Team

Lianna Sayadyan, Lead Researcher, Project Manager

Lianna Sayadyan is Hetq’s deputy editor. She holds a PhD in Philology, is an associate professor, and a member of the Association of European Journalists. Since 2000, she has taught at Yerevan State University’s Faculty of Journalism. She is the author of several articles on the media. In 2024, together with Patricia Izquierdo-Iranzo, a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University, Spain, she co-authored a research paper titled “A Comprehensive Examination of the Armenian Media System through the Hallin and Mancini Model,” published in Media and Communication journal by Cogitatio Press.She has received professional training at Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas, the Universities of Strasbourg and Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań (Poland), and the Centre for Training and Development of Journalists in Paris (CFPJ).

Edik Baghdasaryan, Editor, Hetq

Edik Baghdasaryan is the co-founder of the Investigative Journalists organization and the chief editor of Hetq. He is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).He began his career in 1988 at Armenian Public Television, hosting political and news-analytical programs such as 2+1 and 7th Day, which were later shut down for political reasons.He has participated in several international investigative projects, including the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Troika Dialog, Pandora Papers, and Swiss Secrets. He has received both local and international awards, notably the Global Shining Light Award for investigative journalism in 2008 and the European Bucerius Foundation’s Freedom of the Press in Eastern Europe – 2010 award.From 2001 to 2017, he taught a course on investigative journalism at Yerevan State University’s Faculty of Journalism. His book, Investigative Journalism: The Armenian Experience, is used as a textbook in journalism faculties. In 2019, at his initiative, the organization established an investigative journalism school - the Hetq Media Factory.

Aren Nazaryan, Researcher, HetqAren

Nazaryan is a journalist who has been working at Hetq since 2023. He graduated from Yerevan State University’s (YSU) Faculty of Journalism and is a graduate of the Hetq Media Factory. At Hetq, he primarily works on investigative stories and specializes in data collection and visualization.

Nare Petrosyan, Researcher, Hetq

Nare Petrosyan has been working as a journalist at Hetq since 2023. She is a graduate of YSU’s Faculty of Journalism and a graduate of the Hetq Media Factory.She began her journalism career at the age of fourteen, taking her first steps in the Zartutsich program on the Public Radio of Armenia. From 2019 to 2021, she hosted the Ecoclub program on Arevik, Public Radio’s children and youth channel. At Hetq. she primarily works on research articles, engages in data journalism, and covers the technology sector.

Mariam Khachatryan, Researcher

Mariam Khachatryan is a media researcher with a background in journalism. She graduated from YSU’s Faculty of Journalism. She has worked as a scriptwriter for several programs at the Public Television Company and contributed to research on media ethics in collaboration with the Eurasia Partnership Foundation. She is currently studying at Lund University in Sweden, at the Faculty of Media and Communication Studies.

Shushan Stepanyan, Researcher, CivilNet

Shushan is a media researcher and fact-checking reporter. She graduated from YSU’s Faculty of Journalism, followed by the Multimedia Journalism and Media Management Department at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs. As a participant of the Erasmus+ international exchange program, she also studied for a semester at the International Journalism Department at the NLA Høgskolen University in Norway. She has received awards from the Oxygen Foundation and DVV International Armenia for her investigations. She joined CivilNet’s (civilnet.am) fact-checking team in 2024.

Nafisa Hasanova, Head of MOM, GMR

Nafisa Hasanova is Head of Media Ownership Monitor Programme at Global Media Registry, where she has managed Media Ownership Monitor projects in Ukraine (2016), Turkey (2016), Serbia (2017), Albania (2018), Sri Lanka (2018), India and Pakistan (2019), Western Balkans (2023), Germany (2024-2025), Moldova (2024-2025), Armenia (2025), and Ireland (2025). She worked on the development of the methodology for the State Media Monitor project, which evaluates state influence in media. She oversees implementation across Eastern Europe, the post-Soviet space, the Balkans, the Middle East, and other regions. Before joining Reporters Without Borders in 2016, Hasanova worked on the Transdniestrian Settlement Process for the Finnish Crisis Management Initiative founded by former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari. She previously served as Policy Officer for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia for APRODEV (now ACT Alliance EU) and as Project Coordinator for EU Central Asia Monitoring at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. Hasanova holds an MA in Intercultural Communication and European Studies from Hochschule Fulda, Germany, and a BA with Honours in English Philology from Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages, Uzbekistan.

Ani Avetisyan, Researcher and Project Assistant, GMR

Ani helps the coordination of MOM in Armenia. Before joining GMR, Ani spent more than five years working as a journalist covering the South Caucasus, focusing on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, for regional and international media. As a journalist and researcher, Ani specialises in open-source investigations and disinformation research. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Yerevan State University and a Master's degree in War Studies from King's College London.

Lea Auffarth, Head of Operations, GMR

Lea coordinates the implementation of the Media Ownership Monitor's editions, and manages some of them directly. Previously, Lea has worked for the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders, where she coordinated the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) and headed the development of its IT infrastructure. Other work on media transparency, literacy, and ethics include the ‘Media Ownership Monitor’ (MOM) and Lebanese Samir Kassir Foundation’s ‘Digital Rights Project’. Lea is a trained journalist and has worked with the German public broadcaster WDR as well as regional press. She holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution from King’s College London.

Olaf Steenfadt, Global Project Director , GMR

Olaf Steenfadt is the Founder and Managing Director of Global Media Registry (GMR), a charitable social enterprise that promotes transparency, accountability and pluralism in the information space. With his background in news reporting and investigative journalism, he is a speaker, lecturer, entrepreneur and globally visible expert on digital media policy and ethics. Two of his signature projects include the “Media Ownership Monitor” and the “Journalism Trust Initiative” which he developed and implemented on behalf of the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Olaf previously worked for national German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF in various roles, as well as for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). He is a member of the “High-level Expert Group on Fake News and Online Disinformation” of the European Commission and of the “Committee of Experts on Quality of Journalism in the Digital Age” and the “Committee of Experts on Media Environment and Reform” at the Council of Europe.

Hetq is an online media operating in Yerevan since 2001. It was founded by the Investigative Journalists NGO and is considered Armenia’s leading investigative media outlet. Hetq focuses on issues of corruption, crime, money laundering, and other related topics, and is frequently cited by both Armenian and international media.

As a result of Hetq’s investigations, high-ranking Armenian officials have resigned, criminal cases have been initiated, and illegally privatized state-owned buildings recognized as monuments, land plots, and large sums of money have been returned to the Republic of Armenia.Since 2019, the Investigative Journalists NGO has implemented the Hetq Media Factory educational program, a school of investigative journalism aimed at training young investigative journalists and to create innovative media products. In 2021, Hetq launched the InFact/Pastatsi platform, which brings together several Armenian media outlets engaged in fact-checking and is intended not only for journalists, but also for other people interested in fact-checking.Hetq is a participant in the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), launched by Reporters Without Borders.

Website of Hetq: https://hetq.am/en

The Global Media Registry (GMR) collects, compiles and provides – either publicly available or self-reported – datasets and contextual information on media outlets around the world. In doing so, the objective is to enhance transparency, accountability and responsibility in the information space. Thus, the GMR facilitates better choices and decision making, both algorithmic and human, of all stakeholders. These may include every citizen and consumer, regulators and donors, as well as the private sector – for example advertisers and intermediaries (a. k. a. platforms and distributors).By providing this public service as a social enterprise, the Global Media Registry contributes to the advancement of the freedoms of information and expression at large. It was founded as a spin-off from the Media Ownership Monitor project, which it now operates as a non-for-profit LLC registered under German law.