For the third year already young journalists Hasmik Babayan and Gohar Nalbandyan have been hosting the “Sport Crossroad” program on Public Radio. This is a unique sport program in Armenia, anchors of which are not men.
23-year-old Hasmik and her coeval Gohar are also responsible for the sports section on Panarmenian.net website.
Gohar and Hasmik have studied together in the Department of Journalism of the Yerevan State University and started writing their first articles on sports still from student years.
“At first it was a bit difficult: no one believed, that we would have success, they thought that we would work for a while, then marry and stop covering sport events,’’ says Hasmik smiling.
“There were no girls in our sphere to cover sports. Me and Hasmik decided to work together and that helped us a lot,’’ says Gohar.
Team work became a work style for the girls, at first strange for many. The girls say that good ideas for their articles are very often born during conversations, and it’s not important who of them the author of the idea is.
Many of the Armenian sportsmen know Gohar and Hasmik very well, and today there is no longer a need to present them on behalf of the editorial office for an interview: the sportsmen and the coaches cooperate with them with pleasure.
For the third year already young journalists Hasmik Babayan and Gohar Nalbandyan have been hosting the “Sport Crossroad” program on Public Radio. This is a unique sport program in Armenia, anchors of which are not men.
23-year-old Hasmik and her coeval Gohar are also responsible for the sports section on Panarmenian.net website.
Gohar and Hasmik have studied together in the Department of Journalism of the Yerevan State University and started writing their first articles on sports still from student years.
“At first it was a bit difficult: no one believed, that we would have success, they thought that we would work for a while, then marry and stop covering sport events,’’ says Hasmik smiling.
“There were no girls in our sphere to cover sports. Me and Hasmik decided to work together and that helped us a lot,’’ says Gohar.
Team work became a work style for the girls, at first strange for many. The girls say that good ideas for their articles are very often born during conversations, and it’s not important who of them the author of the idea is.
Many of the Armenian sportsmen know Gohar and Hasmik very well, and today there is no longer a need to present them on behalf of the editorial office for an interview: the sportsmen and the coaches cooperate with them with pleasure.
“First of all we try to gain confidence by establishing communication,’’ says Gohar adding, “It is easy to interview sportsmen, though maybe they feel constrained when communicating with us, than if they would have talked to a male journalist.”
Being journalists and at the same time desperate fans of Armenian sportsmen, Gohar and Hasmik say that they experience all the victories and defeats together with them.
“We rejoice with the successes of young sportsmen and always try to support them with our work,” says Gohar.
Sports commentator Karen Giloyan considers that Hasmik and Gohar have much to learn, but he also mentions that they have already developed their unique approach to work.
“They proved that they have enough skills to cover sports. The important thing is that the girls have a sense of responsibility; they are diligent and full of enthusiasm. And this will become a reason for their men colleagues to see a competitor in them,’’ says Giloyan, who taught the girls sports journalism when they were students.
The girls have already raised concern among the male commentators: before the football match between the Armenian and I[[wysiwyg_imageupload:136:]]rish teams, many well-known European media outlets asked them to comment on sport preparedness of Armenian team.
“It was very unexpected, but at the same time encouraging, when we had to comment for “The Guardian”, says Gohar.
The girls mention that they like to make their own news and are very nervous when meet their news on other Armenian online platforms without the source reference.
Although the present financial resources do not allow them to travel with the national teams to cover tournaments, they believe that this day is not too far.
Source: JNews.am