Journalists state poorer conditions for independent media in Azerbaijan

Azeri authorities are pursuing deliberate policy aimed at depriving the independent media of their economic self-sufficiency, and are pressing journalists, claim the participants of the roundtable "Azerbaijani mass media on the 141^st annual National Press Day".

The roundtable has taken place today in the hall of the non-profit organization (NPO) "Baku School of Journalism"; it was organized by the public association "Civil Society Platform" (CSP).

Azerbaijani media mark the above holiday "in an atmosphere of continued pressure, squeezing out independent media, and persecution of journalists," Avaz Zeinalov, a CSP member and the editor-in-chief of the "Khural" newspaper, said, opening the roundtable.

Since late 1990s, the authorities have been using the tactics of economic strangulation, by depriving media of ability to operate as independent businesses, Mekhman Aliev, the director of the "Turan" News Agency, said during the roundtable.

"After the abolition of censorship in 1998, they began pressing advertisers; and mass media, deprived of their economic basis, faced the threat of closure. Many preferred to go cap in hand to the authorities," Mr Aliev said.

Despite a reduction in cases of threats and physical pressure on journalists, a new form of pressure is a ban on leaving the country, said Khalid Agaliev, an expert in media law.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.