May 3 is not a holiday for the independent press

Baku/03.05.21/Turan: Independent Azerbaijani journalism meets World Press Freedom Day on May 3 with poor performance and prospects. This was the conclusion reached by the participants of the webinar organized by the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety.

According to international reports, Azerbaijan is among the non-free countries, and according to the Press Freedom Index of the international organization Reporters Without Borders, the country is ranked 167th in the world.

Several journalists and bloggers are in prison, which is a serious indicator for an OSCE member state and the Council of Europe.

According to the director of the Turan news agency Mehman Aliyev, the state's active policy of suppressing freedom of the media, launched more than 20 years ago, does not stop, but on the contrary, is in development.

"It manifests itself in all areas - restrictions on self-financing, physical and judicial pressure on journalists and the media, blocking access to information," he said.

Aliyev noted that the creation of a new Agency for the Development of Media and the "secret" preparation of the law "On Media" speaks of plans to tighten the policy of suppressing the media and freedom of speech in Azerbaijan.

Ganimat Zahid, who is in exile, the editor of the “Azadlig” newspaper and the Azerbaijan Saaty program supported this opinion. He also believes that pressure on the media will grow and this stems from the essence of the authoritarian regime.

“I am constantly persecuted, last year I was beaten and today at all public events the law enforcement agencies create obstacles for me to fulfill my journalistic duties,” says Natig Isbatov, a 7gun.az employee.

Investigative blogger Mehman Huseynov also said that he faces various obstacles in preparing his stories exposing corruption.

“We are forbidden to use drones for filming the villas of corrupt officials, moreover, they were taken away, although drones are not prohibited by law,” he said.

The blogger said that within the walls of parliament they are discussing the issue of introducing legislative restrictions on filming the villas of officials, deputies, that is, representatives of the authorities.

Blogger Sevinj Sadikhova, who is being persecuted by the secret services for actively fighting for the release of her husband Afgan Sadikhov, who was convicted on trumped-up charges of extortion, also spoke about the pressure.

"They threaten me with publishing videos about my private life, but I'm not afraid of anything, because there is nothing immoral in my behavior," she said.

According to blogger Imameddin Alimov, the current decline of the media, the growth of aggression in the information environment is the result of state policy, strict censorship, as a result of which high-quality journalism gave way to low-quality information platforms.

Russian blogger Elmar Elminur believes that journalism should be rational. “We must not allow journalism to further moral downfall and turn it into a means of foul language and insults. The best way to do this is to tell the truth,” he said.

The participants in the discussions talked a lot about the need for consolidation within the country. “But it is hardly possible when there is no one to consolidate with. All attempts of the past three years in this direction have been unsuccessful,” concluded Mehman Aliyev, based on personal experience.-0-