Armenian News Network / Groong

Introduction to Groong


What is Groong?

The Armenian News Network/Groong is a medium for the dissemination of news about Armenian life around the world.

How did it start?

It started as a small mailing list of friends on the internet around 1988, and in time more people joined the list. During the early days of the war for Artsakh, we were sharing all the news we could find about events around the motherland with each other, and as the news grew in quantity, we decided to split the news part of the list into its own "news list", and so was born Groong.

Who reads Groong?

The readership is multicultural and comes from every corner of the world. There are many individual of all nationalities, most of the Armenian Organizations and their various branches throughout the world read the list. The Armenian Church is present on the list: Various Prelacies and Dioceses read and disseminate their news on Groong. Journalists and editors from the various media sources which we use articles from, readers from the US, Armenian and other governments (Congress, Senate, Bundestag, ROA parliement, State Departments & Foreign Ministries etc.), International and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and think tanks, the IMF, the World Bank, Embassies and consulates from every country and we haven't even started name-dropping...

What sources does Groong cover?

Whatever we can get our hands on! Besides as many of the Western wire services and major newspapers published around the nation, we try to get to international news sources, news in Armenia, the Caucasus, Europe, anything. We even try to find news from Azeri and Turkish sources. In addition, many Armenian newspapers have online issues which they share with us, such as: Asbarez, Mirror-Spectator, Hayrenik, Armenian Weekly, Azg, The California Courier, ArmeniaNow.com, and others. We hope more will also join us all the time. There are press releases and event announcements from organizations; there's a Calendar of Events posted on Thursday mornings to remind of upcoming non-commercial, open events. Here we wish to emphasize that since we're not a money organization (no money is exchanged between anyone, nobody is employed by Groong, nobody pays for "service", etc etc) that if a source decides to take on our puny little existance and wants to shut us out, then we have no choice but to stop carrying their news. Always remember that whatever is posted on this website and Groong is only for a few days, and as a momentary aggregation under one roof. Our aim is not to undermine an original source's clientele, but rather to gather current news about Armenia and Armenians which are already available to our readers around the net under one roof for a few days, for convenience.

How much does it cost?

Groong is FREE, and open for everyone to join.

Free??

Yup. And we don't carry advertisements or commercials either. There's no budget, and no money is made by anyone and nobody is employed by Groong. We have day jobs, we're students, we're around the world, and the news comes through the kind and voluntary effort of readers (such as you) who are avid junkies for news about Armenia and Armenians around the world. As they read and find articles, they're kind enough to send some of the articles to Groong in order to share them with the rest of us. At first thought, one could get worried that such an effort can not last, or can not be reliable. Groong has been the single most reliable and up-to-the-minute source of information on Armenia day in and day out since 1993, and has served a news dissemination purpose since 1990. Nothing compares to the collective and cumulative effort of our readers from around the world and from the homeland. The sun never sets on Groong :)

What's the point?

First of all, convenience. All the news is already available to almost everyone with a browser. We just bring it under one roof for a few days, to facilitate the flow of information about Armenians. Without us, everyone would have to hunt all the news all over the internet and most probably miss three quarters of it. We believe that well informed Armenians become more active and involved in their communities, and keep their heritage alive and vibrant. We want that. Our time, dedication and open, inclusive philosphy has been rewarded by attracting our present wide and prominent readership, which resulted in most organizations finding their way online to share information about themselves and announce their events with everyone. As a result of informative press releases, business opportunities in Armenia, announcements about conferences, symposia, cultural events, lectures, readings and other social events abound, in addition to the regular news articles. This in turn helps connect our diasporan communities together and with Armenia, and helps everyone relate to each other better.

How do you post to Groong?

Email the article to groong@usc.edu.

Send only PLAIN-TEXT emails. No HTML, No Attachments. We junk those.


What is appropriate for posting on Groong?
What is NOT appropriate for Groong?

Oh, we have a WHOLE PAGE on this!

Is there original material on Groong?

Yes, there is. We work with experts and specialists and online acquaintances for articles under the virtual column "Review and Outlook", analytical articles in the field of speciality of the author. These are non-partisan, and not idle-opinion pieces, rather expert analysis from people experienced, trained and educated in their fields. We do commission and write Interviews and original articles about interesting people and events as we have time and energy. We work with a network of friends to translate articles of interest to Armenians from various languages to English, and post them to Groong. We have a "resident" Literary critic, Eddie Arnavoudian, who reviews Armenian literature and books on Groong regularly. But The Critical Corner now has many other regular contributors, such as Bedros Afeyan and Shushan Avagyan. We're also working towards contacting and staying in active touch with as many Armenian communities around the world as possible, so that we can bring the local events of that community to the attention of our entire, worldwide nation, and show that we are indeed all parts of one people. Some of our past original material is available on this website. Check under: There is much more, but we haven't had time to put them all on the web.

What are Groong's "associations"?

A major point of pride for us is the fact that here on the Internet, we've maintained a 100% partisanship-free medium for all Armenians. We all come together on Groong, providing each other with information and support around the clock, without looking for irrelevant divisions or for reward. Nowhere is Armenian unity stronger than online on Groong.

How does the list works?

Groong is available to readers in two ways:
  1. Through EMAIL -- You may receive Groong in your email.
    • When you subscribe to Groong, you will receive posted news in your email as they are sent out. If you find that 50-60 emails a day in your mailbox are too much clutter for you, you may select to receive the news in DIGEST form, which puts a full day's worth of Groong news postings into a single, large mailing, around midnight each night.
  2. Over the WEB -- at http://groong.usc.edu/news
    • A week's worth of Groong postings are online and available at this site.

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