Why does free press need self-regulation?

If the media is not free, then there is no sense in its self-regulation, in order to protect it from administrative interference, said the participants of the conference "Media Freedom and Accountability: the mechanisms of self-regulation of media", held on Wednesday, the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety (IRFS), a joint program of the Council of Europe and the European Union to support media pluralism in the South Caucasus Moldova.

According to the  counselor of the department of communications of the CE,  Leila Dervishagich, mechanisms of self-regulation of the media plays an important role in protecting the freedom of expression. The Council of Europe supports the Institutes of  the  press self-regulation in the member-states and cooperation between them.

The conference moderator, regional program manager of Danish International Media (International media support) Gulnara Akhundova, pointed to the specificity of the situation in Azerbaijan, where we have to discuss the issue of self-regulation of the press, against the lack of freedom of media.

According to  the  member of the  Board of  the  Press Council,  Mushfiq Alasgarli, the mechanism of self-regulation of the press in Azerbaijan has been  established,  and  society trusts it. In particular, he pointed to the successful operation  of the Press Council since 2003, formed by journalists. Indicator of public confidence in the Press Council, Alasgarli  called 651  appeals  received by this organ last year. Of these, 499 were complaints about the media. Alasgarli  believes  that thank to Press Council, these media  avoided lawsuits.

Press Council monitors compliance with professional ethics,  by making warnings and including them into the "black list." Up to date, about 150 racketeers have been included  "the black list." 

The head of the Union of Journalists and editor of "Ayna-Zerkalo", Elchin Shikhli, noted

that since the establishment of the Press Council, the situation with the media in the country has deteriorated. So, now the question is not about the self-regulation of the press, and self-preservation and self-defense, both from an economic and political point of view.

According to Arif Aliyev, the head of the journalistic association «Yeni Nasil»,   self-regulation  of press  is inherent in a free press. There is not a talk  about the norms of journalistic ethics, because the media are not free and depends on those who fund them.

Director of the Turan News Agency, Mehman Aliyev,  did not agree with the thesis of the authorities that the Azerbaijani media is not ready to adopt a law on defamation. This government is not interested in it , because they want to control the media.

Monitoring in 2009 as part of the Press Council, revealed that most violations of the defamation were committed by exactly the pro-government media - newspaper "Ses" and "Modern Musavat".

And the Press Council has conformist stance and does not include pro-government newspaper, for example, a newspaper "Ses", "the black list."

The representative of the Media Rights Institute, Khalid Agaliyev, pointed out that since the mid-2000s legislation on the functioning of the media   has been deteriorating.

One of the keys to the safety of journalists is the existence  of the provisions on liability for preventing the legitimate activities of journalists in the criminal code. But for this article, no one has been brought to justice, however ,  over the  past seven  years, there were more than 400 facts of physical pressure on journalists.

Member of the movement REAL Natig Jafarli said  it is not right to speak about self-regulation of press  in a country where there are no conditions for its free competition, free advertising market, independent courts. In the absence of free competition,

press is under the control of officials oligarchs.

Advertising media market in Hungary ,  a country equal in population Azerbaijan is 600 million euros, and 160 million print media.

Advertising media  market in Azerbaijan is only  2 million euros. According to Arif Aliyev, in the last 12 years the advertising media in Azerbaijan reduced by nine  times, and newspaper sales fell  by 45 percent.

Aidan White, who  has been a member of the Press Council of Britain  for 25 years, said that one of the conditions of media self-regulation is the transparency of media ownership and voluntary commitments to  follow professional ethics. However, the Internet, along with the  great opportunities caused  new challenges for the protection of threats, insults, slander,  and it is necessary to work out the mechanisms of self-regulation on-line journalism in h this field. 

Blogger Ali Novruzov said that in Azerbaijan there is no need for regulation and self-regulation in the Internet. Self-respecting bloggers are interested in ethics. At the same time, he pointed to government efforts to informally monitor the Internet,  and  noted the attempts of the authorities  to control the Internet, and mentioned the fact of the ordering by a Western company a  program to monitor social networks.

In the view of the IRFS Director Emin Huseynov, persecution the users of social networking and on-line journalists will not work  have results. Maybe someone think that it will work as self-censorship. The practice shows that such "preventive measures" have only have short-term results.

During the debates, a number of participants, in particular, MP Fazail Agamali, expert Hazrat Azar and others disagreed with the view that there is no free press in Azerbaijan.–06C-