Baku/03.05.19/Turan: On May 3, the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety (IRFS) organized a conference on the topic: "Press conferences.
Employees of the media, journalistic organizations and human rights activists. Solutions to existing problems."
The director of the Turan news agency, Mehman Aliyev, called the media situation "critical." According to him, numerous lawsuits are associated with a critical situation.
He says that it is not only about freedom of the media, but also about freedom of expression.
"We have repeatedly proposed a way out of the situation, but these proposals were ignored," Aliyev noted.
Arif Aliyev, Chairman of the "Yeni Nesil" Journalist Union, spoke on the topic "Media and Reforms". He believes that social activists should be active, and this activity demonstrates how civil society affects the processes. Aliyev also stressed that the media must be reformed, and for this it must regain its independence, since at present it is not ready to fulfill its professional purpose. "In the late 1990s, 55 percent of the media market was controlled by an independent press. Today, this control is not more than 3 percent. Today, Azerbaijani society and the rest of the media are able to demonstrate their strength, and it should be shown."
Media expert Alesker Mammadli spoke about the obstacles imposed on freedom of speech. He believes that traditional media in Azerbaijan has been disabled, social media have come to the fore. He noted that the media, journalists can not be free by themselves. There must be a state party that creates such an environment. The expert, stressing the blocking of more than 60 sites without a court decision, noted that reforms must begin with legislation. "Legislation should be liberalized. If the authorities want to make changes, to create an image of a reformer, then they must provide independence to the press.
The head of the Journalism Development Assistance Foundation, Gulu Maharramli, in his speech spoke about the situation of public television, he noted that television a priori does not fulfill its purpose - to bring objective, pluralistic, truthful information to the viewers. This is the responsibility and fault of the state, he said.
In his opinion, television space needs reform, which should as a result return the lost audience and restore the confidence of the viewer.
Speakers noted that over 60 sites were blocked without a court decision, serious censorship prevails, and the possibilities for gathering information are seriously limited.
The conference participants spoke about the idea of serious reforms in the area of freedom of speech and the press, liberalization of legislation, ending impunity for violence against journalists, as well as the release of arrested journalists.
The conference participants condemned the policy of the authorities, which brought black PR, aggression, and hate speech to the media environment and called for an end to this destructive policy for society.
The conference on Skype was attended by Azerbaijani journalists who are abroad - the head of the IRFS, Emin Huseynov, Sevinj Osmangyzy, a nd Leila Mustafayeva. -0-
Politics
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On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
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