IDI states poor coverage by mass media of parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan

On October 8, the "Institute for Democratic Initiatives" (IDI) released the first monitoring report on how Azerbaijani media are covering the preparation for the November 1 parliamentary elections and the electoral race. The report covers the period of September 1-30.

In September, the topic of parliamentary elections took less than 10 percent of prime time on air of Azerbaijani TV channels. At the same time, the opposition was not able to take full advantage of TV broadcasts live on air, the report says.

Commenting on the results of the study, Akif Gurbanov, the head of the IDI, said that they show little attention to the elections by TV channels.

"TV channels and general mass media, financed by the state, provide only positive information about the authorities. Television gives no alternative viewpoints at all. Unfortunately, this trend affects the whole nature of the electoral campaign. It is characterized by obstacles to the opposition and independent candidates. It turns out that television forms the opinion that the current power has no alternatives. It is a very dangerous trend, knocking Azerbaijan off the path of democracy," said the head of the IDI.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.