Journalists Monitor Newsstands

On Saturday morning, a number of media representatives and the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety monitored the stalls in order to clarify the situation with sale of periodicals.

The raid, which covered a number of areas of the capital, was attended by members of newspapers Ayna-Zerkalo, Azadlig, Yeni Muavat and the agency Turan.

Since September 2011, after the Mayor Hajibala Abutalibov announced placement of new press kiosks, a difficult situation has occurred with the sale of newspapers, which has deteriorated markedly. Since then intensified eradication of the stalls of the GASID state firm, which from the Soviet era has been selling periodicals.

By 1 September more than 200 booths of 400 were demolished in Baku, and in place of them kiosks selling foodstuffs, but not newspapers, were installed. As a result, the sales have fallen.

As for improvement, the new kiosks covering 12 sqm partly block streets and sidewalks, preventing passage of people. For example, at the monument to Jafar Jabbarli there are 5 stalls at a distance of 30 meters from each other. In all of these kiosks the monitors could not find the newspapers. The vendor in booth No 32 said the truck delivering papers was late, admitting that it delivered only 10-20 newspapers in the amount of up to 7 manat per day. "I ask for more, because there is a demand, but they do not give me," he said. From the invoice they saw that most people bought Azadlig, Yeni Musavat and Zerkalo.

The vendor of Booth No 84, which stands nearby, said that from now he was instructed not to take newspapers from GASID. "We are going to purchase newspapers from another company," he said, without specifying which one.

The same situation was observed in the metro station Nefchilyar. Employees of Yeni Musavat reported that in the five kiosks located there no newspapers were sold on September 1. The vendors also reported that today they were instructed not to accept papers. No employee of the kiosks in the area could answer how many newspapers a day he sold.

Turan contacted the head of the department of the press distribution of GASID Akif Gurbanov, who confirmed that the new kiosks were instructed not to take newspapers: "Forwarding agents call me and say the newsstands refuse to take newspapers." According to him, the order was given by an employee of the City Hall, Nizameddin. "Previously, we wrote to Abutalibov and the head of the presidential administration Ramiz Mehdiyev. They promised to make a decision on September 3-4," he said.

At the same time, Gurbanov did not rule out that the company could be liquidated.

In turn, the seller in the GASID kiosk located in front of the National Bank complained: "Recently, I began to refuse of the services of this company, because for three months, they exposed a debt of 120 manat on me, although I do not owe them anything." The seller admitted that he was "loaded" with second-rate and low-circulation newspapers, which were not sold.

In almost all the kiosks only 1/10 of the area was reserved for newspapers and magazines, and most of them were yellowed newspapers 15 days old. So, in Booth No 13, at the intersection of the Dilara Aliyeva and Azadlig Streets new papers were mixed with old ones and stacked inside the kiosk.

Kiosk No 27 at the intersection of the Nizami and Azadlig Streets did not have newspapers either, and the vendor admitted that he sold only five newspapers a day - and was given the same amount.

On display in the booth at the Pedagogical Institute in Hajibekov Street, the monitors saw tights on the shelf, where newspapers were usually kept. The newsstand had no newspapers. "I have been here for only 15 days and I have not seen any of them," admitted the seller.

Two vendors, whose names are not reported for their safety, said that they daily give 200-300 AZN to the executive. They did not say if they keep something for themselves. But one of the vendors said that he gets an unofficial salary of 300 manat. Official salaries in kiosks are not practiced. "I have no contract with the employer," said the vendor. The sellers called different names of their employers, one of which sounded quite exotically "Nazim from Ordubad."

It is rumored that all the sellers are from Ordubad in Nakhchivan, but the inspection showed that some of them are from Julfa, Jalilabad and others. One thing is certain, that the booth keepers of GASID are not taken for work in the new kiosks.

During the monitoring, customers were coming to the booths for newspapers and leaving with nothing. Hundreds of thousands of readers today are in the same situation, because there is nowhere to buy periodicals.

The country is at one of the last places in the world for the saturation of newsstands. In Europe, there is 1 kiosk per 1,500 people, while in Azerbaijan this rate was 10 times lower last year.

As well as readers, huge losses are faced by popular newspapers. For example, Azadlig cannot obtain AZN 28,000 for the sold copies from the state-owned firm GASID out of this situation. So the paper cannot pay the publishing house Azerbaijan for the service. The situation is similar with other newspapers.

After analyzing the results of today's monitoring, the editors came to the decision to hold them regularly and take steps to protect their interests.

Next week they will inform the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the European Union on the results of the monitoring. -0 -