Freedom House: Media in Azerbaijan is not free

Conditions for the media deteriorated sharply in 2014 to reach their lowest point in more than 10 years, as journalists around the world encountered more restrictions from governments, militants, criminals, and media owners, according to Freedom of the Press 2015, released on May 28  by Freedom House.

“Journalists faced intensified pressure from all sides in 2014,” said Jennifer Dunham, project manager of the report. “Governments used security or antiterrorism laws as a pretext to silence critical voices, militant groups and criminal gangs used increasingly brazen tactics to intimidate journalists, and media owners attempted to manipulate news content to serve their political or business interests.”

The report found that the main factors driving the decline were the passage and use of restrictive laws against the media—often on national security grounds—and limits on the ability of local and foreign journalists to report freely within a given country, or even to reach it. In a time of seemingly unlimited access to information and new methods of content delivery, more and more areas of the world are becoming virtually inaccessible to journalists.

“One of the most troubling developments of the past year was the struggle by democratic states to cope with an onslaught of propaganda from authoritarian regimes and militant groups,” Dunham said. “There is a danger that instead of encouraging honest, objective journalism and freedom of information as the proper antidote, democracies will resort to censorship or propaganda of their own.”

Global press freedom declined in 2014 to its lowest point in more than 10 years. The rate of decline also accelerated, with the global average score suffering its largest one-year drop in a decade.

Of the 199 countries and territories assessed during 2014, a total of 63 (32%) were rated Free, 71 (36%) Partly Free, and 65 (32%) Not Free.

Only one in seven - about 14% - of the world’s inhabitants live in countries with a Free press.

All regions except sub-Saharan Africa, whose average score improved slightly, showed declines. Eurasia suffered the largest drop.

The world’s 10 worst-rated countries and territories were Belarus, Crimea, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Russian-occupied territory of Crimea was assessed separately for the first time in this edition.

The overwhelming majority of people in the region (82%) lived in Not Free media environments.

Russia’s government tightened its grip on the media, suppressing independent reporting and deploying state-controlled outlets to attack domestic dissent and perceived foreign adversaries.

Ukraine was upgraded to Partly Free as the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych’s government led to decreases in political pressure on state media and hostility toward independent voices.

In Azerbaijan, the government unleashed a major crackdown on independent media, employing threats, raids, restrictive laws, and trumped-up criminal charges.

Azerbaijan is at the 188^th place at the Global ranking and among the Not Free countries.

Its neighbors – Armenia is at the 135^th place and is Not Free country as well, but Georgia is 93-d and among Partially free countries.

Click here to read the Freedom of the Press 2015 report. -02D-