“If there are mafia groups inside the government, then this is also power”

Azerbaijan is entering another phase of institutional restructuring of its media sector. On June 16, during a meeting of the Human Rights Committee of the Milli Majlis, a package of amendments to the Law on Media was introduced the merger of two key regulatory bodies — the Media Development Agency and the Audiovisual Council — into a single state institution.

Every year on May 3, the world marks World Press Freedom Day — a date meant to remind us of the value of independent journalism. But in 2026, this day increasingly sounds less like a celebration and more like a diagnosis.

On April 30, the international organization for the protection of the press, Reporters Without Borders, published the World Press Freedom Index, an annual report on the state of press freedom.

The military escalation in the Middle East occupied a central place in Azerbaijan’s media agenda during the period under review, as the conflict unfolded in close proximity to Azerbaijan’s southern borders and quickly acquired a direct dimension for the country’s national security. The issue was made particularly sensitive by Iran’s role as a neighboring state, the presence of a multi-million Azerbaijani population on its territory, and the religious affinity between large segments of the populations of both countries.