{"id":211668,"date":"2015-11-30T07:38:26","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T07:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/azerbaijan-gives-media-a-lesson-in-fact-checking\/"},"modified":"2021-10-29T12:44:54","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T08:44:54","slug":"azerbaijan-gives-media-a-lesson-in-fact-checking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-gives-media-a-lesson-in-fact-checking\/","title":{"rendered":"Azerbaijan Gives Media a Lesson in Fact-Checking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n For all their efforts to teach journalists how to do their job, officials in Azerbaijan regretfully note that professional standards in the country\u2019s media are still wanting. In the name of quality assurance, Azerbaijan\u2019s government is now going after news operations
\n
\n for alleged defamation of the government or inaccurate information about official investigations.
\n <\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n The crackdown is the first application of new media-law provisions that allow courts to shut down news companies if they are found guilty of such transgressions twice in the space of one year.\n<\/p>\n

\n Critics charge that claims of defamation long have become synonymous with government criticism in Azerbaijan, which international rights-watchdogs\u00a0 rank among countries with
\n
\n the least amount of press freedom
\n <\/a>
\n .\n<\/p>\n

\n Prosecutors, for now, have delivered a warning to eight-plus news outlets (Mia.az, Cumhuriyy\u0259t, Qaynarinfo, G\u00fcnd\u0259minfo, Criminal.az, Strateq.az, \u0130stiqlal.az, JAM.az \u201cand others\u201d ), but warned that next time they might not spare the rod.\n<\/p>\n

\n The press-freedom organization Reporters without Borders
\n <\/a>
\n earlier described the amendments, signed into law by
\n
\n President Ilham Aliyev
\n <\/a>
\n on November 2, as fresh evidence of continued governmental harassment of independent media in Azerbaijan.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe only surprise is [the amendments\u2019] superfluous nature, inasmuch as the authorities usually do not hesitate to trample on their own laws in order to silence critics,\u201d Johann Bihr, the organization\u2019s chief for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said in
\n
\n a statement about the changes
\n <\/a>
\n , which also target outlets with foreign funding. \u201cPresumably it is meant to send an additional threatening message to the few remaining sources of independently reported news and information.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Many of the country\u2019s prominent journalists are either in prison or in self-imposed exile, often accused of tax evasion. Now the focus seems to have switched to media-sensationalism.\n<\/p>\n

\n President Aliyev\u2019s senior political and media advisor, Ali Hasanov, though, maintains that Azerbaijani journalists have all the freedom they need and even abuse it to spread defamatory information.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cEspecially internet media outlets spread groundless, biased and sometimes blackmailing information about various state bodies, their officials and employees,\u201d he complained to
\n
\n the state-run news agency AzerTag
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0in comments last week.\n<\/p>\n

\n Hasanov, arguably, probably thinks he speaks from experience.\n<\/p>\n

\n Like the Aliyevs and their business-holdings, he and his wife, Sona Veliyeva, came under scrutiny last year by
\n
\n now-jailed, award-winning investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova
\n <\/a>
\n , who reported for
\n
\n OCCRP
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0how Veliyeva \u201cand her family have benefited from regulating many of the businesses they own.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Hasanov later trashed the report as part of a supposed smear campaign by
\n
\n \u201csome Western circles\u201d
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0against Azerbaijan \u2014 a standard response to media-investigations into government corruption or conflicts of interest.\n<\/p>\n

\n In his November 18 remarks, Hasanov skirted any reference to the OCCRP story, but called for journalists to \u201crefrain from misusing the favorable conditions created for them.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Irony not intended.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n Originally published by
\n
\n EurasiaNet.org
\n <\/a>
\n <\/b>
\n <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Azerbaijan\u2019s government is now going after news operations for alleged defamation of the government or inaccurate information about official investigations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAzerbaijan Gives Media a Lesson in Fact-Checking - MEYDAN.TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/azerbaijan-gives-media-a-lesson-in-fact-checking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Azerbaijan Gives Media a Lesson in Fact-Checking - 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