EUMM/IWPR Cross Boundary Workshop for Journalists, European External Action Service (EEAS), Brussels, Belgium

2. WHEN WAR IS DECLARED,
TRUTH IS THE FIRST CASUALTY
ARTHUR PONSONBY, FALSEHOOD IN WARTIME, 1928

3. AZERBAIJANI POW, NAGORNO KARABAKH © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN 1994
NAGORNO KARABAKH

4. NAGORNO KARABAKH
• 25,000 DEAD UNTIL 1994 CEASEFIRE
• 1 MILLION REFUGEES AND IDPS
DISPLACED FROM THEIR HOMES
• 16 PERCENT OF AZERBAIJAN
CONTROLLED BY ARMENIAN FORCES
• BORDER SKIRMISHES AND CLASHES,
INCREASE IN SNIPER INCIDENTS
• NEW GENERATIONS OF ARMENIANS AND
AZERBAIJANIS LIVING WITHOUT
CONTACT WITH THE OTHER
• CONFLICT USED AS A POLITICAL TOOL IN
ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
• PEACE STILL ELUSIVE

5. NAGORNO KARABAKH
[…] people are often inclined to consider their existing
attitudes and beliefs to be true and filter the news through this
lens. Thus, they accept messages in order to maintain their
original perceptions. […] bias in the local media [...] serves as
a means to fuel and perpetuate hatred. This is a role the
media has and continues to play with regards to the conflict
over Nagorno Karabakh.
ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE, CAUCASUS
RESEARCH RESOURCE CENTERS (CRRC)
http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc

6. NAGORNO KARABAKH
[A] negative context [is set] in the public
consciousness, which hinders dialogue and mutual
understanding [...] Without more accurate and unbiased
information [...] free of negative rhetoric and
stereotypes, Armenians and Azerbaijanis will continue
to see themselves as enemies without any common
ground.
ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE, CAUCASUS
RESEARCH RESOURCE CENTERS (CRRC)
http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc

7. NAGORNO KARABAKH

8. NAGORNO KARABAKH

9. THE MEDIA
DATA:
FREEDOM HOUSE
CAUCASUS
RESEARCH
RESOURCE
CENTERS (CRRC)

10. THE MEDIA
DATA:
CAUCASUS
RESEARCH
RESOURCE
CENTERS (CRRC)
4
14
6
16
33
21
42
28
49
19
9
8
11
8
4
8
7
12
Armenia
Azerbaij
an
Georgia
How well TV journalists inform the population (%) CB 2012
Very well Quite well In the middle Quite poorly Very poorly Don't know

11. THE INTERNET

12. THE INTERNET
DATA:
CAUCASUS
RESEARCH
RESOURCE
CENTERS (CRRC)
CAUCASUS
BAROMETER 2012
53 54
46
22
25
19
50
30
59
31
16
37
70
34
50
24
22 22
0
18
35
53
70
88
Social Networks Skype Search Email News Music/Videos
42
24
16 15
29
9
0
13
25
38
50
Internet access from PC Internet access from a cell phone
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia
33
19
46
2
11
15
59
12
26
19
49
6
0
15
30
45
60
75
Every day Less frequently Never Don't know what the
Internet is

13. RUSSIAN MILITARY ROAD BLOCK, ROAD TO GORI © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN 2008

14. Anyone who believes that all citizen media are
objective and impartial is either mad or hasn't actually
read any citizen media. […] What's become very difficult
is using citizen media to understand what's actually
happening on the ground. […] This sort of situation can
get even more complicated when there aren't impartial
journalists on the ground.
ETHAN ZUCKERMAN
http://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/13149/
RUSSIA-GEORGIA WAR

15. ANOTHER
ALTERNATIVE?
In the 21st century, media has begun to affect war
more than ever before. Digital media technologies [...]
have increased communication and information
dissemination in conflict settings [...]. These new tools
can be used to foment violence or to foster peace, and
it is possible to build communication systems that
encourage dialogue and nonviolent political solutions.
DIGITAL MEDIA IN CONFLICT PRONE SOCIETIES
http://cima.ned.org/publications/research-reports/digital-media-conflict-prone-societies

