WATERTOWN — Yerevan-based editor Maria Titizian will speak on “Fighting Misinformation Amid a Security Crisis: The Armenian Media Landscape” at the Baikar Building on Thursday, September 5, at 7:30 p.m. in an event sponsored by the Armenian Mirror-Spectator, the Tekeyan Cultural Association and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research/Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Lecture Series on Contemporary Armenian Topics.
Titizian is a Yerevan-based writer, journalist and educator with over 20 years of experience in the media industry. Her reporting has led her across Armenia, Artsakh, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. She has worked as an anchor at Armenia’s Public TV, served as associate editor of the US-based Armenian Reporter, was managing editor at Civilnet and is the founding editor-in-chief of EVN Report, an English-language e-magazine. Titizian has appeared on Al Jazeera, BBC and other global networks to discuss events taking place in Armenia and Artsakh. For the past decade, she has been a lecturer in the English and Communications Department at the American University of Armenia and assisted the university to develop a Masters of Journalism program to be launched in 2025.
Her talk will tackle a variety of topics in fighting misinformation. Establishing effective mechanisms to combat misinformation amid ongoing hybrid warfare and persistent security crises can be challenging for any country, especially for small states. In Armenia, a transitional democracy seeking to consolidate its political system, the population is struggling with post-war trauma while having to confront constant threats by hostile, non-democratic neighbors. The prevalence of fake news and coordinated disinformation campaigns — both external and internal — has impacted perceptions about security, while public trust in the media is at record-low levels in the country. Strategies and policies are being implemented to combat false narratives, but how effective are they in a polarized society and when decontextualized news and information on social media platforms are pervasive?
In addition, the talk will discuss the possible guardrails against misinformation to build a more resilient and informed society, especially in the context of the ongoing security crisis in Armenia. She will address key events in recent history, including the 2020 Artsakh War and Azerbaijan’s subsequent incursions into Armenia, the 2023 ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Russia’s hybrid threats against Armenia.
