TODAY.AZ / Politics

MEDIA chief credits Azerbaijani media performance during 44-day second Karabakh war

22 July 2022 [16:10] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Media Development Agency (MEDIA) Executive Director Ahmad Ismayilov has said that Azerbaijani reporters effectively performed their duties during the 44-day war in 2020, Azernews reports.

He made the remark at an international media forum on "Global trends and new challenges in media" held in Azerbaijan’s liberated Shusha city on July 22.

“Our journalists, inspired by the tireless work of President Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva to bring the truth about Azerbaijan to the world, worthily performed their professional duty during the war,” Ismayilov said.

Azerbaijan's victory in the second Karabakh war sparked considerable jubilation in the media, as well as across the country, Ismayilov opined.

The presidential order on deepening reforms in Azerbaijan's media sector, which was issued after the Karabakh war, reflects new fundamental changes and assigns new, more important obligations to journalists, he said.

“The innovations that will be introduced on the basis of the decree will create conditions for stimulating the activities of Azerbaijani media which are based on principles of transparency and satisfaction of citizens, serve the cause of objective and professional information of society, stimulate the application of principles, innovative approaches determined by the global information environment, such as modernization, rationalization, and the widespread use of advanced technologies,” Ismayilov noted.

The president approved new media legislation in February 2022, which is seen as a road map for media reforms in Azerbaijan. The law's purpose is to safeguard the security of the country's information space, support the growth of local media, enhance the information environment, and increase the competitiveness and prestige of the reporter profession, Ismayilov added.

Addressing the event, Azerbaijan’s Audiovisual Council chairman Ismat Sattarov underlined the necessity of fighting bias in the media.

"Today we see many examples of discrimination, violation of the principles of objectivity in the media. Azerbaijan faced attempts in the global arena to influence the process of bringing the truth during the 44-day Second Karabakh War," Sattarov said.

Rahman Hajiyev, Chairman of the Karabakh Revival Fund, on the other hand, emphasized the moral obligation of every Azerbaijani person in rebuilding Azerbaijan's legacy in the liberated regions.

"Every Azerbaijani must participate in the process of restoring the liberated lands. I would like to suggest the Media Development Agency hold joint discussions with the Karabakh Revival Fund on how we can contribute to this together," Hajiyev noted.

"We are still faced with double standards in the media, and it’s necessary to work on eliminating this," he added.

Furthermore, Maftun Abbasov, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Shusha State Reserve Department, stated that the department and media entities are actively collaborating.

"The media outlets cover international events dedicated to the restoration work in Karabakh," he stressed.

Abbasov emphasized that in the age of information and communication technologies, it is important to inform both local and international audiences about Azerbaijan’s realities, as well as large-scale rehabilitation work being carried out in the liberated lands.

First Deputy Director-General of Russian TASS News Agency Mikhail Gusman, who was attending the forum, said that the International Media Forum in Shusha has the potential to become a global event.

"Azerbaijani journalism will celebrate its 150th anniversary in the near future, and I do hope the International Media Forum will reach the global level by that time," Gusman stated.

Gusman, recalling the injustices that Azerbaijan endured during the 44-day war, highlighted that Shusha and Karabakh are intrinsic parts of Azerbaijan and that the rest of the world should recognize this. One of the forum's key goals is to spread this fact around the world, he added.

“We live in a very difficult, complex, and changing world. In the conditions of information attacks, or even an information war against Azerbaijan, the role of journalists in this regard is especially great," Gusman said.

"The holding of the first media forum in Shusha, the cultural and historical capital of Azerbaijan, is very symbolic. Today is the holiday of journalists, and the participants of this forum with great pleasure and joy heard a very warm congratulation from President Ilham Aliyev, who highly appreciated the role of journalists in modern Azerbaijan," he added.

Another foreign media expert, Talal Abdulkarim, Manager of Training at the Al Jazeera Media Institute, stated that journalists throughout the world should make every effort to develop confidence in media.

"We all, as history writers, have a responsibility in this regard. During my visit to Baku, I managed to see Azerbaijani newspapers printed over the past 150 years and kept in one of the museums of the capital. The primary reason for their survival is the reliability and readability of articles," Abdulkarim stated.


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