Oc Media

OC Media (acronym of Open Caucasus Media) publishes news, commentary, multimedia pieces, and investigations from the North and South Caucasus, with in-depth analysis of the issues, movements, conflicts, and people shaping both areas.

The organisation started as a spin-off project of Chai Khana Media in early 2017. By the end of the year, supported by the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), OC Media became an independent organisation. Its mission is to keep high-level decision-makers and stakeholders (such as governments and local diplomats) informed about the Caucasus by providing reliable, fact-checked information in English.

While most of OC Media's reporting is accessible in English, it also reaches the local communities in their languages through partnerships. In 2021, OC Media partnered with six media outlets (On.ge, CivilNet, Mikroskop Media, Sova, JNews, and Abzas Media) to translate and republish its original reporting in Georgian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Russian. As a result, OC Media connects the Caucasian countries and supports peacebuilding, strengthening partners by providing financial support with original information from the Caucasus.

In 2020, during the 44-day war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, OC Media published Voices of Peace, a series of opinion pieces by people who publicly opposed the war.

In addition to the information accessible on the website, OC Media also distributes a weekly English-language newsletter with in-house information, such as reflections on the news by staff and editors. A monthly newsletter is also sent to individual donors to provide information on what is happening behind the scenes and discuss ongoing challenges.

In 2022, the media outlet started to produce a podcast with the editor-in-chief and staff writers reflecting on the weekly news and discussing the deeper context.

OC Media has organised training for journalists from regions in conflict to support peacebuilding.