IN ARMENIA, BLOGS STEP IN AS NEWS SOURCE
Cyndy Aleo-Carreira
Profy
pply-news/
March 10 2008
On 3 March, the Armenian government declared a 20-day state of
emergency after confrontations between the former president and
security due to tensions after the contested elections that took place
on 19 February. As part of the state of emergency, the government
declared that the only news that can be published by the media outlets
is news that comes directly from the government.
As Global Voices notes, all television stations in Armenia are either
state-owned or owned by businesses with close ties to the government,
and any other news agencies who didn’t comply with the order have
been all but silenced. Even Radio Free Europe has been removed from
the airwaves.
Google Blogoscoped has a report that YouTube has also been blocked,
preventing Armenian citizens from getting news there. The YouTube
blockage is undoubtedly to prevent Armenian citizens from viewing the
official channel of A1plus news, the pro-opposition station that was
taken off the air in 2002.
The Armenian government has apparently underestimated the power of
bloggers, however. Armenian bloggers, both inside and outside the
Armenian borders, have continued to post and discuss the news, linking
those who have been cut off from any non-government news source to
alternate sources of information. Both hosted and independent blogs
are still able to post articles, and as of yet, no hosted blog services
have been blocked.
While many of us take the ability to blog for granted, for many it
has become the only way to get more than one version of important
news events. Citizen journalism may be a luxury here in the U.S.,
but for many parts of the world, it’s a necessity.