Editor-in-chief of the Armenia TV news agency Gnel Nalbandyan finds working with the audience to be hard work, especially in the case of large, reputable and recognizable media.

He emphasizes the importance of making the passive consumer of news an active audience. And he points out that when the mass media audience reaches the critical stage, it begins to play a role of regression.

“To have a competent audience you need to prepare useful news in a competent manner. That is, try to make sure most of the news is not media clutter or media trash,” said Gnel Nalbandyan.

This is how he describes a media literate person. “They know what they want from the world and what they can give the world, and they read books and news for that purpose.”

In the drawer

Media Literacy Week is underway in Armenia. The Media Initiative Center has published five brochures to help teachers. What the news is, how to analyze information, identify and verify false information, what journalistic ethics is.

These media auxiliary materials are available in print and electronic versions.

Gegham Vardanyan