Azerbaijan Media Monitoring of Presidential Elections (ISFR)
Reporters Without Borders

14 October 2008

There has hardly been any campaign coverage in the Azerbaijani media in the run up to the 15 October presidential elections, Reporters Without Borders found in its four-week monitoring of the campaign coverage, the results of which it released today. Outside free access programmes and free space in the state-supported dailies, the electorate has not been properly informed of the political choices available to them. The monitoring is part of a comprehensive "Media pluralism in the electoral period" project that is co-financed by the European Commission.

The qualitative and quantitative monitoring of the three TV channels, two radio stations and four dailies started on 17 September, the day that the state-funded media started airing free access programmes for the registered presidential candidates and continued through 13 October, until the campaign ended on the eve of election day.

The Reporters Without Borders team monitored news and current affairs programmes, including talk shows on social and/or political subjects on radio and television between 3 and 10 pm every day. In the print media, the team monitored all articles relating to news and current affairs in Azerbaijan.

Summary of findings
The team found there has been a shift in the news and current affairs coverage in the last two weeks of campaign, with more reports allocated to the electoral preparation per se and, to a lesser degree, to the candidates' activities. Yet, the media have failed to take a pro-active role in analyzing the candidates' track record, asking probing questions or comparing their platforms.

The coverage of the opposition parties boycotting the election was marginal.

The public channels ITV and IR complied with their statutory obligation to provide free airtime to the candidates. According to the Instruction of the Central Electoral Commission and to the Electoral Code, only the public television ITV and the public radio IR were allowed to carry free access programmes.  These programmes were arranged in the so-called 'round tables', starting at 21 hrs local time on the radio and at 18:50 hrs local time on TV.

The team found it remarkable that so little use has been made of the paid air time slots which should be made available to the candidates according to the CEC regulations. This fact combined with reports of a candidate's complaint to this effect calls for a clearer and a more transparent regulation of the paid access as well as more specific internal guidelines for broadcasters.

Both electronic and print media provided coverage to the registered candidates, yet in case of the state broadcaster AzTV and all of the monitored dailies, this time and space allocation was minimal, that is between 1.5% and 0.02%. The spread was equitable, if not equal, but in the said media, it was offset with a massive coverage of the incumbent president. For example, the AzTV gave the president 44.14% of the airtime with 68.84% of the direct speech allocation.

The team concluded that the monitored print media failed to adequately inform the readers of the campaign and the events in the country in general. The only political actors found in the dailies have been the incumbent president, the Central Electoral Commission, the late president Heydar Aliev, the Heydar Aliev Foundation and other states.

The public broadcaster ITV and IR, the state radio broadcaster AzR and the private channel ANS provided a broader variety of political actors and topics of coverage in their news and current affairs programmes. The ANS was the only broadcaster which gave direct speech to the candidates. The public broadcaster ITV had the largest share of news items where no political actors were mentioned (49.32%). Otherwise, the news on all channels was split between the reports relating to the executive branch of power and the foreign affairs and Azerbaijan's diplomatic activities. The media did not seem to use this important period in the life of the nation to discuss pressing social and political problems in the society.

Recommendations
The team therefore recommends that:
The right to fair and equitable access of all candidates to the media be spelled out in the Electoral Code
The rights of the candidates vis-à-vis the media, especially the complaint procedure, should be made more specific in the Electoral Code
A better editorial judgment be exercised on the part of the broadcasters and the dailies alike, so that the reports on the executive branch, especially the incumbent president, should not highjack the coverage of the election campaign.
Reports on the organizational aspects of the election, albeit of high importance, should not substitute the reports on the candidates' activities in the campaign period
Reports on candidates' activities be included in the editorial porgrammes
A more lively and probing format of free access programmes should be designed by the broadcasters, which would allow a more active part for journalists and a genuine debate among politicians.
Space for more probing and critical reporting on social and political affairs in the country be made by the broadcasters and dailies alike.

