Most of the media has become a propaganda mouthpiece for the government

The pressure on the freedom of media in Azerbaijan is not terminated, the space for independent media   is increasingly narrowing. This was the leitmotif of today's roundtable on "Azerbaijani media in the 141-th anniversary of the National Press Day." The event was held in the Baku School of Journalism, and was organized by the public association "Civil Society Platform. (CSP)"

Opening of the meeting a member of the CHR, the chief editor of "Khural" Avaz Zeynalli said that  the Azerbaijani media mark the   141st year of the national press in the ongoing situation of total pressure, squeezing independent media, harassment of journalists.

He noted with regret that  the structures created by the state and the journalists themselves are transformed into media stranglers. In particular, he called the Media Fund of State Support and Press Council.

A bright example of  the attitude of media to free media Zeynalli called the refusal of the supervised administration of the president of the International Press Center to provide  the CSP’s hall for this event.  Furthermore, the Press Council, ignoring the invitation to the round table, appointed at the same time  its event, and  called together all newspaper editors.

Zeynalli also noted the deliberate discrediting of CSP in pro-government media, the spread of false information about getting million grants by the CSP.

In fact, from the beginning of CSP basically decided to abandon the grants. Director of Turan agency Mehman Aliyev made a report on the economic situation of the press. He stressed that since the late 1990s authorities have chosen a strategy of economic strangulation of the press, depriving the media's ability to operate as an independent business structure.

This policy has  caused  dependence  of media on the government, and  many in the media have become a propaganda tool and had lost control of the public function.

According to Aliyev, this is the reasons for the current economic and social crisis, as in the absence of public scrutiny has increased voluntarism in the governance system.

Aliyev noted that the advertising market, which is the main source of media income is very limited. Two devaluations last year worsened the situation even more. If in 2014 the advertising market volume was $93 million, but  in 2015 -$60 million. The advertising market amounted to only 24 million 732,000 dollars.

Of these, 18 million 891,000 advertising was on TV, about $2 million  on radio, $1.5 million – on  the Internet, and around 1.3 million  on newspapers and magazines.

The majority of advertising in the print media were placed in glamorous magazines. If we divide $2.8 million revenue from Internet advertising and publications among the 300 media outlets,  during the month  their revenues amount to only $700.

This testifies the "black market" media, the volume of which is estimated at no less than  $25-30 million. Moreover, these funds are used to support the pro-government media.

The expert Zeynal Mammadli noted that this figure is much higher. The volume of legal assistance through the Media Support Fund amounts to about $2 million a year, which are also distributed to media outlets loyal to the authorities.

A serious blow to the print media was the elimination of the sale of their infrastructure - newsstands, trade in the subway, the spread on the streets. Therefore, the argument of  authorities that print media are losing audience because of the development of the Internet are not consistent. In neighboring Georgia actually sold circulation of newspapers make up 7-30 thousand, much higher than the best-selling print media in Azerbaijan, and advertising in the Georgian newspaper takes up to 50% of the pages. The total volume of the advertising market in Azerbaijan in relation to the GDP is 0.045 percent, while according to international standards, the figure is 1 percent. Therefore, Mehman Aliyev predicted further deterioration of the economic situation of the media.

Member of the CSP, lawyer Alasgar Mammadli told about the deterioration of media legislation in recent years. So, in the last year and a half in media law has been amended four times. The cases of media liquidation have expanded. The grounds for that now serve the identification of illegal funding of media and receiving more than two warnings in one year.

In addition, issue of religious publications need permission from the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations. Entities authorized to refute become law enforcement agencies, making it difficult to conduct investigative journalism.

Another reactionary amendment made the  National Television and Radio Council, which has the right to suspend the activities of the media for a month, which happened with the TV channel ANS. Previously, such a right possessed only the courts. Fines for violating the media legislation have also been increased.

Khalid Agaliyev, another expert in the field of media rights Khalid Malaga emphasized that state authorities post only 30-35% of the information required to make public.  The information on the use of budgetary resources  by departments is not published. State structures respond reluctantly to requests for information. The Ombudswoman does not exercise proper control over the provision of the rights of citizens to receive information.

Pleasant exception is SOCAR, which publishes information that  it refused  to provide  3-4 years ago. However, Agaliyev noted reducing cases of threats and physical pressure on journalists. However,   there were remarks from the audience, that this is due to the fact that many journalists have left the country, or have stopped working, or are  under the control of the state.

New form of pressure on the media became a ban on leaving the country. To date, at least 10 media workers cannot leave the country, said Agaliev.-06D-