Azerbaijan’s Press Council received 815 complaints since last congress

Photo: Trend News Agency

BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 16. The Press Council of Azerbaijan has received a total of 815 complaints, the vast majority of which (691) were resolved through the Secretariat, with the parties involved reaching a mutual understanding and agreement, Chairman of the Press Council, Rashad Majid, said at the 9th Congress of Azerbaijani Journalists in Baku on Friday, Trend’s correspondent reports from the event.

He pointed out that, as no agreement could be reached regarding the remaining 124 complaints, the collected materials were referred to the Council’s Complaints Commission for review.

"Of the 124 cases reviewed by the Complaints Commission, 86 were resolved at the commission level. The findings regarding the other 38 cases were submitted to the Board for a final decision. Consequently, the Council’s Board issued a total of 38 decisions during the period between the congresses.

The decisions primarily highlight instances where journalists failed to adequately present the opposing side's perspective, and relevant recommendations have been issued. It should also be noted that, in addition to numerous complaints resolved at the secretariat level, the сouncil has received many verbal inquiries, roughly twice the number of formal, written complaints.

While many of these complaints express dissatisfaction with journalists, the underlying issues often fall outside the scope of the Press Council's mandate. Nevertheless, there have been a significant number of cases that we were able to resolve by facilitating discussions between the parties involved," he noted.