Caucasus: Public Media
The American University’s School of Communication Center for Social Media has recently published an article on the potential to counter a constrained and often politicized or controlled media in the South Caucasus and especially to promote peace-building in the war torn region. Blogs are included as one of five key areas that need to be developed in order to do so and one of my blogs is listed as an example.
How can public media develop in regions where governments are hostile to press freedoms? A look at emerging projects in the South Caucasus—a region of independent former Soviet countries linked both geographically and historically—offers some clues.
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In a region where authoritarian governments run commercial media, the presence of public media looks at first glance simply nonexistent. But it’s in circumstances like these that independent and citizen-driven media for public knowledge and action are the most important. Here, the stakes are life and death and the need for public action to counter government or private interests is more urgent than ever.
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Who then, are the public media makers in the South Caucasus? Here are a few game changers:
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4. Blogs
Bloggers in the South Caucasus are multiplying overnight. As Internet access becomes more common and the first post-Soviet generation grow older, blogs in this region flourish. Bloggers such as Onnik Krikorian from Armenia, Anna Dolidze from Georgia and Emin Huseynzade from Azerbaijan all blog in English, and provide inspiration to many South Caucasian citizens searching for alternative sources of media.
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Now more than ever, opportunities for dialogue and public participation are springing up through media outlets. With more powerful technologies come stronger connections. As Internet becomes more affordable and available, will digital media play a peacemaking or inflammatory role across lines that are seldom crossed? What will be the turning point? And most importantly, what are the areas of interest that will bring Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Abkhaz, South Ossetians and all the other ethnicities within this geographic region together to take advantage of this growing phenomena? The answers remain to be seen.
- Published:
- 11.17.08 / 9pm by Onnik
- Category:
- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Blogs, Censorship, Democracy, Freedom of Speech, Georgia, Media, Nagorno Karabakh, News Briefs, Opinion, Society
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