Press Release

Proposed TV and Radio Law Poses Major Problems

July 1, 2002

by John Boit, Internews Azerbaijan Country Director

BAKU, Azerbaijan—Internews is deeply concerned that a draft law governing television and radio broadcasters in Azerbaijan poses a serious setback to the country’s independent media.

The proposed law “On TV and Radio Broadcasting” passed the Milli Majlis (Azeri Parliament) in third reading last week. It now heads to the office of President Heydar Aliyev. The president has until Aug. 20 to sign the bill into law.

One of the major goals of the new law was expected to be the establishment of a transparent licensing mechanism for broadcasters, as well as create a national regulatory body to oversee broadcasting operations. However, Internews considers the proposed law to be riddled with potential problems, including:

• The regulatory body will be established by the President, leaving little chance for a truly independent governing board that would allow independent media to flourish in a fair and transparent manner;
• The draft law does not define clear licensing procedures;
• The draft law does not stipulate that members of the regulatory body should not be allowed to hold any financial or political interests in the broadcasting sphere;
• There is no stated guarantee that the regulatory board will be financially and politically independent of the government;
• The proposed law does not define how or when the regulatory body will make public its activities and decisions;
• There is a major ambiguity in the draft law in that it refers at times to the legislation governing commercial broadcasters, while at other times referring to its oversight of state broadcasting, public broadcasting and community broadcasting.

Internews believes that this draft law poses a serious threat to broadcasters, particularly to those regional broadcasters who have struggled so hard over the past year to secure official broadcast frequencies. Internews is concerned that the signing of this bill could signal a return to government harassment through administrative means of broadcasters, and would be a major step backward in legal reforms for the media.

Internews urges President Aliyev to refuse to sign this bill into law, sending it back instead to the Milli Majlis for redrafting. Internews further urges all foreign diplomatic missions, in particular the Council of Europe, to which Azerbaijan was made a member in 2001, to voice their concerns that such legislation is not worthy of a government attempting to move toward democratic ideals.