Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 10
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
Western media outlets, particularly, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) conduct purposeful campaign against Azerbaijan, wrote Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, former editor for the Jerusalem Post and former editor-in-chief of the Baltimore Jewish Times, in her article posted by Foreign Policy News.
“The US-government funded broadcasting organization Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) provides news updates and on-demand audio of broadcasts in different languages to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. It was established as an American propaganda machine, chiefly against the Soviets and their satellites. Though that need has since dissipated, Congress keeps RFE/RL running – on taxpayer dollars,” says the article.
But while the organization claims to be a non-biased member of the free press, its reporting reflects otherwise, according to the article.
“A 2013 report by the Office of the Inspector General of the US Department of State found that the and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which is supposed to provide a firewall against political influence on its new broadcasting is poorly structured and lax about observing its own bylaws, which leads to both internal conflicts and conflicts of interest,” says the article.
“The challenge is even more acute when you look at the fact that RFE/RL is not only misreporting, but propagandizing against US allies.”
“A few years ago, I reported about RFE/RL’s coverage of US ally Azerbaijan in a piece published by Roll Call. Then, I found that in a one-month period, RFE/RL had published 30 articles and videos about Azerbaijan, not one celebrating the country’s efforts to build an inclusive, tolerant society, its strong international collaboration and friendship with America and even Israel. Instead, articles accused Azerbaijan, a stable ally of the US in the Caspian region, of being a closed, anti-democratic and fear-mongering society,” wrote Jaffe-Hoffman.
However, there is still clearly an anti-Azerbaijan agenda, according to the author.
“My guess is that this is largely because the country is pro-Western and anti-terrorist, and therefore journalists fear coming out against it less than they do rogue regimes,” said Jaffe-Hoffman.
A free press is the foundation of any vibrant and viable democracy. If any media outlet is a propaganda machine, pandering to special interest groups, personal agendas, money or even fear of reprisal by extremist regimes or terrorists, then readers need to label it as such, says the article.