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R 101323Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9720
INFO AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 
AMEMBASSY TBILISI 
AMEMBASSY BAKU 
AMEMBASSY ANKARA 
AMCONSUL ISTANBUL

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000790 
 
 
EUR/PPD-RASTEVENS-KLITZ, EUR/CACEN-JFARRELLY 
 
E.O. 12958; N/A 
TAGS: OPRC AM KMDR KPAO PGOV PHUM PREL
SUBJECT:  ARMENIAN BLOGGERS AIM TO DIVERSIFY MEDIA, BOLSTER CIVIL 
SOCIETY AND SUPPORT TRACK TWO DIPLOMACY 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  Armenians who engage in serious discussions in the blogosphere 
are still a rather elite, western-oriented group, although many 
ordinary Armenians use Russian-language social networking and other 
sites which can include a less informed debate of the issues. 
Internet penetration is still rather low, (around 10-12 percent, but 
access via mobile phones is growing quickly).  At an Embassy 
roundtable, bloggers noted the important role that new media plays 
in an open press, civil society development, and as a tool of track 
two diplomatic efforts in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) 
conflict.  They welcomed USG participation in online debates and 
suggested ways we could aid in the development of social media in 
Armenia, emphasizing the need for training and infrastructure 
support.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
THE ELITE ARE BLOGGING, ARE THE MASSES LISTENING? 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶2.  On November 4, the Public Affairs Section held a roundtable 
discussion with some of Armenia's most active bloggers to discuss 
social and new media trends in the country.  Participants discussed 
current blogging demographics in Armenia, noting that the majority 
of Armenians both actively contributing to blogs and passively 
reading them are either Diaspora or Armenia's "elite few" who have 
access to personal internet at home and work.  Another blogger 
concurred, stating, "There are bloggers out there writing in Russian 
and Armenian, but Armenian text for blogging is only 68 percent 
developed.  Any why would you follow what is being written in 
Russian?  It's not constructive and very nationalistic.  The elite 
that are really using blogging are the western-minded, English 
speaking, upper class.  They are open to change, open to the world. 
But this is such a small fraction of the population." 
 
¶3.  Note:  All of the bloggers at the roundtable fit this "elite" 
description.  One grew up in Britain, another is a U.S. Government 
program alumna whose father is a deputy minister.  A third blogger 
did post graduate-level research at Harvard, and another is a 
reporter who travels internationally for the USG-supported Radio 
Liberty.  While acknowledging the high amount of activity in the 
Russian blogosphere, all expressed disdain for the high level of 
vitriol and low level of intellectual discourse in Russian-language 
new media. They were especially vehement on that point when 
discussing a popular Russian version of Facebook called 
Odnoklassniki, which they urged the Embassy to avoid. Despite one 
blogger noting, "This is not yet for the masses," all believe 
internet capabilities to be rapidly increasing in the country and 
interest in blogs to be growing. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
ACCESSIBLE TECHNOLOGY WILL INCREASE NEW MEDIA USAGE 
-S&f2Q& operating in Armenia, currently 
has 600,000 Armenians (out of a total population of just 3 million) 
subscribing to internet-enabled phones (mostly, he believed, to 
access Odnoklassniki).  Another blogger noted, "Armenians love their 
phones.  They will spend money on a fancy phone when they have no 
money to eat.  People place phones on cafe tables, not because they 
are expecting a call, but because they want to be seen.  You want 
someone to hear your message?  Put it on a phone."  While they 
indicated that Twitter has yet to catch on in Armenia, they did note 
that not only are tweets inexpensive - about five cents per tweet - 
but Short Message Service (SMS) texts are already a primary means of 
communication on basic cell phones.  A third blogger noted the 
importance of YouTube as an information sharing tool, stating, 
"Armenians are no longer avid readers.  If you really want someone 
to notice something, put it on YouTube.  Would you rather watch a 2 
minute clip or read a long official blog?  Which do you think has 
more impact?"  In Armenia, young internet users are avid YouTube 
users. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
BLOGGING AS TOOL FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, STABILITY 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶5.  Constantly returning to their motivation for blogging, the 
roundtable participants were quick to discuss the important role 
that new media could play in developing civil society, a more open 
press, and as a tool of track two diplomatic efforts in resolving 
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.  One blogger addressed the vital role 
that SMS texts played during March 1-2, 2008 protests that left 10 
dead and several prominent political leaders detained, stating, 
"This is live action stuff.  If you trust your source, the truth 
gets out there and goes viral."  Another noted that during the 
aftermath of March 2008, many Armenians turned to internet sources 
for information, circumventing blocked sites and the general media 
blackout.  The Radio Liberty blogger also stated, "The internet 
captures the world's attention.  I was in London during March 2008. 
What shocked other reporters was not that 10 people had died, or 
that the political system was in crisis, but that YouTube had been 
blocked by the government.  That's what got reported.  You can beat 
a journalist - that's unfortunately still routine news around the 
world - but you can't detain a blogger without an international 
outcry." 
 
