Journalists, human rights activists, NGO representatives, and media directors from many countries attended the Free Media Awards ceremony in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on 9 and 10 October.
Representing Meydan TV, journalist Orkhan Mammad spoke about the media situation in Azerbaijan and said that Meydan TV operates in difficult conditions.
Mammad took part in a panel which included Angelina Kariakina, editor at Ukraine’s Hromadske TV, and Serhiy Leshchenko, member of the Ukrainian parliament, each of whom delivered a speech. During the panel, participants discussed the media situation in both Azerbaijan and Ukraine, noting the effects that wars have had on the press. Ukrainian MP Serhiy Leshchenko said that the growing pressure on independent media in Azerbaijan was unfortunate and unacceptable.
Hromadske editor-in-chief Angelina Kariakina commented on the collaboration between Meydan TV and Hromadske: “Viewers like our joint project with Meydan TV. This project targets Russian-speaking audiences and covers different cultural and political problems in each country.”
The Free Media Awards, established jointly by Norway’s Fritt Ord Foundation and Germany’s ZEIT-Stiftung organization, is awarded annually to journalists and media outlets from post-Soviet states. This year’s winners of the awards are Meydan TV from Azerbaijan; Sergey Elkin, a cartoonist from Russia; Anton Naumlyuk, Radio Liberty journalist working in Ukraine; and journalist Zaruhi Meylumyan from Armenia, who is known to be a strong critic of the government.
