Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend K.Ramazanova / On 21 June, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, issued a special report today on the problems faced by journalists when covering political demonstrations.The paper titled, "Handling of the media during political demonstrations: Observations and Recommendations", was presented during Haraszti's regular report to the OSCE Permanent Council, the Organization's regular decision-making body.
"Law-enforcement officials have a constitutional responsibility not to prevent or obstruct the work of journalists during public demonstrations," said Miklos Haraszti."And journalists have a right to expect fair and restrained treatment by the police," he added. The report and its recommendations were developed following an increase in the severity of the treatment of journalists by law-enforcers in some of the fifty-six OSCE participating States in recent months.