The Daily Star, Lebanon
Jan 5 2012
Armenian-language reporting gains steam
January 05, 2012 02:52 AM
By Van Meguerditchian, The Daily Star
BEIRUT: At 4:30 p.m. each day, many Lebanese Armenians switch their
televisions to FutureNews or OTV to watch coverage of local, regional
and international news in Armenian.
While community members can choose from among dozens of
Arabic-language television stations, many viewres told The Daily Star
that they miss having a television channel dedicated to broadcasting
Armenian-language programs.
Paradise station, a local radio station that was based in Burj
Hammoud, established the Armenian Television Network during the Civil
War, but the station stopped broadcasting after its administration
failed to obtain a proper license in the mid-1990s.
While it’s not a substitute, the nearly half-hour daily newscasts
every afternoon provide viewers the opportunity to hear all the news,
including local Lebanese affairs, in Armenian.
Lorig Saboundjian, a reporter and anchor at OTV, told The Daily Star
that the daily newscasts signalled that local media outlets were
beginning to realizr the value and market for broadcasting news in
Armenian.
`After years of being off television screens … people started to
realize that, just like Arabic, Armenian is also an important language
that needs to be used on TV,’ Saboundjian said.
According to Saboundjian, the Armenian news team at OTV needs to bring
on more Armenian-language reporters because there are more events to
be covered every day.
`Not only should the team become bigger, I believe the daily 20-minute
broadcast is regularly failing to cover all important issues,’ she
said, lamenting a lack of opportunities to study journalism in
Armenian.
Saboundjian said that she would have studied journalism in Armenian if
it had been available at the university she attended.
`Although I wanted to study Armenian journalism, the major wasn’t
available anywhere in Lebanon,’ said Saboundjian, who studied Social
Work at Haigazian University instead.
`This is the main reason why there is a shortage in Armenian
[-language] media personnel today and most probably this is one of the
obstacles to lauching an Armenian [-language] TV channel,’ Saboundjian
added.
`Whoever studies journalism in English, Arabic or French … they will
probably prefer to work in English, Arabic or a French media outlet.’
Saboundjian, 35, first started her career in journalism as a part-time
presenter for Beirut-based Radio Van.
`All I did back then was simply present news after it was prepared by
the editor,’ she said.
Before joining OTV in 2009, Saboundjian held a number of different positions.
`In 2004, I was offered a job by an Armenia-based TV station that
wanted to open an office in Beirut,’ she said. `As a correspondent for
the YergirMedia, I prepared all Lebanon-related documentaries and news
broadcasts and sent them to Armenia.’
A rash of security incidents in Lebanon after 2004 helped Saboundjian
further establish herself in the profession. `I was the first
journalist to send video coverage of [former Prime Minister Rafik]
Hariri’s assassination in 2005 to the Armenian capital of Yerevan,’
Saboundjian said.
`My work at YergirMedia was a great experience because sending
political news from Lebanon to Armenia required a great deal of work
and extra effort,’ she said, noting how she needed to explain to
Armenian viewers in Armenia the sometimes-convoluted background of
Lebanese politics.
It works the other way as well.
`Although we have a team of Armenian journalists at OTV … we
constantly need to explain to non-Armenians at the studio about
specific news and its importance during a certain news broadcast,’ she
said.
`While thousands of Lebanese Armenians held a demonstration in
Beirut’s Martyrs Square against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s visit, Prime Minister Saad Hariri was giving a speech in
Tripoli,’ said Saboundjian, providing one example.
`The decision about which event to broadcast was influenced by the
Armenian desk, which explained to the administration the importance of
the demonstration,’ she added.
Saboundjian’s colleague at Future News, Shiraz Djeredjian, said an
interest in politics led him to journalism.
A graduate of Biology from the American University of Beirut,
Djeredjian, 25, said that his ability to speak Armenian helped launch
his career.
`I was offered a reporter’s job at Future News four years ago … and
I had to go through a four-month journalism training led by a group of
journalists at the studio,’ said Djeredjian.
While Saboundjian cited a lack of academic opportunities, Djeredjian
said that another burden hindering the expansion of Armenian-language
journalism is the political divide among Lebanese Armenians.
`Although Future News and OTV are the only channels that currently
have daily Armenian news broadcasts, Lebanese Armenians prefer one of
them over the other based on their political affiliations,’ said
Djeredjian.
Future News is affiliated with the Future Movement while OTV is
connected to Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement.
`The political rivalry between the two TV channels is negative … it
has led most Armenian politicians and figures to boycott one of the
two stations, refusing to go on Future News or OTV,’ he said.
Shiraz, who presents the daily Armenian broadcast on Future News said
that he and four other reporters staff the Armenian desk, producing
local Lebanese news, Armenian news and international news.
When asked what it takes to be a competent journalist in the Armenian
language, Djeredjian said that both strong journalism skills and a
sound knowledge of Armenian are equally important. `It’s not enough to
be a good journalist … one needs to have an advanced knowledge of
Armenian as well.’
Djeredjian said he was hopeful that Armenian-language journalism in
Lebanon would move forward and expand because of the experience many
Armenian-language journalists have gained in newspapers and other
media outlets.
Besides being a full-time reporter at Future News, Djeredjian presents
morning news on the Armenian Radio Sevan station.
Djeredjian also appears live on two Armenian talk shows on the
Yerevan-based ShantTV that connect Beirut via satellite broadcast with
studios in Yerevan, Moscow and Los Angeles.
While politics may influence which newscast viewers watch, many in the
Lebanese Armenian community emphasize the importance of broadcasting
in Armenian.
`I don’t mind which channel I’m watching … watching news in Armenian
even once a day is a great thing,’ Nareg Hejinian told The Daily Star.
Hejinian expressed dismay at not having a separate Lebanese Armenian
television channel that broadcasts in Armenian. `We should have had it
by now … not having it is a big mistake,’ said Hejinian.
Another viewer agreed, saying that the news broadcasts that are
currently offered are too brief.
`Of course it is important to watch Armenian news and watch it every
day … but it needs to be longer and provide more details,’ commented
Armen Seferian, as he waited for the broadcast to begin.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily
Star on January 05, 2012, on page 3.