How Armenian Sports News reached the White House

Independent outlets rarely get the chance to cover a once-in-a-lifetime sporting event at the White House. Yet, that is exactly where journalists Andre Khatchaturian and Jason Takhtadjian are taking Armenian Sports News (ASN). What began in 2021 as a solo, zero-budget Instagram page launched by Khatchaturian has rapidly scaled into a widely followed platform, recently securing dual media credentials at the White House alongside major national media outlets.

By blending traditional journalistic integrity with the passion of raw digital creators, Khatchaturian and Takhtadjian have built a platform dedicated to giving the Armenian community the elite sports coverage it deserves. From the UFC cages around the United States to international soccer stadiums in Europe, ASN is proving that sports are the ultimate unifier.

We sat down with the duo to discuss the shock of landing credentials for UFC Freedom 250, an upcoming mixed martial arts event scheduled for June 14 on the South Lawn of the White House as part of celebrations marking the United States’ 250th anniversary, their contrasting reporting styles, funding impactful charity work back home, and their ultimate target: the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics.

Milena Baghdasaryan: Securing press credentials for any major event is a challenge, but receiving exclusive access to cover UFC Freedom 250 is on a completely different level, especially for a niche diaspora outlet. What was your first reaction when you received that official approval email, and how did it feel to share that moment? 

Andre Khatchaturian: I originally applied because we’ve successfully received credentials for UFC events before. During my time as a sports journalist and producer at NESN in Boston, I covered numerous events and built a strong relationship with the UFC’s PR team. When I launched Armenian Sports News (ASN) in 2021, that connection continued. If an Armenian is fighting and we are within geographic reach, whether it’s Jason on the West Coast or me on the East Coast, they give us access.

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However, I was much more uncertain about the White House because it’s a high-profile venue with limited capacity. In the past, they’ve told us they would only accept one credential request from us because we are a smaller company. So when I got that approval email, it was incredibly exciting. It made me reflect on our launch in 2021 when ASN was just a small page. Seeing how far we’ve come over these past five years is truly amazing.

Jason Takhtadjian: I remember exactly when Andre sent me the text message because we were both highly uncertain given the magnitude of the venue. When I saw he was approved, I thought, “Oh my god, that’s amazing!” It’s a remarkable testament to Andre’s dedication. The page started with just a few hundred followers, and now it has nearly 30,000 followers.

When he sent me that notification, we couldn’t even believe it. I thought, “Let’s test our luck and submit an application for a second credential as well.” Honestly, I wasn’t confident at all, but once the UFC PR team confirmed my approval, too, it was a collective feeling of immense gratitude. The fact that they accepted both of our requests was a major step forward.

Andre had been solo for over two years before I joined unofficially in 2023, which all started because I told him about Brock Purdy’s Armenian roots! At the time, I was a second-year reporter and weekend anchor in Sioux City, Iowa. I graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic in May of 2020, wanting to go straight into sports journalism, but with no openings, I went into general news for on-camera experience. Andre gave me my first consistent professional sports opportunity, and it has blossomed ever since. Beyond covering sports, we’ve built a deep friendship.

Baghdasaryan: For the first two years of Armenian Sports News, you were running the entire platform completely solo, Andre. That changed in 2023 when Jason joined the team. How did you two originally connect, and were you friends before launching this partnership? 

Khatchaturian: To give you some background, Armenian Sports News was inspired by the 2020 Artsakh war. At the time, I was working at NESN. During the conflict, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick condemned Azerbaijan’s attacks during a press conference after Berj Najarian, an Armenian team executive, shared what was happening. It went viral and made me realize the diaspora lacked a dedicated media channel for Armenian sports. Already a writer for The Armenian Weekly, I officially launched ASN in March 2021 before leaving NESN.

I’m not a doctor or a lawyer, but I wanted to help the Armenian cause in some way. As a sports journalist, I knew I could shine a light on our athletes. Sports are the ultimate unifier; politics don’t matter when you see a proud Armenian on the podium listening to Mer Hayrenik. By 2023, the page was expanding rapidly, and I needed help. I saw the great reporting Jason was doing in Sioux City and reached out. He accepted in a heartbeat. When I started ASN, I made $0; it was pure passion, and Jason brought that exact same dedication.

With Jason on board, we’ve grown to nearly 30,000 Instagram followers, 10,000 Facebook followers, 2,500 YouTube subscribers and a new TikTok channel. Sponsorships now fund our travel to high-profile events like the White House and allow us to hire freelance journalists in Armenia and the diaspora. ASN’s growth lets us provide real sports journalism job opportunities to Armenians, and I also have to credit our hardworking interns, most notably John Gigian, who has been instrumental to our success this past year.

Baghdasaryan: It’s such an inspiring story. The platform is growing so fast. Did you expect this kind of trajectory when you first started?

Khatchaturian: Absolutely not. I told myself that even if it didn’t grow, I would keep doing it because people appreciated the content. Instead of posting generic updates, I leverage my professional connections to get exclusive interviews. This strategy has led to incredible milestones. In October, I traveled to Ireland to cover Armenia’s World Cup qualifier match and interviewed our national team coach, Yegishe Melikyan. He was shocked and incredibly impressed that a diaspora sports outlet traveled all the way to Ireland to cover the team when no media from Armenia had even made the trip.

While covering the UFC, Jason also caught the attention of UFC President Dana White. Jason introduced himself at a press conference — “Jason Takhtadjian, Armenian Sports News” — and asked if the UFC would ever come to Armenia. Dana smiled, nodded, and appeared to fully recognize the brand. Having figures outside our community recognize us is incredibly powerful and motivating. This visibility brings in advertisers, which translates to jobs. Jason started out volunteering, but now he’s on a part-time salary, and my ultimate goal is to transition him to full-time.

