Conference at the Prosecutor General's Office on freedom of the media, without freedom of the media

Baku/10.08.22/Turan: On August 10, the country's Prosecutor General's Office organized a conference entitled: "Freedom of the media and ensuring the information security of society while increasing the influence of social networks." The event was dedicated to violations of the law recorded recently.

Prosecutor General Kamran Aliyev said that conditions have been created in Azerbaijan for the development of the media. According to him, the prosecutor's office takes drastic measures in case of appearance in the press or social networks of appeals or materials that damage national security, weaken the defense capability, violate the rights of citizens.

The head of the Press Council, Aflatun Amashev, who spoke next, suggested creating a commission jointly with the Prosecutor General's Office to regulate media activities. He also expressed hope for the speedy issuance of unified journalistic certificates and the creation of a unified register of journalists.

Elnur Musaev, a representative of the prosecutor's office, said that when reports are published that do not correspond to reality, the prosecutor's office takes measures.

Representatives of the pro-government and official press working with the NGO authorities were invited to the conference. However, representatives of independent media and media experts were not invited to the media conference.

It should be noted that after the speech of the Prosecutor General, the invited journalists were asked to leave. Then only two pro-government TV channels were let in. Thus, it was impossible to ask a question, get a comment or clarify something at the press freedom conference.

Separately, questions arise: why is the Prosecutor General's Office holding such an event? What is the point of such conferences?

Commenting on the incident, Alesker Mammadli, an expert in the field of media, said that the country's legislation does not give the prosecutor's office any powers on issues of journalistic ethics or professionalism. However, the prosecutor's office behaves as a controlling body in this area.

It is noteworthy that the conference was attended by the heads of the Press Council and the Media Agency, which are entrusted by law to resolve the above issues. However, they did not consider it necessary to express an opinion on this matter.

As for the Prosecutor General's Office, this department violated  the Articles 25 and 50 of the Constitution of the country, divided journalists into friends and foes, expelling some of the invited participants from the hall. --16/02B--