{"id":59074,"date":"2026-06-05T06:12:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T06:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/?p=59074"},"modified":"2026-06-09T12:55:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T12:55:56","slug":"livestreaming-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/livestreaming-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Livestreaming democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arevik Sahakyan turned a small outlet into one of Armenia\u2019s most trusted independent news platforms and a watchdog of democracy<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were broadcasting everything,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Arevik Sahakyan recalls.\u00a0\u201cThere were no pauses or interruptions. We were showing exactly what was going on.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It was 2018, and the streets of Yerevan were filled with protesters. As police moved in to disperse the crowds, Arevik\u2019s team at Factor TV continued filming. Their filming was handheld, at times unstable and often chaotic. There was no studio distance or no editorial buffer. What appeared on screen was what was happening.<\/p>\n

At one point, protesters and journalists were pushed back. It was, she recalls, the kind of moment when the instinct to withdraw is immediate, but Factor TV stayed and continued filming.<\/p>\n

For many viewers, this was their first sustained encounter with Factor TV, as a media presence that did not look away.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Factor TV office<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

\u2018What is this Factor?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

By then, Arevik had already spent more than two decades in Armenian journalism. She had entered the profession in the mid-1990s, at a moment she describes as unusually open and loosely regulated, when many independent voices emerged.<\/p>\n

That openness narrowed after the assassination of Armenia\u2019s prime minister and parliamentary speaker in 1999, an event that marked a turning point not only in politics but in the overall media environment.<\/p>\n

The shift was gradual enough to be absorbed. Television channels continued to broadcast, newspapers continued to publish, but the space for genuine independence contracted. As Arevik tells it, journalists did not need formal instructions to understand the limits; they learned to recognise them.<\/p>\n

By the mid-2010s, however, that system had begun to loosen, less because of political reform than because of technological change. Digital platforms made control harder to sustain, and new outlets began to emerge outside the traditional structures. It was in that context that Factor TV was founded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it would be a niche outlet,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says, recalling the early discussions, when their idea was to create a platform that would focus on civil society, giving visibility to voices that rarely appeared in mainstream coverage.<\/p>\n

That expectation did not last. The turning point came with an investigation into officials and their relatives who had avoided military service through corruption.\u00a0\u201cIt exploded,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>she says. The story moved rapidly \u2013 across media, into parliament, and into public debate \u2013 and remained there long enough to force a response. People started asking about Factor.<\/p>\n

From the outset, Arevik defined the newsroom in relatively strict terms.\u00a0\u201cWe consider ourselves watchdogs of democracy,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says.<\/p>\n

This stance defines the editorial choices that follow from it: a refusal to prioritise entertainment, an avoidance of click-driven content, and a consistent focus on investigations, human rights reporting and institutional accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you lose trust, you lose everything,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says. In a media environment where many outlets are openly aligned with political or business interests, that trust became a powerful asset.<\/p>\n

Factor TV now reaches tens of millions of viewers across digital platforms, making it one of the most widely followed independent outlets in Armenia. Its investigations have led to criminal inquiries, parliamentary scrutiny and responses from state institutions on issues ranging from corruption and monopolies to environmental violations.<\/p>\n

For Arevik, however, these outcomes are less a measure of success than an indication that journalism can still exert pressure within the system.\u00a0\u201cWhen your work leads to consequences,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says,\u00a0\u201cyou understand why you are doing this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Freedom under pressure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, Factor TV operates in an increasingly polarised environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHate speech against journalists is very high,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0says Arevik, noting that it comes not only from opposition actors but also from those in power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most worrying part,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she adds,\u00a0\u201cwhen those who should protect democratic standards contribute to this environment.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Factor TV premises<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

The result is a landscape in which independence is not only difficult to maintain but also constantly contested.\u00a0\u201cIf you criticise one side, you are attacked. If you criticise the other, you are attacked again.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The signals, as she describes them, are often indirect but widely understood. She recalls an incident in parliament when a senior official struck a Factor TV journalist\u2019s microphone \u2013 an act that, while minor in itself, carried a broader meaning in the absence of any formal condemnation. Such gestures accumulate, shaping expectations about what is acceptable and what is not.<\/p>\n

