Penza, 29 June 2018. PenzaNews. Nikol Pashinyan’s election for the position of Prime Minister of Armenia as a result of the Velvet Revolution became possible due to development of citizen journalism in the country. Such an opinion was expressed by journalist of the Armenian regional TV company 9 Alik Tatevik Kostandyan, who is currently in Penza participating in an exchange programme within the volunteer programme for young journalists "The Pomegranate-Birch Cocktail".

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"Citizen journalism had contributed a lot to the fact that people learned about Nikol Pashinyan. I think he would have failed without it. Initially, when the actions began, state media did not talk about it. We just watched our usual TV shows and that was it: as if nothing was happening. The events were covered in such a way that according to TV news only 20 people participated in the protests, as if there were few people," the interlocutor explained.

At the same time, according to the journalist, private media working in the territory of the republic could not give the audience enough information because of lack of staff.

"And then citizen journalism, bloggers, came to the aid. A lot of people learned about the events thanks to the people who are very active on Facebook, which is very popular in our country. Then, even state-run media started to report this. The turning point came when the police ceased to operate – they just stood [with the protesters]. They even received something to eat. They thanked in a whisper and said they could not be together with the protesters but they supported them with their heart and soul. When the troops joined the rally, even though it is prohibited by law, the government realized that everyone supported us," Tatevik Kostandyan said.