Internews
June 23 2004

Internews Armenia Produces a Radio Show to Investigate Citizen
Concerns

(June 23, 2004) Twelve-year old Margarita did not imagine she could
lose her eyesight when she bought a bottle of mineral water last
summer, but when the bottle exploded on her way home her eyes were
permanently damaged. Her family was not compensated when they filed a
lawsuit against the mineral water company, but when their story
became the subject of a radio story on Internews Armenia’s new
program `Aniv Radio Investigation,’ radio stations that aired the
program received a flood of feedback from listeners.

Radio producer Robert Balayan from station Interkap, Vanadzor said,
`We had lots of phone calls from our audience. They insisted that the
problems of our city should be covered as well.’

`Aniv Investigation’ was inspired by Internews Armenia production
manager Harutyun Mansuryan’s desire to expand the format of two other
popular shows, `Aniv Talk Show’ and `Aniv Radio Hour.’ `We constantly
came across striking and impressive stories that we couldn’t explore
to the end because the program format didn’t allow us.’

`Aniv Investigation’ is produced by the Internews team and
freelancers. Other topics have included the safety of dairy products
in Armenia, the issue of adoption, and the suicide of a prisoner
accused of the October 1999 assassinations in the parliament.

Internews Armenia is funded by grants from the United States Agency
for International Development.