On May 11 at the Journalists Union of Armenia Internews Armenia non-governmental organization held a press conference dedicated to the finalization of “Front Line” project – TV bridges between Yerevan and Baku. The project was implemented by Internews international organization and was funded by the USAID. Every week during 6 months (November 2000 – April 2001) about five million viewers of “Prometheus” (Armenia) and ANS (Azerbaijan) TV companies witnessed the interactive video dialogues between representatives of both countries – varying from politicians to sportsmen.
“Front Line” is a series of 24 thematic 30-minute spacebridges produced by Internews Armenia and Internews Azerbaijan with the technical support of "MIR" Interstate Television and Radio Company. The visitors to the studios in Yerevan and Baku represented different professions and discussed political, economic, social, cultural, religious and other problems of their countries, the possibilities for cooperation in these spheres, and also the issue of Karabagh conflict resolution.
At the press conference the results of a media research conducted by Internews Armenia to determine the opinions of viewers on “Front Line” TV bridges were introduced. (A similar poll was conducted in Baku by Internews Azerbaijan.) The survey was conducted on April 6-17, 2001, and polled 1007 residents of Yerevan and 10 other towns of Armenia. The poll revealed that 88.5% of the viewers of “Prometheus” TV company had seen the TV bridge at least once. 31.2% of this proportion watched “Front Line” regularly, and 59.2% – occasionally. 64.1% of the respondents expressed their interest towards the program. As to thematic preferences, the greatest interest was aroused by the discussion of regulation options (50.4%). 34.3% of the respondents feel that “Front Line” helped them to specify their point of view on the problem of regulation of Karabagh conflict, whereas 32.3% think the influence of the program on their views was not so strong. A significant part of the watchers of the TV bridges (39.9%) needs information on the negotiation process of Karabagh conflict. 34% of the respondents think that compromises are necessary in finding the solution to the problem. The majority of the respondents (43.8%) find that joint programs such as “Front Line” help the communities of the both countries to develop the dialogue.
