These are hard times in Armenia for the media field. After the velvet revolution,  breaking news began to come from social media and spread quickly, without journalists.

Speaking about how the media is trying to adapt to the new situation, we are talking to documentary filmmaker, Ara Shirinyan.

Several Armenian media outlets have issued a joint statement, saying they cannot work in this new situation, as social media is getting in their way.

In Ara Shirinyan’s opinion, that is a groundless grievance, and that the press in Armenia work with old inertia, repeating the tricks gained during the reign of the previous authorities.

“The new authorities preferred to communicate directly with the public through social media, because we all know that the pipe that supplies the media as a source of information is not so reliable,” he says.

In the library drawer

Not only theoretical but also practical actions are needed to analyze the media field and analyze the enormous amount of information surrounding us.

One such a practical guide for media literacy, MediaNavigator created a group of international experts, lecturers, journalists and editors from seven countries: Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Belarus, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova.

The guide is a collection of tools and exercises that include exercises with different themes, depending on several levels of complexity.

Exercises and teamwork help people to engage in the exciting work of creating, perceiving and classifying information.

Gegham Vardanyan