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ARMENIA HAS TWO OFFICIAL GOVERNment-financed daily newspapers, Hayastani Hanrapedutyun and its Russian-language equivalent Respublika Armeniya. There are also several independent newspapers affiliated with various opposition political parties. With the notable exception of those papers sponsored by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), which received generous funding from abroad until they were summarily closed down by the Armenian authorities early this year, the independent press in Armenia operates under severe financial constraints. The costs of newsprint and production have skyrocketed, and the population is so impoverished that, for many, newspapers have become an unaffordable luxury. As a result, the total daily newspaper circulation in Armenia, which has a population of 2.6 million, is estimated to be in the region of 40,000.1