Local daily Aravot (“Morning”) recently launched a new online version (only in Armenian). The newspaper’s website is currently running on a new schedule, reporting daily news and uploading video content. Visitors to the site can also read the latest issue of the paper’s print version.

 

These developments have also impacted the content and number of pages the newspaper prints: instead of the previous 16 pages, the newspaper will now publish only interviews, analyses and exclusive pieces in its new 8-page format.

 

According to Aravot editor Aram Abrahamyan, the new site was to have been launched at least two years ago, but time was needed to study the “philosophy” of online media.

 

“This is not purely a technical change, but a change tied to the newspaper’s content,” he said.

 

The paper’s online version doesn’t intend to compete with other local news sites: it will more so publish news that is accurate rather than trying to race against the clock. 

 

“I wouldn’t even think of trying to compete with them, because in trying to be the first to report the news, they pay little attention to quality,” said editor of Aravot’s online version, Anna Israelyan. 

 

She hopes that Aravot will be able to differ from other news sites when it comes to quality.

 

“Perhaps there will be fewer news pieces, perhaps they will be slow to be reported, but if there are any quotes on our site, they will be accurate,” she asserted.

 

The new site also features 10 blogs with original content written by Aravot’s reporters and editors covering various topics. 

 

Israelyan finds that the blogs will allow readers to engage in a more direct dialogue with a reporter, to find out the background to the piece in question. 

 

According to media specialist Samvel Martirosyan, the print media has no more room for growth and an online version is an inevitable change for print media. 

 

“Moving online gives a newspaper the opportunity to come to the new generation and procure new readers, which otherwise wouldn’t even pick up the newspaper,” he said.

 

Martirosyan considers it important that Aravot’s online pieces won’t be without a face and a name, unlike many other local news sites that publish articles with an author byline. 

 

“That the articles are signed by reporters is very important. This is generally a positive move in Armenian journalism,” he said. 

 

The media specialist also considers positive Aravot’s decision to offer video content online.

 

“Another traditional newspaper literally became a new type of media where various online technologies are combined. It can be said that another TV channel was born in Armenia,” he said. 

 

Though Martirosyan finds that Aravot will remain one of the best among Armenia’s online media, he believes that the paper has to work at being more accessible to online communities, since its potential is greater than its current position in the world of online media.