By Siranush Adamyan
On January 24, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing almost all US foreign aid for 90 days. The purpose of the order was said to be to assess their effectiveness and review the compliance of these programs with foreign policy. The White House’s decision has a significant impact on the Armenian media landscape. Many media outlets and NGOs engaged in media development and educational programs in Armenia are funded by the US. Despite the apparent temporary nature of the freeze, it has already had a devastating impact on existing projects in Armenia and may seriously imperil their ability to continue operating.
The “Hetq Media Factory” educational project is in its fifth year, operating within the framework of a State Department grant. It strives to strengthen Armenia’s development by creating a new generation of Armenian media professionals and investigative journalists through filling the gaps in the country’s education system. According to project manager Harutyun Mansuryan, there are already problems due to the freeze in funding. “Our meeting in Aghveran was supposed to take place in two days. Everything was already planned and students had been sent there,” he says, noting that all new programs are frozen and they cannot initiate any further projects. Mansuryan notes that they will not close their doors to students and will try to find other sources of funding to get through the next three months.
A five-year, $15 million program was launched by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2023 to promote media development in Armenia. This program, which benefited a number of independent Armenian media outlets (including CivilNet), has also been halted. The head of another beneficiary, Ashot Melikyan of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Speech, says that the program planned to provide legal support to media outlets and journalists who have been taken to court for their reporting. Besides funding operations, Melikyan says problems may also arise with the tax authorities, since they have taken on obligations prior to the freeze as they had no notice it was coming. The inability to plan for such an abrupt halt in funding has exacerbated what would already be a daunting problem.
Arevik Sahakyan, the founding director of Factor TV, an independent Armenian media outlet, says that the freezing of American grants has also caused problems for their activities. According to her, “we were implementing watchdog journalism: programs aimed at accountability and transparent governance, the fight against corruption, and countering disinformation flows, the result of which was the development of the public’s ability to make informed decisions.”. The American-funded program supporting Factor has also been suspended.
Sahakyan notes that a whole range of programs have come under question: investigative courses led by famous foreign experts, a special fact-checking project, the implementation of investigations into state procurement contracts, political money, and corrupt activities by officials, as well as in-studio debates with leading figures. In recent weeks a report by Factor made headlines revealing Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan’s no-bid contract for a $19,000 airline ticket to Los Angeles, which after public outcry the mayor says he has reimbursed to the state budget.
“This is a huge blow to independent media. The public may be deprived of the already limited opportunities to receive reliable and quality information, with all the consequences that this entails for quality journalism and democracy,” the Factor TV’s founding director says.
Boris Navasardyan, Honorary President of the Yerevan Press Club, also notes that the U.S. plays a large role in supporting the media in Armenia: “the majority of quality news content is produced by those media outlets that receive support from various donor organizations, including American ones. The absence of such funds will be a serious blow, first of all, to the quality segment of the media field.”
CivilNet is also a beneficiary of American grant programs. Karen Harutyunyan, the editor-in-chief of the media outlet, notes that this situation has created uncertainty. “We are reviewing a number of our programs and activities which were aimed at our strategic development,” he says, adding that they are trying to find other sources of funding. According to him, this will be a big blow to independent media in Armenia.
In the United States, President Trump’s decision has become a topic of domestic political and judicial debate. Two dozen prosecutors are challenging his decision. A similar attempt by the administration to also freeze domestic grant programs has already been temporarily halted by a federal judge. In recent days the State Department also issued a waiver to continue foreign aid that provides “life-saving humanitarian assistance,” though the exact scope of which programs it applies to is not entirely clear. For now, uncertainty continues on a global scale.
Edited by Paul Vartan Sookiasian.
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