16. GLOBAL VOICES

17. FACEBOOK & TWITTER

18. SMS AND TWITTER
CRISIS MAPPING
PHOTOGRAPHY
VIDEO
AUDIO
LIVE STREAMING
MOBILE REPORTING

19. ALTERNATIVE
NARRATIVES
HTTP://WWW.CONFLICT-VOICES.NET

20. ALTERNATIVE
NARRATIVES

21. We hear far too little of what I call this “third
narrative” of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, a
narrative of peace. It spins the idea that the two people
are capable of getting along fine, have lived together in
the past and, if politicians are able to overcome
differences […], can live together in the future.
International mediators are too times to speak this
narrative or feel that is not their business. The media in
both countries suppresses it.
CAUCASUS CONFLICT VOICES, MAY 2011
THOMAS DE WAAL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE
HTTP://PEACE.ONEWORLD.AM/CONFLICT_VOICES_MAY_2011.HTML
ALTERNATIVE
NARRATIVES

22. THE MEDIA AND ICT4D

23. USHAHIDI CRISIS.NET

24. A CYBER UTOPIA?
The reason why the KGB wants you to join
Facebook is because it allows them to learn more about
you from afar. It allows them to identify certain social
graphs and social connections between activists. Many
of these relationships are now self-disclosed by
activists by joining various groups.
EVGENY MOROZOV, THE NET DELUSION: DARK SIDE OF INTERNET FREEDOM
http://www.rferl.org/content/interview_morozov_internet_democracy_promotion/ 2284105.html

25. THE INTERNET

26. A CYBER UTOPIA?
I study the ways new media shapes people's
perceptions of the world. It's my fond hope that social
networks such as Facebook will help users broaden
their perspectives by listening to a different set of
people than they encounter in their daily life. But I fear
services such as Facebook may be turning us into
imaginary cosmopolitans.
CNN, DOES FACEBOOK UNITE OR DIVIDE US?
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/03/zuckerman.facebook.global/

27. FOREIGN FIGHTERS
The use of social media among young people going
to join rebel groups in Syria and Iraq has exploded. It is
their main source of information and communication.
The consequences for society of so many people being
exposed to the violence and brutality of war and to
radical extremist groups at the forefront of the fighting
are unpredictable, but unlikely to be positive.
RICHARD BARRETT, UNITED NATIONS COUNTERTERRORISM TASKFORCE (CTITF) CO-
FOUNDER
http://techpresident.com/news/wegov/25167/while-jihad-waged-iraq-and-syria-counter-narratives-go-online

28. COUNTER NARRATIVES
Attractive alternative narratives can contribute to
the prevention of radicalization and recruitment if they
are delivered to the target audience by trusted sources.
[…] community leaders that are informed of potential
radicalisation and recruitment to violent extremism in
their own communities are better partners in efforts to
counter violent extremism in those communities.
DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COUNTER-NARRATIVES IN COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM
(CVE), HEDAYAH CENTRE. SEPTEMBER 2014

31. COUNTER NARRATIVES
• Positive and Alternative Narratives
Strategic Counter Narratives
Ethical Counter Narratives
Ideological and Religious Counter Narratives
Tactical Counter Narratives
Humour and Satire
DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COUNTER-NARRATIVES IN COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM
HEDAYAH CENTER, SEPTEMBER 2014

32. CYBER REALISM
[...] the internet is not magic; it is a tool. Anyone
who wants to use it to bring nations closer together has
to show initiative, and be ready to travel physically as
well as virtually. As with the telegraph before it—also
hailed as a tool of peace — the internet does nothing on
its own.
THE ECONOMIST, A CYBER-HOUSE DIVIDED
http://www.economist.com/node/16943885?stor y_id=16943885

33. DISCUSSION
EMAIL
onewmphoto@gmail.com
WEB
http://www.onnik-krikorian.com
http://www.conflict-voices.net
FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/onewmphoto
http://www.facebook.com/conflictvoices
TWITTER
http://www.twitter.com/onewmphoto
http://www.twitter.com/caucasusproject