,,Journalism can make a difference”: Factor TV honoured with Free Media Award 2026

Factor TV’s independent, fact-based journalism has received international recognition. On 29 September, Factor TV was presented with the 2026 Free Media Award at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Jointly awarded by Norway’s Fritt Ord Foundation and Germany’s ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS, the prize recognises courageous, independent journalism and seeks to strengthen the role of a free press in Eastern and Central Europe.

The international jury highlighted Factor TV’s investigations, its work holding those in power accountable, and its contribution to countering disinformation and fostering a more nuanced public debate in Armenia. 

Factor TV’s Founder and Executive Director, Arevik Sahakyan, received the award at the ceremony held at the Munch Museum. 

In her acceptance speech, Sahakyan said:

“Ten years ago, when we founded Factor TV, we believed that quality journalism could change things for the better.

Over the past decade, my country has gone through many dramatic events. We went through wars. We documented the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of more than 100,000 Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh. We covered a revolution, snap elections, border clashes, mass protests and political crises.

Through it all, we tried to do what journalists are supposed to do: to ask questions, to investigate, to check facts, to expose wrongdoing and to hold those in power accountable.

Our investigations had real consequences. They have led to resignations of public officials, changes in government decisions and investigations by state institutions. Our reporting has helped people whose rights were violated and compelled officials to answer questions they would probably have preferred to avoid.

These might sometimes seem like small changes. But for us, they are proof that journalism can make a difference.

In a country like Armenia, where democracy is still transitional and fragile, and where it faces both internal and external challenges, the role of independent media is of crucial importance.

Yet today, we are working in a completely different information environment.

Spreading disinformation has become fast, easy and cheap. Manipulation has become much more sophisticated. Professional journalism has to compete with social media algorithms, bloggers, influencers and countless versions of ‘truth’. We have to work in a world of so-called ‘alternative facts’.

In times like this, I often come back to something Hannah Arendt wrote many years ago:

‘Freedom of opinion is a farce unless factual information is guaranteed and the facts themselves are not in dispute.’

I think these words are even more relevant now than ever.

We can have different opinions. We can argue about politics, about governments, about the future of our countries. But we need something solid underneath all of this. We need facts.

And I believe that protecting facts and factual truth is at the heart of quality journalism.

This is also why this award means so much to our team.

It is not merely a recognition of the work Factor TV has done over these years. It is also a message to us that, despite all the challenges journalism is facing today, quality journalism still matters.

So I want to thank the Fritt Ord Foundation and ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS for this award and for this recognition.

This award strengthens the belief of my team and me that facts matter, that independent journalism matters, and that the work we do every day can change things for the better.”

This year’s other recipients of Free Media Award are Mykhailo Tkach, an investigative journalist at Ukraine’s Ukrainska Pravda; Georgia’s investigative media outlet iFact; the Russian exile media outlet Verstka; and Belarusian journalist and media leader Andrei Aliaksandrau, who spent more than five years in prison for his work. 

Watch the full awards ceremony here: [insert video link]