Global Journalist

20 Years Later: Azerbaijan

By Seymur Kazimov Posted Apr 13 2010

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After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a lot of things changed in Azerbaijan, and the media sphere was no exception. During that time, some new local and independent media outlets appeared in the country. Even though Azerbaijan declared its independence, long-lasting Soviet journalism traditions, such as propaganda and lack of fact verification, were still present. These flaws are keeping their hold on modern Azerbaijani media because the majority of journalists, editors and TV general directors are from the Soviet period. On the other hand, there are still some journalists who try to provide society with accurate information while resisting or evading government control.

Zeynal Mammadly, a journalism lecturer at Baku State University, says that Soviet journalism was a part of the Communist Party, so journalism in Azerbaijan served this party.

“To criticize the government was impossible,” he says. “There was no point to think about it. Then, journalism wasn’t based on fact. People could not get the information they needed because journalism was under the control of the Communist Party.”

Gulu Maharramly, a presenter of the TV program “Friends’ Assembly,” says he thinks the media no longer depends on one particular party as it did in the Soviet era.

“After gaining independence, a lot of parties have appeared, and now some part of the media depends on the ruling New Azerbaijan Party and some depends on opposition parties, like Musavat Party and National Front of Azerbaijan Party,” Maharramly says.

Even though Azerbaijan is an independent country now, Zeynal Mammadly says the media is still not completely free.

“We can observe this fact on local TV channels,” he explains. “Local TV channels are ruled by the government, but our print media is free.”

Monitoring by the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety supports this idea of a media controlled by the government. According to their reports, a vast majority of the local TV coverage is devoted to President Ilham Aliyev.

Aliyev was re-elected in 2008 after obtaining nearly 90 percent of the votes, causing Reporters Without Borders and the Organizsation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to question the neutrality of the media.

Because of the government dominance and the passing of legislation, IRFS Deputy Chief Idrak Abbasov says freedom of speech and press is still not sufficient in Azerbaijan. He cites a National Television and Radio Council announcement made in October 2008, which said that some international broadcasters couldn’t use national frequencies as of January 2009. On that date, large foreign radio stations were closed, including the BBC, Radio Liberty and Voice of America.

As the opportunity to receive international news becomes limited, the ability to thoroughly cover domestic news in Azerbaijan is also starting to change. “There wasn’t any independent print media during the Soviet Union, which means that there weren’t journalism investigations at that time,” Zaynal Mammadly explains. “It was impossible. It is still not possible for independent Azerbaijani journalists now, but we can see some efforts for it taken by media representatives.”

Maharramly says the media is independent now and can provide itself with the financial necessities required for success, but there is a negative side to this, which often stems from the source of the income.

“At this moment, the government and some organizations can easily control the media,” he says. “This was usual for Soviet time too, but the difference is that then it was obvious, but now it’s hidden.”

Cahangir Mammadly, chairman of the Broadcasting Council of the Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in Azerbaijan, stressed that censorship is less of a problem today, but instead of worrying about government censorship, media outlets now worry about editor censorship.

Despite all of the advantages of journalism after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Zaynal Mammadly stresses that there were some positive sides to Soviet journalism. Media outlets were financially secure at that time, and the solidarity among journalists found back then is no longer seen in Azerbaijan today, he says.

Cahangir Mammadly also finds some positive aspects to Soviet journalism because it was impossible to insult someone in the media. Nowadays, some media organizations consistently insult others, which leads to more court cases and less public support.

Even though Azerbaijan journalism has started to eradicate publishing propaganda and now encourages accurate and fair reporting, the media requires more future improvements to reach a truly free press.