Reporting per la stampa internazionale Mentre armeno, parte I – Rapporto EVN

Extremely important article that touched upon many of the issues discussed in the sub:

>The masochistic practice of reading these comments reminds me of a time when a colleague said, before my second assignment covering the war in Ukraine, “Good for you that you’re going, it will ‘de-Armenize’ you a bit.” That day, I realized that no matter how professional I am, my ethnicity will always loom over me like the sword of Damoclès.

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>We are constantly defined by our ethnicity while our analyses are discredited. One French-Armenian journalist from France Télevisions, who prefers to remain anonymous tells me, “I choose not to cover any topic related to Armenia and never post anything about Armenia on social media.” When asked if this is a form of self-censorship, they admit it is, stemming from fear of being labeled uncredible or accused of activism. “However, when someone needs a contact for Manouchian’s pantheonization or the email of a member of the Aznavour family, then being Armenian suddenly becomes convenient.”

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>From the glaring errors we find in hastily written articles to hearing “wow, great shot” while filming a caravan of refugees escaping hell, there’s ample evidence to make you lose hope in humanity. A striking example was shared with me by an All for Armenia volunteer: a Quebecois camera crew was filming local teenagers as they prepared sandwiches for the refugees in tents. Many of them had started the previous evening and worked throughout the night. When they politely asked the cameraman to stop, he responded, irritated: “Well, we’re also tired!”

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>The same anonymous France Télevisions journalist tells me, “One day, I was alerting an editor-in-chief about border clashes. After I insisted a second time, he replied: ‘Ok, just to please you, we’ll do a thirty second segment.’”

>This dismissive response to the journalist’s professionalism shows the lack of interest editorial offices show towards the region. When they shared the Lemkin Institute’s genocide warning for Karabakh, they were simply told, “Here comes the Armenian lobby again.”

>“Why are we subjected to this attitude when other communities are taken seriously? I haven’t heard any of my coworkers make jokes to journalists linked to the Israel-Palestine conflict, nor does anyone comment if a coworker displays a Ukrainian flag on their social media as a sign of support.”