Media
Azerbaijani journalists fight new media registry
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It’s not clear whether the registry is mandatory or voluntary, but its very existence further erodes freedom of the press, they say, in what is already one of the world’s most repressive media environments.
In late January, a group of about 40 Azerbaijani journalists, media managers and lawyers issued a statement calling for the dissolution of the state media registry, which started operating in October under a law adopted in December 2021.
The law, whose stated aim is “the systematization of information,” calls for the registration of all Azerbaijani media outlets and all journalists as individuals. Certain criteria must be met as well: Journalists must have a higher education degree and possess a labor contract with their employer (a provision which could affect freelancers). And they must not be previously convicted of “grave crimes” or “crimes against public morality.”
Online outlets must be engaged in “constant activity,” which the law defines as “daily publication of at least 20 news for at least 20 days per month.” Their founders must be Azerbaijani citizens residing in the country permanently (many independent outlets are based abroad). And they must submit to the registry a list of their reporters, including their addresses and national ID numbers.
There is ambiguity around whether the registry is mandatory or voluntary. The law doesn’t use the word “mandatory” but it says that print and online media entities “must” apply for registration within six months after the establishment of the registry, which will fall on April 14, 2023.
On one hand, the Media Development Agency (Azerbaijani acronym MEDIA), the body overseeing the registry, says in the FAQ section of its website that applying for registration is voluntary: “Even without applying to the Media Registry, a person can carry out their journalistic activities without hindrance, using all the protection mechanisms defined by law.”
Yet on February 6, the executive director of MEDIA, Ahmad Ismayilov, said that his agency would hunt down media outlets not registered by the deadline and file suit against them in court. (The Riga-based independent media outlet Mikroskop reported that pro-government Trend.az originally attributed another sentence to Ismayilov’s quote – “And the court will rule that they must terminate their activities.” – but deleted it shortly afterwards.)
There are rewards dished out to those who register and problems faced by those who don’t.
The rewards come in the form of advertising orders by state agencies, free participation in state-sponsored training, and the provision of loans.
This naked attempt to co-opt would-be critical journalists is reminiscent of a state program introduced in 2013 to provide free apartments to journalists from both government-loyal and opposition-leaning outlets.
In the statement, the independent journalists reported that MEDIA has already refused to register more than 10 outlets which “have been operating for a long time, citing technical reasons.”
They elaborated on the consequences of failing to register.
“Currently, unregistered media and journalists are not even allowed to attend open sessions of the parliament, obstacles are created for journalists to carry out their professional activities in the regions of Azerbaijan,” they wrote.
Ulvi Hasanli, one of the signatories and executive director of the investigative outlet Abzas Media, told Eurasianet that he sees no point in attempting to register since “the law is just prohibitions from top to bottom.”
Abzas’ unregistered status has already hindered its work, though. Spokespeople of various state agencies refuse to talk to Abzas’ reporters or answer written inquiries, once they know that the outlet isn’t registered, he said.
Pro-government media, predictably, are supportive of the registry, and have launched a campaign against its opponents. In a piece titled “Fabrication of ‘free speech’ by those who don’t register,” news site Modern.az went so far as to suggest that signatories of the statement were working for Iran, where Azerbaijan’s embassy was attacked recently.
“For some reason, despite the fact that the main agenda item of the country is the terrorist attack in Iran and the rightful position of Azerbaijan, some secret hands reaching out to our country from abroad are busy confusing the situation by manipulating public opinion,” it read, going on to cite editors of several other pro-government news agencies attacking their colleagues for resisting registration.
The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe called for the law to be abolished in a report last June titled “Azerbaijan media law: overregulation in an already restrictive environment.” “The law attempts to regulate almost everything related to the media sector in Azerbaijan, including online media, and has a problematic focus on restricting the activities of the media rather than creating the necessary conditions enabling the media to fulfill their ‘public watchdog’ role,” the commission wrote.
The journalists who oppose the registry have started the hashtag #we_don’t_want_licensed_media on social media, and held their first public discussion on February 6.
“The law must be dismantled. Campaigns against the registry must continue. Having the law as it is now will create many problems for journalists, the government and society,” veteran journalist Arif Aliyev told the event.
The Home Office has decided not to award £150,000-worth of grants to Windrush community organisations, amid internal disagreement about whether funds should be given to groups that have expressed criticism of the government on social media.
