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Media Should Create Equal Conditions for All Candidates: CE Expert

Politics Materials 26 August 2008 15:45 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, 26 August / Trend corr. I.Alizade / Pascal Muni, an expert of the Council of Europe (CE), believes that the key task of the media is not to spread politicians' statements, but the information, which citizens need.

"It is important that media should create equal conditions for everybody," the CE expert said at a conference in Baku on 26 August.

Organized by the CE and Azerbaijani New Generation Journalist Union, a conference on the Media and elections. Media's democratic responsibility was held in Baku on 26 August, Trend reported. The conference took place within the framework of the CE Actions Plan to improve professionalism of media in Azerbaijan on the eve of 2008presidential elections.

The CE expert said that the condition should be created for media's independent activity in the elections process. It is important that media should not damage moral issue, he said.

"At the same time, different media organizations prefer some political force in the developed countries. It is a normal case and it assists citizens in voting," Muni said.

Samad Seyidov, the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said that the presidential elections would be held in free and democratic conditions. Great responsibility falls on the media during the elections, he said: "It is important that media should carry out its duty in a required form."

According to Arif Aliyev, the chairman of the New Generation Journalists Union, monitoring of media has been held with regards to the elections for already two months.

"Media can change direction of developments because of its important role," Aliyev said.

The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]

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