics in Armenia, noting that the majority of Armenians both actively contributing to blogs and passively reading them are either Diaspora or Armenia's "elite few" who have access to personal internet at home and work. Another blogger concurred, stating, "There are bloggers out there writing in Russian and Armenian, but Armenian text for blogging is only 68 percent developed. Any why would you follow what is being written in Russian? It's not constructive and very nationalistic. The elite that are really using blogging are the western-minded, English speaking, upper class. They are open to change, open to the world. But this is such a small fraction of the population." ¶3. Note: All of the bloggers at the roundtable fit this "elite" description. One grew up in Britain, another is a U.S. Government program alumna whose father is a deputy minister. A third blogger did post graduate-level research at Harvard, and another is a reporter who travels internationally for the USG-supported Radio Liberty. While acknowledging the high amount of activity in the Russian blogosphere, all expressed disdain for the high level of 
vitriol and low level of intellectual discourse in Russian-language new media. They were especially vehement on that point when discussing a popular Russian version of Facebook called Odnoklassniki, which they urged the Embassy to avoid. Despite one blogger noting, "This is not yet for the masses," all believe internet capabilities to be rapidly increasing in the country and interest in blogs to be growing. -------------- -------------- ACCESSIBLE TECHNOLOGY WILL INCREASE NEW MEDIA USAGE -S&f2Q& operating in Armenia, currently has 600,000 Armenians (out of a total population of just 3 million) subscribing to internet-enabled phones (mostly, he believed, to access Odnoklassniki). Another blogger noted, "Armenians love their phones. They will spend money on a fancy phone when they have no money to eat. People place phones on cafe tables, not because they are expecting a call, but because they want to be seen. You want someone to hear your message? Put it on a phone." While they indicated that Twitter has yet to catch on in Armenia, they did note that not only are tweets inexpensive - about five cents per tweet - but Short Message Service (SMS) texts are already a primary means of communication on basic cell phones. A third blogger noted the importance of YouTube as an information sharing tool, stating, "Armenians are no longer avid readers. If you really want someone to notice something, put it on YouTube. Would you rather watch a 2 minute clip or read a long official blog? Which do you think has more impact?" In Armenia, young internet users are avid YouTube users. -------------- -------------- BLOGGING AS TOOL FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, STABILITY -------------- -------------- ¶5. Constantly returning to their motivation for blogging, the roundtable participants were quick to discuss the important role that new media could play in developing civil society, a more open press, and as a tool of track two diplomatic efforts in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. One blogger addressed the vital role that SMS texts played during March 1-2, 2008 protests that left 10 dead and several prominent political leaders detained, stating, "This is live action stuff. If you trust your source, the truth gets out there and goes viral." Another noted that during the aftermath of March 2008, many Armenians turned to internet sources for information, circumventing blocked sites and the general media blackout. The Radio Liberty blogger also stated, "The internet captures the world's attention. I was in London during March 2008. What shocked other reporters was not that 10 people had died, or that the political system was in crisis, but that YouTube had been blocked by the government. That's what got reported. You can beat a journalist - that's unfortunately still routine news around the world - but you can't detain a blogger without an international outcry." ¶6. The roundtable participants pointed to how the internet provided information when traditional media outlets could not, and stated it also continues to play a role in how the pro-government and opposition parties spread their message in Armenia. Ex-president and head of the opposition Armenian National Congress, Levon Ter-Petrossian, maintains his own social networking site called Hayland. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in turn, places clips of official press conferences on YouTube. Civilitas NGO Director and former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian was also named one of the most active YouTube posters in Armenia by the bloggers. ¶7. Bloggers also noted the potential impact new media could have in developing civil society and spreading information on underserved populations in Armenia that traditional media do not often cover in broadcasts or print press. Roundtable participants discussed the need for awareness of gay rights, minority groups, and environmental activism. One blogger urged, "Get people talking about these things. Have them take photos of pollution caused by industry! Give the Yezidis (ethnic Kurds) a voice! Let's discuss discrimination against sexual minorities, follow trials live as they happen. Regular media is simply not going to do this." ¶8. Most interesting to the bloggers is the ability to use new media as a tool of track two diplomatic efforts in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. One blogger praised the USG-funded Dot.com project, which has linked American, Armenian and Azerbaijani high school students via the internet to discuss a range of issues, including N-K. (Note: We have heard that the recent Turkey-Armenia protocols have introduced an element of friction in that blogging community). Another recounted how she had recently traveled to N-K with a group of Armenian journalists to meet with refugees and train both groups on how to share the refugees' stories, "without drama and without politics" through new media. She added, "This was about their situation in their own voice, not about which side has to make which territorial concessions." Two more bloggers concluded, "New media is great for conflict resolution. It is fast, it's direct. It provides contact. It's relatively anonymous. And in the case of this region, Azerbaijan's blogosphere is quite developed. There is a lot of communication over Facebook between Armenia and Azerbaijan. There may not be a phone line or an open border, but internet has no such limits." -------------- HOW TO HELP BLOGGERS -------------- ¶9. Bloggers ended the meeting by providing specific examples of how the U.S. Embassy could aid in the development of social media in Armenia, emphasizing training and infrastructure support. One blogger, also the leader of a large academic association, suggested that the Embassy consider an education blog, but noted that monitoring the site is "a full time job." Another noted the need for Armenian language fonts for mobile phones, a proxy server to reduce internet costs and increase user security, a mobile interface for journalists, providing "netbooks" for press that wish to broadcast live through internet servers, and training for both traditional media and underrepresented communities. "If people know how to blog and have access to internet, you give them a voice." (Note: Access to internet is improving, but current usage is roughly 10 percent of the population, and internet dial-up is slow, prompting another blogger to add, "If you could fund some Wifi hot spots in Yerevan, this would be of great help. Particularly near my apartment downtown." End note.) ¶10. The bloggers lauded an OSI project called blogroll.ge, a Georgian-language website that provides regular updates on a large number of Georgian blogs, inquiring if a similar project could be implemented in Armenia. The roundtable participants also cautioned against "throwing money" at traditional media sources who are investing in blogs, noting, "we do this for free," "money kills a blog's integrity," and "no one in Armenia reads them." They also stressed the need for local news content, pointing to PanArmenia.net and Tert.am, on-line news agencies, which they criticized as, having "mostly foreign readership and little Armenian content," whereas, opposition A1+ is by far the most popular with extensive Armenian content and video material. (Note: One of our interlocutors acknowledged, however, that most of the 177 subscribers to his blog were Diasporan Armenians.) ¶11. While our interlocutors generally saw little advantage to having an Embassy blog, they were encouraged and supportive of USG participation in the blogosphere. One relayed a story about an ianyan.com blogger who received a posting by former Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza. They noted she was "ecstatic for days that he was reading and responding to her postings." His main point, and that of the others, was that blogging at its best is borderless, person-to-person, and the type of innovative diplomacy that can make an immediate and increasingly wider impact. Pennington