In December, civil servants approved applications from 15 organisations to receive about £10,000 of funding each from the Windrush community engagement fund, a grant established in the wake of the 2018 citizenship scandal.
However, their decision was blocked by the home secretary’s private office, because advisers were concerned that two of the groups approved for funding had retweeted posts expressing criticism of the Home Office.
The Windrush National Organisation, the UK’s largest Windrush community organisation, and the University of Leicester Pro Bono clinic, working with the Highfields community centre, both had their grant approval questioned.
Discussions over whether or not they could be removed from the recommended list caused a long delay to the grant process, and eventually the department had decided to scrap the allocation of the fund for 2022-23, a Home Office source said.
The source said there was nothing abusive in the contentious tweets, which consisted of retweeted articles from the Guardian and the Independent covering government immigration policy and pieces highlighting issues around race.
The Windrush community engagement fund was set up to support community groups to raise awareness of the government’s compensation and documentation scheme, and of the Home Office’s other initiatives to support those affected by the department’s Windrush errors, which led to thousands of legal UK residents being mistakenly classified as immigration offenders.
Applicants to the cancelled fund received letters from the Home Office stating: “We are writing to inform you that we are unfortunately withdrawing the competition for this financial year and no funding will be awarded.
“Unfortunately, we have experienced delays with our internal assessment of the latest community engagement fund (CEF) bids leaving successful applicants very little time to spend money before the end of the financial year.”
The letter added: “We will relaunch the competition next financial year. We know this is disappointing news.”
Asked at a public meeting last week about the decision not to distribute £150,000-worth of grants, Angela Wilson, a Home Office civil servant and head of the Windrush external engagement team, said: “This was to do with internal problems with our assessment criteria.”
Applicants to the fund responded with frustration at the time wasted in submitting applications for small grant allocations that were then not distributed.
The source said the eligibility criteria were likely to be rewritten for next year, to request that applicants be prepared to “work constructively” with the Home Office.
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Bishop Desmond Jaddoo, the chair of the Windrush National Organisation, was unaware of the context behind the cancellation of the 2022-23 grants. He said his organisation had had a constructive working relationship with the Home Office to date.
“Community-led engagement is intrinsic to righting the wrongs of the Windrush scandal and any available community engagement fund must be timely and commensurate to support the much-needed engagement requirements across the affected diverse communities in the UK and abroad,” he said.
Laura Bee, from the Leicester University Pro Bono clinic, which assists people to make applications to the Windrush compensation scheme, said she had not been told anything about the background to the “disappointing” decision to cancel the fund allocations for last year.
Her organisation had not put anything on social media about Windrush, but the Highfields community centre, where they were planning to hold events, and with whom they had submitted a joint application, had occasionally retweeted articles about Home Office policy.
“Our clinic is well-placed to raise awareness about the compensation scheme and help potential claimants to access the scheme. Our student advisers really value the opportunity to carry out this important work,” she said.
A Home Office spokesperson said the decision to withdraw the fund had been taken due to “internal delays”, and that the scheme would be relaunched in the new financial year. “We continue to provide comprehensive engagement and information to organisations to enable them to support affected individuals,” the spokesperson said.
Media
Media Advisory – Governor General to meet with the President of the United States – Yahoo Canada Finance
OTTAWA, ON, March 21, 2023 /CNW/ – Ontario–Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, will welcome the Honourable Joe Biden, President of the United States, on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at 6:25 p.m., at the Canada Reception Centre at the Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport. The Governor General and Mr. Whit Fraser will then meet with President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States.
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Date: |
Thursday, March 23, 2023 |
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Time: |
6:25 p.m. (EDT) |
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Location: |
Canada Reception Centre at the Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport |
Notes for media:
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All media must be accredited with the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
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Photos of the meeting taken by the Governor General’s official photographer will be made available upon request.
Stay connected:
Follow GovernorGeneralCanada on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
SOURCE Governor General of Canada
View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2023/21/c8738.html
Media
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As we continue to mark the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we look at how the corporate U.S. media helped pave the way for war by uncritically amplifying lies and misrepresentations from the Bush administration while silencing voices of dissent. Longtime media critic Norman Solomon says many of the same media personalities and news outlets that pushed aggressively for the invasion then are now helping to solidify an elite consensus around the Ukraine war. “In the mass media, being pro-war is portrayed as objective. Being antiwar is portrayed as being biased,” he says. Solomon is author of War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death and the forthcoming War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.
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