Media crisis continued in 2017

The media is losing influence

From year to year the media, as journalists' professional workshops, has been losing their influence on the information space which is turning into an ocean of information chaos. In this ocean there are no principles and ethical norms that very poorly self-regulate the activities of the media and the behavior of journalists. The participants in the information space are enthusiasts of the freedom of speech, self-expression. Their number grows exponentially, they occupy social networks and become the main carriers of information, disinformation, truth, lies, slander, insults, love and hate.

The generation of cyborgs comes on the scene - mobile applications, social networks are already part of their being, thinking, image in life as a whole. And this trend is growing.

This is an inevitable process. But it could become at least evolutionary, more moral, but not immoral, as it is formed by the erroneous information policy of the state. The attempt to total control over the media, which started in the late 1990s has brought to the results we have today. The state neutralized the media as possible carriers of public control and communication, and literally celebrated a short Pyrrhic victory, but the boundless possibilities of the Internet and the desire of individuals in freedom created a mixture of an information conglomerate before which the state becomes powerless. And this is the end of the state itself.

The murder and suicide of independent, responsible, high-quality media in Azerbaijan is already a fait accompli.

Internet becomes the main information platform of the country

According to Zahir Azamat, the editor-in-chief of Qaynar.info, the number of active Internet users is 6-8 million. Thus, according to World Stats - 7.8 million; ITU (International Telecommunication Union) - 7.72, Internet Live Stats - 6.03 million, CIA World Factbook - 7.72 million.

According to various sources the number of active Internet users in Azerbaijan (million people)

According to the report of the "Hootsuite" Center and "We Are Social", the number of Internet users has increased over the past year by 3%, social media users - by 29%.

The magazine "We are Social" writes, that in 2017, eighty percent of the population used the Internet. According to rough estimates, there are about 300 news sites in the country, the vast majority of which are controlled by the authorities. In recent years, the authorities made many attempts to exercise control over online media. For this, tools such as bribery, arrests, threats, blocking of sites, legislative restrictions were used.

According to the well-known expert Alesker Mammadli, in 2007, the law on the media was modified 13 times by restrictive measures. In early February 2017, a legal framework was created to block and close the Internet media. All this allowed the Ministry of Communications to block websites, but even with the legal basis for blocking sites. At the end of 2017, we witnessed an illegal blocking of at least 14 online sites. To date, more than 40 websites have been blocked without court decisions. As a result, 10 journalists and bloggers are in prison.

Under such circumstances, deliberately or not, the government does not encourage the development of alternative information networks. The natural desire of people to be informed increases their activity as a sphere of gathering so the dissemination of information. Today social networks in Azerbaijan are becoming the basis of news sources. The latest recent examples: the collapse of the power grid in Azerbaijan on July 3 and the attempt on the same day on the mayor of Ganja. In both cases, information state structures, the media were paralyzed and could not give a clear picture of what had happened and the course of events. Practically all the information, disinformation was spread in social networks by its participants. It was obvious information collapse of the media system.

These events also showed a concentrated reaction of the authorities to the activity of social networks. Then came "preventive conversations" in law enforcement agencies with editors of a number of sites, their blocking, arrests of activists of social networks.

The economic collapse of the media

The State Statistics Committee published the economic, we can say, the basic data of the media, the basis for their existence, development over the 2017 year. This is the most depressing data in the history of the Azerbaijani press.

In 2017, advertising revenues of the media in Azerbaijan amounted to 4 million 684.8 thousand manat (2.3 million euros). This is by 6.2 million manats (3.1 million euros) less than in the previous year. In 2016, advertising revenues amounted to 10,884,800 manats (5.4 million euros).

Advertising revenues of the media in Azerbaijan in 2016 and 2017 (million manat)

Decreased revenues:

Television: (-4.5 million manats (-2.25 million euros) to 3.5 million manat (1.7 million euros.) In 2016, the revenues were 8.036.000 manat (4 million euros.)

Radio: (-778 thousand manats (-389 thousand euros) to 701 thousand manat (350 thousand euros), in 2016 - 1.479.000 manat (739 thousand euros.)

Internet resources: (-895 thousand manats (-450 thousand euros) to 352 thousand manats (176 thousand euros.) In 2016 -1.247 million manat (623 thousand euros).

Newspapers and magazines: (-104.5 thousand manats (-52 thousand euros) to 35.5 thousand manats (17.7 thousand euros), in 2016 - 140 thousand manats (70 thousand euros.)

Decline of the Azerbaijani MEDIA advertising revenues by the main areas of information market (thousand manats)

On average, the media had:

Television: 10 TV - 350,000 manat each (175 thousand euro each) per year

Radio: 10 - 70 thousand manats (35 thousand euros) per year.

Online Media: 300 - at 1170 manats (585 euros) per year

Newspapers and magazines - 30 - 117 manat (535 euros) per year.

Average income of Azerbaijani media from advertising per unit in 2017 (thousand manats)

Unprecedented drop of the share of media advertising in GDP

In 2017 Azerbaijan's GDP totaled 66.2 billion manat (33.1 billion euros).

The share of media advertising in GDP was 0.006%

The advertising revenue per capita is 0.49 manats (0.30 euros)

Legal and illegal subsidies

Virtually the media are on state subsidies. Officially, about 2.5 million manats (1.25 million euros) are allocated for about 34 newspapers per year by the State Support Fund for the Development of Media under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In average, 6,000 manats (3,000 euros) per month are issued per publication. But the greatest share of media support is illegal.

The state of the advertising market confirms the experts' conclusion that the Azerbaijani media have large losses in the number of the audience. The main source of information, the audience of the local television totals approximately 20% of the country's entire TV audience. About 67% of the audience watches Turkish TV channels, the rest watch Russian, and a small segment is occupied by Western countries.

Newspapers have almost lost their influence. Their daily retail sales are estimated in tens, hundreds and rarely by thousand copies.

Immediate measures

The listed facts and trends require urgent measures, which should include:

1. Creation of legislation for freedom of mass media.

2. Creation of economic bases for development of independent, qualitative and responsible mass media.

3. Creation of conditions for free and operative access to information.

4. Application of decriminalization of legislation.

5. The establishment of an open information dialogue: the government-mass media- society.