Civilitas will launch an Internet news channel and publish a daily newspaper.

This is a natural expression of the Civilitas mission – to strengthen civil society, we need an open, accessible, meaningful information field.

To fill the gap created by the absence of consistent research-based analysis in Armenian media, Civilitas is inaugurating CivilNet – a news and research based internet channel that will cover local and regional as well as relevant global issues on a daily basis in Armenian and English. A news program featuring international experts and new local faces, the internet channel will be available both live and on-demand – as a full news program, and as individual reports. The newspaper, an Armenian-language daily, will cover current and ongoing economic and political issues, in the form of news as well as opinion and analysis – but where the two can be distinguished. Local and international writers – Armenians and non-Armenians from around the world – will broaden the coverage and perspective of the newspaper and of course the internet programming. The newspaper will focus on economy and business, but will also include coverage of culture and sports, social issues and satire.

This summer, Atom Egoyan and Arsinee Khanjian and Antoine Agoudjian and Vahe Berberian were just some of the guests we had. Here, at CivilNet. And you’ll both see them and hear them online in September.

And there's more. Civilitas began to conduct polls. We ask carefully designed questions of a demographically representative population sample and try to elicit opinions and attitudes that truly reflect those held by Armenia’s citizens. This will give public opinion more legitimacy and resonance and will help ground analysis and interpretation.

Just in case you didn’t think we were busy enough, when musician Serj Tankian, who is also a proud civic activist, came to town, he was the guest of a small forum organized for media and civic activists in Yerevan, on the day following his second one-man concert in Yerevan.


Serj talked about how his social and civic commitments were born, his willingness to take risks, his decision to use his celebrity to do good. He responded to questions with a call for greater participation, greater self-reliance and persistence.
"I'm a musician, I don't want to be a full-time activist," Serj said. The natural conclusion then is that everyone must be a civic activist at least part-time. Serj also stressed the need for more Diaspora engagement, stressing that the relationship needs to be equitable and sustained.

The wisest words were perhaps those by Parliamentarian Lilit Galstyan who noted that it would be great if more celebrities, in Armenia, too, spoke up as comfortably about social and political issues.

It’s going to be a great September – 20 years of independence marked by new approaches. Join us!