Media Development Agency highlights major quality shift in Azerbaijani Media

BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 11. Scrutinizing the 150-year history of our national press, it should be unequivocally emphasized that the press emerged as a phenomenal example in the history of Azerbaijan, the Executive Director of the Media Development Agency, Ahmad Ismayilov, said, Trend reports.

He made the remark at the opening ceremony of the forum"Media of the Future: Following in the Footsteps of 'Akinchi.''

According to the Executive Director, following similar processes in the context of the world history of journalism, we see that journalism as a separate profession was formed as a result of the development of capitalist relations, industrial revolutions, while in Azerbaijan, this process went in a completely different direction.

''The aim of young personalities of that time, who published other national newspapers, starting from “Ekinchi”, was only to fight for the enlightenment of the nation and the creation of secular schools,'' he added.

Ismayilov noted that the Azerbaijani press had to operate under strict censorship at all times:

Naturally, such conditions were considered a serious obstacle for journalism to fully fulfill its function. Only in 1998, as a result of the abolition of censorship by the historic decision of National Leader Heydar Aliyev, the traditions of the Azerbaijani independent press began to strengthen. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly emphasized that he sees development in the media sphere literally in the strengthening of independent media," he emphasized.

The media representative added that the main goal of media reforms implemented in Azerbaijan over the past 5 years is to protect Azerbaijan's information space and strengthen the potential of journalism.

"Already now we can talk about the first results of media reforms and note with confidence that serious qualitative changes are observed in the work of our media. One of the significant contributions of media reforms is the state's support of the process of formation of youth interest in the media sphere," he concluded.