The Press Council’s Commission on Complaints, headed by its deputy chairman and the International Eurasia Press Fund chairman Umud Rahimoglu, has examined complaints against four websites, said the Press Council in an official statement.
Regarding Yardimli Regional Executive Power’s complaint against the Bizimxeber.az news website, the Commission came to a conclusion that the article that triggered the complaint failed to ensure balance and to obtain the opinion of the opposite party. In turn this opened the way for other ethical violations. Referring to the inadmissibility of the attempts to humiliate the honor and dignity and to discredit a person’s reputation, the Commission recommended that the Bizimxeber.az website delete the article in question and either publish a retraction or obtain the opposite party’s comments.
Following the complaints submitted by the Council of State Support to NGOs under the President of the Azerbaijan Republic against the Xeber.info and Arqument.az websites, both sites received warnings. According to the Commission’s conclusion, the January 23 article – which was published on both websites under the same heading and with the same content – violated many of the principles and provisions of the Professional Behavior Rules of Azerbaijani Journalists. The article claimed that the chairman of the Council of State Support to NGOs under the President of the Azerbaijan Republic, MP Azay Guliyev, has created a monopoly in the NGO sector, whereby he requests money from NGOs that want to obtain official state registration.
The Commission also decided to issue a warning to Azerbaijan Information Agency. The decision stated that the Agency’s attitude towards the Absheron District State Archive, as revealed in an article, undermine the image of media. The article in question has been deleted from the agency’s website.