Internews Monthly Bulletin
June 2004

The Mineral Water Tragedy
And other mysteries revealed by Aniv Investigation

Last summer, when twelve-year-old Margarita bought a bottle of
mineral water she couldn’t even imagine she would lose her eyesight
as a result. The glass bottle exploded and damaged her eye when she
put the bag of groceries down to catch her breath on her way to the
apartment where she lived. Her family tried to file a lawsuit against
the mineral water company and get reimbursement in order to regain
Margarita’s eyesight but failed…

This is just one of the stories investigated by Internews Armenia
radio production group and broadcast in the framework of the new
project Aniv Radio Investigation at Yerevan-based Ardzagank and
Public Radio stations, as well as at Shant in Gyumri and Interkap in
Vanadzor. The program on the mineral water tragedy was on the air
this week, evoking lots of feedback from listeners in three cities.
As told by Robert Balayan, a radio producer from Interkap, Vanadzor:
`We had lots of phone calls from our audience. They insisted that the
problems of our city should be covered as well.’

Aniv Investigation is a two-part program with an average running time
of 30 minutes. As stated by the Internews Armenia production manager
Harutyun Mansuryan, `While we produced Aniv Talk Show and Aniv Radio
Hour, we constantly came across striking and impressive facts that we
couldn’t explore to the end because the program format didn’t allow
us. We realized we had enough materials to investigate, to launch a
new program and to grab listeners’ attention. Plus, we already had
the television investigative program and we thought: why not make a
radio show?’

Prepared by the Internews team and freelancers, Aniv Investigation
supposes comprehensive and thorough research of the topic. The
producers and reporters search and reveal hidden facts and previously
unknown details in their attempts to get the truth. Other topics
covered by Aniv Investigation include: the safety of dairy products
in Armenia, the issue of adoption, the suicide of a prisoner accused
of the assassinations in the parliament in October, 1999.

The audio files of the radio investigation are available at the
Internews Armenia web site: