Conference on Internet Media: Problems and Prospects (VIDEO)

Baku / 09.06.16 / Turan: Problems of Internet media are discussed today at a conference organized by the Media Club.

The journalist Zair Azamat spoke on the topic Internet Media: Problems and Perspectives.

According to various data, the number of active Internet users is 6-8 million. Thus, according to World Stats - 7.8 million; ITU (International Telecommunication Union) - 7.72 million, Internet Live Stats - 6.03 million, CIA World Factbook - 7.72 million.

According to the report of the center Hootsuite and We Are Social, the number of Internet users has increased over the past year by 3%, and social media users - by 29%.

As the magazine We Are Social writes, in 2017, 80 percent of the population used the Internet.

Today Internet media in Azerbaijan became the basis of news sources. Unlike print publications, exact statistics on the amount of Internet media are not known. According to rough estimates, there are about 300 news sites in the country. The most popular number of daily hits reaches 50-100 thousand.

The speaker outlined the problems of Internet media, primarily affecting the scope of legislation.

According to the well-known expert Alesker Mammadli, in 2007, the law on the media was modified 13 times by restrictive measures. In early February 2017, a legal framework was created to block and close the Internet media. All this allowed the Ministry of Communications to block websites.

To date, more than 40 websites have been blocked without court decisions.

Another problem concerns servers and security of staff.

Most of Azerbaijan's media use foreign services for storing their resources, including those in the FRG and the USA. This leads to an outflow of significant funds abroad. This affects the speed of opening websites and the quality of service.

There are practically no private companies in Azerbaijan in this sphere. At the same time, the company Delta Telekom, which has had the largest Data Center in the Caucasus since 2000, uses its capabilities at 10%.

Opened in 2016 under the Ministry of Communications, the Regional Data and International Communications Center serves mainly state structures, and the prices offered to private structures are not competitive.

Finding servers abroad makes the online media vulnerable from the point of view of cyber security.

There is also a lack of professional staff in the field of information security and IT maintenance in the country.

The online media are also limited by the advertising market, which is connected with the monopoly of the economy. Significant problems exist in the field of the content of Internet media. Restriction of freedom of expression and a weak material and technical base are reflected both in the coverage and quality of the content.

Many media, because of the restriction of freedom of expression and access to information, are compelled to collect readers through the dissemination of criminal news, information about domestic violence and sensations.

There is practically no debate on socio-political topics. Because of the limited content, many websites are similar to each other.

Such genres as journalistic investigations and reports are actually passing away. Due to the weak material and technical base, modern Internet technologies are unavailable for the Azerbaijani Internet media for the dissemination of information - mobile applications, multimedia services based on 3D technologies, designs that correspond to any devices, etc.

After the report, the participants exchanged views of the round table. On the rhetorical question of the leading Arif Aliyev what steps can be taken to get out of the situation, most of the participants spoke out for the need to change the state policy in relation to the media, and online media in particular.

The main culprit in the crisis state of the media space is the socio-political department of the Presidential Administration and its head Ali Hasanov, who for many years has pursued a policy of destroying the institution of independent media.

Asked what kind of initiatives we can offer the authorities to improve the situation of online media, the Director of the Turan news agency Mehman Aliyev said that many years of experience in the constructive attitude of the media to this problem were unsuccessful, because all initiatives of the kind were torpedoed by the Presidential Administration.

"In 2005, we created the Baku Press Club to promote the healthy development of the media, but the Presidential Administration immediately began to put pressure on the founders to break up this structure. Then, on our initiative, the Press Council was set up for the same purpose, which, as a result of the intervention of the Presidential Administration, became the epitome of the crisis of the Azerbaijani media. Then we initiated the creation of the Media Support Fund under the President, which eventually turned into a grant-distributing organization and has done nothing for the development of the press," M. Aliyev said.

M. Aliyev recalled that he spoke with two similar initiatives over the past year, but after the first such initiative he was arrested.

According to M. Aliyev, it is necessary to exclude persons responsible for the media crisis from carrying out state policy in the field of mass media, and to change the relations between the state and journalism, without which the improvement of the situation is not possible, moreover, the degradation of the press will continue with all the ensuing consequences.-06D--