We recently connected with Harut Sassounian and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Harut Sassounian thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Back in 1958, two of my predecessors decided to publish an English-language weekly Armenian newspaper in order to inform the Armenian-American community about Armenian-related news.
Up until then, all of the Armenian newspapers in California were published in the Armenian language which means that second or third generation Armenians who did not know Armenian could not follow the news of their community.
That is why The California Courier was born. It created a lot of excitement in the Armenian community. After publishing the newspaper since 1958, in February 2024, I converted the paper to a digital format, meaning online or on website.
Here are the advantages of the new format:
1) It cuts my monthly publishing expenses by 90%.
2) Readers now have the chance to read daily updated news rather than a week-old news.
3) Readers no longer pay a subscription fee.
4) Advertisers can display their ads 24/7 rather than once a week.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My background is in international politics. So I am very interested in world affairs. Therefore I have followed news and developments since childhood. So it was natural for me to get into the news business.
I provide to the readers daily news updates and commentaries. I am pleased that my website is followed by tens of thousands of people around the world. My editorials are reprinted in dozens of newspapers in many countries and are posted on many websites translated into half a dozen languages. I am the most widely read Armenian journalist in the world.
I am very proud of the fact that I have become an influencer not only with the public-at-large, but also with various government officials and leaders.
As a result, dozens of other media members interview me on a weekly basis, further disseminating my opinions to a large audience.
How’d you meet your business partner?
It was a very unusual encounter. I met the founder of the newspaper in 1983 at a social event. We had never met before. Within minutes, we started arguing over every issue that we were discussing. We were on the opposite side of every issue. It was a heated but civilized conversation.
The next morning I got a call from a mutual friend who told me that the founder of the newspaper was very impressed with my knowledge of the issues, even though we had argued over everything. I was told that he wanted to have a meeting with me to offer me the job of editor.
I reluctantly went to the meeting and ended up accepting the job.
Several years later, when the founder retired, he asked me if I wanted to buy the newspaper. I said yes. That’s how I ended up being the publisher of athe California Courier for over four decades.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
- Instagram: Harut Sassounian
- Facebook: Harut Sassounian
- Linkedin: Harut Sassounian
- Twitter: Harut Sassounian
- Youtube: Harut Sassounian
