realnewsinfo.com reveals the Press Council

Baku/31.12.17/Turan: The next scandal is around the Press Council, becoming the subject of regular discussion and condemnation in social networks.

The subject of the scandal was the audio recording of the hearing of the Commission on complaints of the Press Council in connection with the complaint of the director of the National Park "Hirkan" Azer Mirzayev against the editor-in-chief of the site realnewsinfo.com Emin Ramazanov.

In the article "Behind the scenes" of the leader of the National Park Hirkan Azer Mirzayev", http://realnewsinfo.com/hadis/736-hirkan-milli-parknn-rhbrinin-prdarxas-oyunlar.html published on the website on December 14 this year, there is an accusation of destruction of the forest in the nature protection zone, as well as the fact of beating a woman and bribing a journalist. Here, as evidence, photos and videos are posted.

The audio recording during the hearings at the Press Council (PC) was made secretly by the journalist, and she visually acquaints listeners with the approach of the PC board to the issues of relations with the media and the principles of settling the dispute between the complainant and the journalist. It should be noted that the hearing begins with pressure on the journalist: about whether he knows where he came from, the significance of the joint venture, the threat of transferring the complaint to law enforcement bodies if the journalist does not apologize and does not admit guilt, etc. Pressure on the editor continues throughout the meeting.

The members of the board of the PC informed the journalist about the violation of the four principles of the professional and ethical rules of the Azerbaijani journalist, while calling only the First Principle of "Serving Truth, Accuracy and Objectivity", that he did not present the point of view of the opposite party. With this we can agree, since in fact the material did not have the opinion of the opposite side. However, it can be seen from the course of the hearings that a detailed examination of the article was not carried out before the proceedings with the participation of the parties - it was not submitted and was not discussed. The commission should, firstly, listen to the opinion of the parties to find out the truth - whether the journalist's accusations were grounded or not. Members of the commission clearly shied away from this, putting pressure on the journalist to abandon the above.

Secondly, the commission had to point out the violation of professional standards in a recommendatory manner, but not instructive. He was also threatened that the fate of Realliq.info Ikram Rahimov, who had his site blocked, was lodged against him and a complaint was filed against him in the law enforcement agencies.

Eventually, the matter ended with the fact that after the hearings one of the board members of the joint venture tried to foist on the bribe to Emin Ramazanov. The answer was the interest of the board member, and whose interest he represented was evident from the audio recordings made during the hearing. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1M9yMCrmEKFKrsNY7YNdinycjN1Jpa6kt/view