I am sorry that articles connected with religion in Azerbaijan's media are written by non-professionals, those who have no enough ides and information on this subject, Khidayat Orujov, Chairman of the State Committee for Affairs with Religious Organizations stated during today's round tale discussion organized between the State Committee and the Press Council of the Country and held in the Baku International Press-Centre.
I have always asked journalists to seek advice from one another when writing about different religious topics. In the early 1990s, they wrote many articles on national policy issues, and many of these articles were non-professional and of a poor quality. For the last two to three years, a similar situation has arisen with regards to religion. Though many journalists write about religion, only a few of them are familiar with this subject. Journalists who write about religion and comment on the religion situation in the country, should be careful from the point of view of protecting the interest of the people, statehood, national and spiritual values, as well as the model of the religious ideals and religious activity, pointed out Mr. Orujov.
Aflatun Amashov, Chairman of the Press Council, brought to the attention of the participants of certain events that occurred in recent months which showed that there had been attempts to breed contention between different religious beliefs practiced in the country. This was due to the press either not providing adequate information or distorting the facts when writing religious articles.
Therefore, it is necessary to protect religious values. As a result of monitoring conducted by the Press Council of the Country, it was clear that religious articles were full of inadequate information. Due to this, the Baku Islamic University, jointly with the Press Council, are about to hold training sessions to increase the qualifications of journalists in this regard, said Mr. Amashov.
Participants of the round table held a discussion devoted to a topic of protection of traditions and respectful attitude toward religious values in the country.