Army-related stories, investigations into food industry issues, and domestic political events had the most views on Armenian news sites in 2017. Interestingly, news stories on last year’s main political event, the parliamentary elections, rarely made it in the top five of the news sites we reviewed.

We present data on their most-read stories from Ampop.am, Aravot.am, CivilNet, Hetq, Mediamax, and News.am.

Mediamax

Of the five most read stories on Mediamax, three were on the topic of the Karabakh conflict.

• Girl: Diary of a Volunteer [Army Nurse]
• Intelligence Chief Who Settled the Revenge of Armenak, Robert, Kyaram, and Andranik
• Film The Dreamers Found 48 Years Later
• Vito and Allahverdi: Story of the Heroes of Artsakh and Azerbaijan
• Granny Who Keeps the Only Smoke of the Village That Overlooks Ani Is Waiting

Ampop.am

Ampop.am is different from the other platforms that it presents current and discussed topics in combination with visualization, infographics, and multimedia tools. The site’s audience, alongside domestic issues, was interested also in one of the international economic trends of the year, bitcoin.

• Inclusive Education in Armenia’s Schools
• National Assembly Elections 2018: What, Why, and How?
• Tourism in Armenia’s Economy
• Migration in Armenia: Continuous Emigration — On the Same Grounds
• Explain What Bitcoin Is: Say, I’m 5 Years Old

Hetq.am

In 2017, Hetq published investigations into the quality of food sold in the Armenian market, with the two of these stories being among the top five most-read stories. Another two of the top five are also investigative pieces.

• Caveat Emptor: Hetq Tests 6 Bottled Water Brands, Some Targeted to Children; Only 2 Meet Health Standards
• The Owners of Armenia’s Gold: Straddling Three Offshore Zones and Russia
• Ice Cream with Vegetable Oil: Only 3 Out of 8 Meet Standards
• Hidden Agenda? Daughter and Son-In-Law of Gyumri Mayor Purchase Company in Prague
• Levon, Abandoned at Birth Because of a Congenital Disorder, Searched for his Parents his Whole Life: 28 Year Later, After Finding Them, They Didn’t Accept Him

CivilNet.am

Stories on domestic politics and phenomena dominate CivilNet’s top five.

• Primary and Kindergarten School Principals Collect Votes for HHK
• Dark Day for the Armenian Gene
• Armenian Glendale: Part 1
• Continuing April: Hovhannes Poghosyan
• The Subtext of Serzh Sargsyan’s 4117 Words

News.am

News.am readers took a greater interest in the military topic the Karabakh conflict.

• Artsakh MOD: Head of intelligence, commander among losses sustained by Azerbaijan
• In memory of Armenian soldiers who fell in unfinished war (IV)
• Identity of Three Youth Killed in Yerevan Is Known: Two Were Brothers (Photo)
• Artsakh MOD publishes Azeri’s phone call recording: What happened in April is resuming today
• Azerbaijan makes diversionary infiltration attempt, one Azeri serviceman captured

Aravot.am

The top five most-read stories on Aravot.am are as follows:

• Commander who cries on the birth of the killed soldier: “I’m going to name my son Sevak”
• “If there is a hair missing on Shahen’s head, I will become a prisoner sentenced to death”: Tense situation outside government building
• Police officers spat on parents of killed soldiers
• “Gor wasn’t a monster; they specially made him out to be”
• Boy of record weight born in Gyumri maternity hospital (Photo series)

Some of our colleagues provided also the analytical data from their YouTube accounts.

Suren Sargsyan’s interviews on Aravot’s YouTube channel received many views.

• Money-lenders dispossessed Svo Raf’s 80-year-old sister from her home: Interview with Suren Sargsyan
• Incident: They wanted money from General Manvel and the response they received
• Seyran Saroyan: “There is nothing left; the people have all pawned it”
• The HHK-Tsarukyan struggle is just beginning: Suren Sargsyan reflects
• “Both Samvel Babayan and Vazgen Sargsyan deceived [us]”

In the top five stories preferred by CivilNet’s audience, coverage of the 2016 April War had the most views.

• April 2016: Remembering the Four-Day War
• Veteran: The Taxi Driver With No Legs
• Uninvited Guests: At the Home of the Bread-Bringer
• Preserving the Old and Creating the New: Hayk Bianjyan
• Image of Armenians in Turkey

The preferences on Hetq’s YouTube channel were different: social and human interest stories. Watched the most was the interview with the “bread bringer,” Artur Sargsyan.

• Interview with Artur Sargsyan
• Armenia’s Most Expensive Homes
• Yerevan’s Shoe Shiner
• Artsakh Defense Army’s Snipers Disabled Two of the Opponent’s Cameras
• The 15-Year-Old Businessman

Media.am selected the media outlets, taking into account the sites’ impact, audience, and content. This year, because of technical issues, neither Azatutyun.am nor Tert.am provided us with data. We thank our colleagues for providing the list of their most-read stories.

Round-ups of past years’ top stories can be found here:

Top 5 Most Read Articles of 2014 According to 5 Armenian News Sites
Top 5 Most Read Stories of 2015, According to 7 Armenian News Sites
The four-day war and the Daredevils of Sassoun among the most read in 2016

Gagik Aghbalyan