However, beyond sports coverage, the aspect of ASN I am most proud of is our fundraising. Over the last five years, we’ve heavily supported the Armenian Paralympic Committee and worked closely with Stas Nazaryan, a six-time Paralympian who lost his legs in the 1988 Spitak earthquake. Following the 2020 Artsakh war, Stas gathered wounded young soldiers struggling with depression and brought them into sports programs to give them a new lease on life. Since the government doesn’t fully fund this, we stepped in. Together with our primary sponsor, Los Angeles-based attorney Nelson Gevorkyan, ASN has raised more than $10,000 to help train these athletes and send them to European competitions. Going to the White House card is amazing, but using our platform to change lives in Armenia is what truly matters.

Takhtadjian: We really didn’t expect such incredible and rapid growth. We’ve covered some massive events. One of my first major assignments was UFC 300, where Arman Tsarukyan fought Charles Oliveira to become the number one contender. That was wild because it took place just two days before I moved from Iowa to start my new job in Fresno, California. Since then, we’ve covered UFC 311, international basketball tournaments in Los Angeles and Fresno, where I did play-by-play commentary, and I traveled to Armenia in the summer of 2024 to cover the national soccer team’s 2-1 friendly victory against Kazakhstan. We’ve even produced viral content with non-Armenian athletes, like UFC champion Merab Dvalishvili.

Going to the White House card feels like the sky is the limit, as we are covering this event alongside the most renowned media outlets in the world. What genuinely separates us from typical social media pages is our background. Both Andre and I have formal, professional journalistic training. We went to college for this. We aren’t doing this for clout or ego; we approach every piece of content with true journalistic integrity and a drive for storytelling. Whether we are profiling an athlete or telling historical stories connected to the Armenian Genocide, professional storytelling takes the brand to a completely different level.

Baghdasaryan: Moving to the front-facing side of the platform, you both hinted at having quite different philosophies when it comes to coverage. How would you define your individual reporting styles, and how do those differing approaches ultimately complement each other? 

Khatchaturian: I am completely open to modernizing how we tell stories through social media and new technologies. I maintain absolute journalistic integrity, but if an angle will generate great traffic, I will pursue it. Even if a story is only tangentially related to Armenian sports, I’ll find a creative way to tie it back.

Takhtadjian: I see it as a blend of both worlds. I’m entering my sixth year in professional journalism, continuously defining my style by learning from traditional, old-school heads and new-school creators like Andre. For me, it comes down to being versatile enough to tell any story.

Just this past week, I covered a tragic domestic violence shooting, Fresno’s first-ever bear sighting, and a preview for a local Armenian festival. You have to adapt your tone entirely depending on the subject. For the bear story, you want punchy, high-energy editing to grab attention quickly. But for a shooting victim’s vigil, you must be mindful, respectful and gentle, letting natural sound carry the emotion.

Those subtle editing nuances elevate a story. Social media is important, but hard news ethics still matter. Today, anyone can pick up a phone, create an account, and call themselves a news station without ever going through the rigorous editing and fact-checking of an executive producer. Many content creators don’t realize what legitimate journalists actually go through behind the scenes.

Baghdasaryan: Andre, what is your ultimate long-term goal for Armenian Sports News over the next five years and beyond?

Khatchaturian: Our biggest target is the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics. Thanks to LA’s massive Armenian community, it will feel like a home-field advantage. We have an incredibly strong generation of athletes right now, like gymnasts Artur Davtyan and Hamlet Manukyan, and world-class wrestlers like Arsen Harutyunyan, so I fully expect multiple medals, including gold.

To cover this properly, I want to scale ASN into a structured media company by 2028 with five to ten people and full-time staff handling the East Coast, West Coast and a branch in Armenia. But no matter how large we grow, I will never lose sight of why I started this page in March 2021 during the aftermath of the Artsakh war. It was built out of love for our homeland and to unify the diaspora through sports. We’re a niche platform, but that passion has taken us from World Cup qualifiers in Ireland and major UFC fights to the White House and the Olympics.

Baghdasaryan: If there are young Armenian journalists out there who want to contribute to the platform, what does the application process look like? What criteria do you look for?

Khatchaturian: I’m always looking for talent and recently hired an intern in LA. Right now, funding is our main constraint; sponsorships only cover Jason’s part-time salary and freelancers, so internships are currently unpaid. My goal is to secure corporate sponsors so we can offer paid positions to attract top talent.

Our interns are usually recent Armenian-American journalism grads bridging the gap before landing corporate news jobs. I mentor them, provide hands-on experience and serve as a reference. ASN is a passion project; my day job running a corporate video production company actually funds our high production value, allowing me to use my own professional cameras, audio and lighting gear for major events.

Baghdasaryan: What is the best piece of advice you can give to young Armenian journalists who are just starting out in sports media?

Khatchaturian: Twenty years ago, print and local TV were king; today, the landscape is dictated by social media outlets like TikTok, Instagram and X. Because of this, you can no longer afford to be a one-dimensional journalist; if you only write articles, you risk being replaced by AI. You must become a multimedia journalist who knows how to shoot video, record clean audio, take high-quality photos and, quite frankly, learn how to use AI. My advice is to embrace technological change. Don’t fear AI; learn to master it to make your workflow efficient. Resisting it is like refusing to use a car a century ago because you prefer walking. 

The more versatile your skill set, the more indispensable you become.

Also, don’t wait for a traditional media company to “discover” you. Today, you can build your own audience. If you consistently create quality content and tell stories people care about, opportunities will come.

Some of the biggest sports media brands in the world today started as independent digital outlets.