The following is a Media Initiatives Center press release. On March 6, the Media Initiatives Center launched the "Without Censorship: Media Dramas of Fatal 8s: 1988, 1998, 2008, 2018" exhibition of its Lratun (House of News) Museum.

 

Through its mobile exhibitions, Lratun presents the history of media coverage of significant events, as well as the development and challenges of media and journalism in Armenia.

 

“Lratun is an interactive and multimedia project, which integrates the history of the media, the coverage of various spheres, museum culture, and modern technologies. This time, we present vivid cases of propaganda and censorship, pressure and violence against media and journalists during the last decades,” noted Nouneh Sarkissian, Managing Director of the Media Initiatives Center during the public launch of the exhibition.

 

USAID Armenia Mission Director Deborah Grieser said: “This Exhibition serves an important and timely platform not only to look at the history and development of the Armenian media, but also to discuss global challenges of media manipulation and disinformation and their relevance in the Armenian context. I trust that the Exhibition should also be an impetus to the Armenian media to re-evaluate how it operates and how its serves its mission in strengthening Armenia’s democratic transition.”

 

“There is fascinating mysticism to the dates of the Armenian history of the last decades. In 1988, 1998, 2008, 2018, there were social upheavals, which also led to radical changes in the media. Our exhibition presents evocative images of the collapse of the Soviet censorship; of independent Armenia, where newspapers and TV stations were being shut down, journalists were being assaulted, new propaganda templates were being created with the manipulation of national values. The exhibition is a brief guide to discern media: unbiased from biased, corrupt from independent,” said Vahram Martirosyan, Lratun Curator.

 

The exhibition will also give the visitors the opportunity to hone their analytical and critical thinking skills through various tools. The Media Initiatives Center’s Media Battle, Tsantsar and Adventures of Literatus games are there to test and improve the visitors’ media literacy, while the simulation room will allow them to

feel themselves as journalists.

 

The exhibition will be showcased in Sargis Muradyan Gallery (38 Isahakyan Street) from March 6 to March 20, 2020. For more information, please contact Vahram Martirosyan, Lratun Media Museum’s Curator, tel.: 077 540399, e-mail: [email protected].

 

The Lratun Media Museum is an initiative of the Media Initiatives Center and is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the framework of the Media for Informed Civic Engagement project.