Ուշացած հեռախոս | Ushacac herakhos
An Armenian friend of mine living in the U.S. sent me a message asking about a veteran of Karabakh war who was denied an Armenian passport because he hadn't had a birth certificate in his possession. The story had been published in a local Armenian periodical and had made quite a buzz in the East Coast Armenian community. The person asked me to check on this story and find out what can be done to help the guy.
However a 5 minute investigation showed that the article was copied from Hetq.am, but the passport problem was solved even before it was covered in the U.S. newspaper. Here's the chronology:
- Hetq.am, January 14: From Orphanage to Artsakh War: Igor Has No Passport, No Work (Video)
- Hetq.am, January 18: Igor Ghahramanyan to Get Armenian Passport on Heels of Hetq Coverage
- The Armenian Mirror Spectator, January 21 (!): From Orphanage to Artsakh War , But No Passport (.pdf file, 3MB, page 3)
Was it so hard to do a basic search on Hetq.am, before publishing an outdated article? Well, let me put this question in another way: isn't it the editor's responsibility to double and triple-check the information he or she publishes?
Ընկերանալ Ֆշտուկ