¶6.  The roundtable participants pointed to how the internet provided 
information when traditional media outlets could not, and stated it 
also continues to play a role in how the pro-government and 
opposition parties spread their message in Armenia.  Ex-president 
and head of the opposition Armenian National Congress, Levon 
Ter-Petrossian, maintains his own social networking site called 
Hayland.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in turn, places clips of 
official press conferences on YouTube.  Civilitas NGO Director and 
former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian was also named one of the 
most active YouTube posters in Armenia by the bloggers. 
 
¶7.  Bloggers also noted the potential impact new media could have in 
developing civil society and spreading information on underserved 
populations in Armenia that traditional media do not often cover in 
broadcasts or print press.  Roundtable participants discussed the 
need for awareness of gay rights, minority groups, and environmental 
activism.  One blogger urged, "Get people talking about these 
things.  Have them take photos of pollution caused by industry! 
Give the Yezidis (ethnic Kurds) a voice!  Let's discuss 
discrimination against sexual minorities, follow trials live as they 
happen.  Regular media is simply not going to do this." 
 
¶8.  Most interesting to the bloggers is the ability to use new media 
as a tool of track two diplomatic efforts in resolving the 
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.  One blogger praised the USG-funded 
Dot.com project, which has linked American, Armenian and Azerbaijani 
high school students via the internet to discuss a range of issues, 
including N-K.  (Note: We have heard that the recent Turkey-Armenia 
protocols have introduced an element of friction in that blogging 
community).  Another recounted how she had recently traveled to N-K 
with a group of Armenian journalists to meet with refugees and train 
both groups on how to share the refugees' stories, "without drama 
and without politics" through new media. She added, "This was about 
their situation in their own voice, not about which side has to make 
which territorial concessions."  Two more bloggers concluded, "New 
media is great for conflict resolution.  It is fast, it's direct. 
It provides contact.  It's relatively anonymous.  And in the case of 
this region, Azerbaijan's blogosphere is quite developed.  There is 
a lot of communication over Facebook between Armenia and Azerbaijan. 
 There may not be a phone line or an open border, but internet has 
no such limits." 
 
--------------------- 
HOW TO HELP BLOGGERS 
--------------------- 
 
¶9.  Bloggers ended the meeting by providing specific examples of how 
the U.S. Embassy could aid in the development of social media in 
Armenia, emphasizing training and infrastructure support.  One 
blogger, also the leader of a large academic association, suggested 
that the Embassy consider an education blog, but noted that 
monitoring the site is "a full time job."  Another noted the need 
for Armenian language fonts for mobile phones, a proxy server to 
reduce internet costs and increase user security, a mobile interface 
for journalists, providing "netbooks" for press that wish to 
broadcast live through internet servers, and training for both 
traditional media and underrepresented communities.  "If people know 
how to blog and have access to internet, you give them a voice." 
(Note:  Access to internet is improving, but current usage is 
roughly 10 percent of the population, and internet dial-up is slow, 
prompting another blogger to add, "If you could fund some Wifi hot 
spots in Yerevan, this would be of great help.  Particularly near my 
apartment downtown."  End note.) 
 
¶10.  The bloggers lauded an OSI project called blogroll.ge, a 
Georgian-language website that provides regular updates on a large 
number of Georgian blogs, inquiring if a similar project could be 
implemented in Armenia.  The roundtable participants also cautioned 
against "throwing money" at traditional media sources who are 
investing in blogs, noting, "we do this for free," "money kills a 
blog's integrity," and "no one in Armenia reads them."  They also 
stressed the need for local news content, pointing to PanArmenia.net 
and Tert.am, on-line news agencies, which they criticized as, having 
"mostly foreign readership and little Armenian content," whereas, 
opposition A1+ is by far the most popular with extensive Armenian 
content and video material. (Note: One of our interlocutors 
acknowledged, however, that most of the 177 subscribers to his blog 
were Diasporan Armenians.) 
 
¶11.  While our interlocutors generally saw little advantage to 
having an Embassy blog, they were encouraged and supportive of USG 
participation in the blogosphere.  One relayed a story about an 
ianyan.com blogger who received a posting by former Minsk Group 
Co-Chair Matthew Bryza.  They noted she was "ecstatic for days that 
he was reading and responding to her postings."  His main point, and 
that of the others, was that blogging at its best is borderless, 
person-to-person, and the type of innovative diplomacy that can make 
an immediate and increasingly wider impact. 
 
Pennington