Alternative Discourse During the State of Emergency in Armenia, 2008

The study investigates the alternative discourse on March 1, when fatal clashes between the police and protesters generated citizen discussion on the Internet. That discussion continued during the following 20-day state of emergency in Armenia when official censorship was imposed over the media. Embracing critical theory, the study analyzes how the citizens used the Internet for promoting oppositional discourse, while the mainstream media were perpetuating the official discourse. Overall, 525 statements extracted from 54 articles published in the official, oppositional, and third party media (18 in each) were subjected to content and framing analyses. These found that generally, the debates were focused on the freedoms and rights on one hand, and on stability and security on the other. The findings show that the oppositional groups made their way in forming and promoting an alternative discourse opposing the official propaganda. The research recommends similar investigations of citizen employment of new technologies to speak to each other during political crises in other nations.