Azerbaijan, Baku, May 4 / Trend , A. Huseynbala/
Azerbaijani Press Council says results of the international opinion poll are not impartial.
"One can not say that Azerbaijani press does not face problems. We should do our utmost to address them," Press Council head Aflatun Amashov told Trend .
Freedom House, an organization dedicated to promoting free institutions worldwide, conducted survey on media situation in 195 countries. The countries are divided into three parts in the survey: free, partially free and non-free.
Freedom House survey described Azerbaijan as non-free country.
According to the survey published on May 1, Azerbaijan figures 168 for the media freedom among 195 countries.
Azerbaijan is left behind by neighbor Armenia and Georgia in the list.
Armenia is described as "non-free" country at 144th and Georgia as partially free at 128th place. The survey described 64 countries as non-free, 59 partially free and 72 as free countries.
Amashov said fewer countries have launched Media Assistance Fund to improve financial state of media outlets over the last years.
"We make efforts to release imprisoned journalists. Our aim is to form a media dependent on neither government, nor opposition," he added.
Amashov said the results of the Freedom House survey surprised him very much.
"In the list Azerbaijan is preceded by countries which do not have freedom of speech at all. Some African countries and Armenia can never have more media freedom than Azerbaijan," Amashobv added.
There are over 3,300 registered media outlets in Azerbaijan. Only 600 of them are operating today. As many as 400 accounts for paper and magazines and 20 television channels. There are about 50 electronic media outlets and 20 news agencies. The remaining are internet resources.
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at [email protected]