The constraints are not only political. They are also financial. Armenia\u2019s media market remains limited, and the relationship between business and politics complicates the possibility of sustainable, independent funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout international support, it is very difficult to remain independent,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says.<\/p>\n

The fragility of that model became clear when major funding sources withdrew. The sudden cessation of USAID support forced Factor TV to reduce staff, cut programming, and implement cost-saving measures. The European Endowment for Democracy\u2019s sustained multi-year support allowed the newsroom to maintain its core activities at a moment when contraction would otherwise have been unavoidable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of support is essential if independent media are to operate at all in this environment,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says.<\/p>\n

The pressures facing the newsroom are not static. In recent months, Arevik describes encountering a more disorienting development: AI content mimicking Factor TV itself \u2013 its visual identity, tone, even formatting \u2013 circulating online with entirely different narratives attached.\u00a0\u201cThey are trying to duplicate us,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says.<\/p>\n

In one instance, actors linked to pro-Russian networks created what she describes as a kind of \u201cavatar\u201d of the outlet, using its style to lend credibility to false or misleading claims. The effect is less immediately visible than traditional disinformation; it works by borrowing trust rather than attacking it directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it is difficult even for us to understand what is real,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says.<\/p>\n

The response, as she sees it, is less about a single adjustment than about continuous adaptation.\u00a0\u201cYou have to run all the time, just to stay in your place.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Things can change quickly<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Arevik, the question of independent media is inseparable from the question of democracy.\u00a0\u201cDemocracy cannot survive without independent media,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s impossible.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Asked who she considers a hero, she does not turn to public figures. \u00a0\u201cFor me, a hero is an ordinary person doing their job with integrity. A journalist who works honestly, who respects the profession, who is devoted \u2013 that is a hero.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cJournalists are under pressure in Armenia,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says.\u00a0\u201cSalaries are low. The environment is very stressful.\u201d <\/em>That they continue, she suggests, is in itself significant.<\/p>\n

What concerns her today is not only the domestic environment but the degree to which its fragility is understood elsewhere.\u00a0\u201cSometimes I feel that our partners in the West underestimate how fragile this is,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says,\u00a0\u201chow quickly things can change.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Support for independent media, in that sense, is not simply a technical matter. It is a political decision about what kinds of institutions are allowed to endure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want democracy to survive, you have to support those who are protecting it,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says. The alternative is not difficult to imagine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf independent media disappear, everything else becomes much easier to control. You cannot build democracy without independent journalism. And you cannot expect media to survive on its own,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0she says.<\/p>\n

Factor TV\u00a0<\/em>received support from the\u00a0European Endowment for Democracy<\/a>\u00a0(EED), an independent, grant-making organisation, established in 2013 by the European Union and EU member states as an autonomous International Trust Fund to foster democracy in the European Neighbourhood, the Western Balkans, Turkey and beyond.<\/em><\/p>\n

EED supports civil society organisations, pro-democracy movements, civic and political activists, and independent media platforms and journalists working towards a pluralistic, democratic political system.<\/em><\/p>\n

The EED was established by the EU as an independent, complementary mechanism to provide fast and flexible technical and financial support to democratisation and human rights promotion in the European Neighbourhood.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Livestreaming democracy<\/a> appeared first on EU NEIGHBOURS east<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arevik Sahakyan turned a small outlet into one of Armenia\u2019s most trusted independent news platforms and a watchdog of democracy \u201cWe were broadcasting everything,\u201d Arevik Sahakyan recalls. \u201cThere were no pauses or interruptions. We were showing exactly what was going on.\u201d It was 2018, and the streets of Yerevan were filled with protesters. As police moved in to disperse the crowds, Arevik\u2019s team at Factor TV continued filming. Their filming was handheld, at times unstable and often chaotic. There was no studio distance or no editorial buffer. What appeared on screen was what was happening. At one point, protesters and journalists were<\/p>\n

The post Livestreaming democracy<\/a> appeared first on EU NEIGHBOURS east<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":59075,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-59074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-story"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59084,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59074\/revisions\/59084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59074"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=59074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}