TV stations
The state broadcaster AzTV was not entitled to run free access programmes, thus its coverage of the election was minimal.  The candidates received between 0.08 and 0,01% of coverage in the news; the CEC received 4.46% of air time, and the most reported on political figured was the incumbent president with 44.14% of the allocated time. In comparison, the parliament received 3.30% of news coverage and  the H. Aliev Foundation received 13.28% of the coverage. Development of the infrastructure (26.09%) and culture (18.84%) were among the staples of reporting.. The electoral process and diplomatic activities (9.42%) also received substantial coverage.
The public broadcaster ITV had the obligation to provide free access time to the candidates, and it complied with the regulation. Its news coverage of the campaign was equitable, although rather marginal (between 0.42 and 0.10%). The major bulk of reporting focused on no political actors (49.32%) The other political actors were pretty much the same as the other broadcasters, e.g. other states (12.73%), CEC (6.88%), other ministries (5.18%). It lso held several talk show programmes on various aspects of the campaign, such as media and elections, and NGOs and  elections.
The ANS covered topics ranging from the electoral process and candidates' activities to anti-corruption measures, international relations, the armed conflict, the general security situation in the region, to organized religion, energy and culture. It, alongside the ITV, covered the opposition parties which boycott the election.. The ANS consistently covered activities of the registered candidates in the news. Among political actors, other ministries (25.12%), other states (12.90%) and no political actors (13.52%). In its current affairs programmes, the channel provided factual reports on various social problems in the country. It could only provide paid political access to the candidates, and that was minimal.

Radio stations
Both public radio channel IR and state radio channel AzR covered  the candidates in their news programmes, although minimally. Bothe channels provided a range of subjects of coverage, including the human rights, inter-ethnic relations, anti-corruption measures, economic reforms, general security situation and the like. While covering the standard range of political actors, other ministries received most coverage on both channels (15.97 and 19.44% respectively) Other states ( 12.25%) and CEC (11.27%) featured substantially on the ITV, whereas the incumbent president was allocated 25.88% on AzR.

Print media
The state-supported print medi caused the most concern in this monitoring exercise. The election coverage was minimal, being relegated to the  free space. The president was omnipresent, both in photos and text, taking up to 62.49% of space in Bakinskii Rabochii, 56.89 in Respublika, 57.12% in Azerbaijan and  55% in Xalq. Mostly the other actors included the H. Aliev Foundation and the late president H. Aliev. The CEC, the parliament and the cabinet of ministers were also covered.


The regulatory framework
The campaign coverage and, specifically, the allocation of free access programmes and space to the registered candidates are regulated by the Electoral Code and the CEC's directives, based on article 47 of the constitution and on the mass media and advertising laws.

A CEC directive of 18 July states that the campaign begins 28 days before the election date  and that the publicly-funded broadcast media shall provide at least three hours a week of free air time to the registered candidates. Similarly, the publicly-funded print media are required to provide free space to the candidates that is equivalent to at least 10 per cent of the total weekly editorial space before start of the campaign (para 3.6). Candidates must also be able to buy media space and air time. The privately-owned media may only provide paid access to candidates.


Monitored media

Broadcast media
Az TV (state TV station), ITV (public TV station), AzR (state radio station), IR (public radio station) and ANS (privately-owned TV station)

Print media
Halq (an Azerbaijani-language daily, published Tuesday to Saturday), Respublika (an Azerbaijani-language daily, Tuesday to Sunday), Azerbaycan (an Azerbaijani-language daily, Tuesday to Sunday), Bakinskiy Rabochiy (a Russian-language daily, Tuesday to Friday)

Candidates

The leaders of the main opposition groups are boycotting the elections. They are Isa Gambar of Musavat, Ali Kerimli of the Azerbaijan Popular Front, Lale Shovket of the Azerbaijan Liberal Party, Ali Aliyev of the Citizen and Development Party and Eldar Namazov Public Form For Azerbaijan .

The CEC has given its permission for seven candidates to stand in the presidential election, after they each collected at least 40,000 signatures. Aside from President Ilham Aliev of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Partiyasi, they are Gudrat Hasanguliev of the Popular Front of United Azerbaijan, Fazil Gazanfaroghlu of the Great Creation Party, Fouad Aliev of the Liberal Democratic Party, Igbal Agazade of the Umid (Hope) Party, Hafiz Hadjiev of the Musavat Modern Party and Gulamhusein Alibeyli, a former chair of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (PFPA).