Overcoming Negative Stereotypes in the South Caucasus

Overcoming negative stereotypes in the South Caucasus is an online cross-border media project supported by the British Embassy Yerevan. It aims to promote positive examples of ethnic groups coexisting peacefully in a volatile region driven with frozen conflicts and attempts to provide an alternative to what is usually a partisan local media that not only self-censors, but also spreads misinformation and negative propaganda.

This project was created by Onnik Krikorian, a Yerevan-based journalist, photojournalist and blogger from the UK.

- What was the change you anticipated to bring?

O.K. - The project had many objectives, but the two main ones were to show that cross-border cooperation in the area of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations can occur quite openly and secondly to draw attention to a reality that is seldom reported on in Armenia and Azerbaijan. That is, while a partisan and often local media usually perpetuates the idea of 'ethnic incompatibility', nothing could be further from the truth.

In Georgia, for example, ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis not only live side by side together in Tbilisi, the capital, but also co-inhabit the same villages without any problems. Although not many, there are also some cases of inter-marriage. We also wanted to show how new methods of communication such as blog posts, audio podcasts and mobile phones could be used by traditional journalists, especially in the regions of countries such as those in the South Caucasus.
 
- How successful for you was the project?

O.K. - The project was incredibly successful and not least in working with two very promising young journalists with new media skills from Azerbaijan as well as one of Georgia's most well-known bloggers. Not only were materials made available on blogs they were also taken up by other media and also shared and commented on by both Armenians and Azerbaijanis on social networking sites such as Facebook.

Other bloggers  - Armenian and Azerbaijani alike - also wrote posts based on the work, but what was less visible was the continuing connections made between young Armenians and Azerbaijanis via Facebook as a result. It also resulted in some key presentations made on the project at conferences in Macedonia, Georgia and Chile. Next month I'll also be discussing it at a joint US Institute of Peace and George Washington University event in Washington DC.

- What were the obstacles you faced?

O.K. - Aside from some problems with one Georgian mobile phone operator and some dodgy roads, there were absolutely none. Really, it was very encouraging.

- Any key lessons learned?

O.K. - I think the lessons are mainly to do with new and social media strategies, to be honest. This project relied on a lot of new tools for its implementation, but without spreading it across several sites -- and both traditional and new media outlets -- before bringing all that diverse material together in one place as well, it's reach is limited. Indeed, another key lesson learned is something that many of us working in the area of online, new and social media know already.

That is, you need to target an audience, work out a strategy and that's what we did, combing the project source with other outlets such as Transitions Online and Global Voices Online with their own existing audiences. Translations are vital too, and I was very happy to see that a lot of the material was also made available in other languages to maximize its reach.

- Do you see this project as a model for a dialogue?

O.K. - Very definitely, and actually it was a continuation of something that I had already implemented in the previous year anyway. During that time, using blogs and social networks the amount of connections and communication between Armenians and Azerbaijanis was literally unprecedented. This project built on that and continues to do so as it has by no means ended.

Thanks to the exposure that the British Embassy funding of field work in Georgia helped create, the environment for building on that was created and in the past week, I am pleased to say, its impact has been phenomenal with guest posts from Armenians and Azerbaijanis on the conflict itself literally going viral in both countries. There will be more to come too.

In fact, there's still much to do, of course, and the project is constantly evolving, but it's definitely proven that new and social media can have an impact in this area. I could never have imagined, for example, that I would co-present on this with an Azerbaijani colleague in April or that BBC Azeri would ask me to write three pieces on the use of such tools for them.

Or, indeed, that I would now be invited to participate in a panel on the use of new media in conflict reporting in Washington DC next month. Hope everyone reading this will take a look at it at http://www.oneworld.am/diversity/.