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Do amendments to Article 32 of Azerbaijan Constitution restrict the journalistic activity? â€“ OPINION POLL

Do amendments to Article 32 of Azerbaijan Constitution restrict the journalistic activity? â€“ <font color=red>OPINION POLL</font>

01 April 2009 13:29 (UTC +04:00)

It was said in the amendment that except the cases â€œenvisaged by the law, no one can be shadowed, video, photo, voice of no one can be recorded without his/her permission or ignoring his/her objectionâ€, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, member of the parliamentâ€™s standing commission for state-building and legal policy, told APA. He said the journalistic activity was regulated by the laws on mass media and freedom of information. These laws allow to journalists to be free in collecting the information. â€œSome people say that if any public figure or official commits a crime, the journalist will not monitor their actions. It is profoundly incorrect. The Criminal Code reads that not only the journalist, but ordinary citizen has information about any crime and doesnâ€™t report about that, he/she has responsibility for inactivityâ€, said the parliamentarian.

Hasanguliyev said if any person objected the videotape, it must be stopped, because everybody had a right for private life. Therefore there is no restriction for the journalists in this amendment. Unfortunately some people forget about the phrase â€œexcept the cases envisaged by the lawâ€ in the introduction of the amendment.

Hasanguliyev said if journalist wanted to make report on private life of any public figure or official, which is interesting for the society it would depend on the situation and on the public figure or official. â€œIf the person protests the videotape, but the journalist ignores the protests and continues taping, it will be considered as a violation of Constitution, because private life of everyone is inviolable. In any case, the final decision can be made by the courtâ€. Hasanguliyev said it was impossible that some officials would use the amendment for other goals. â€œThe journalist has a freedom to collect information. He/she asks the question. It is different matter that whether the question would be answered or not. The journalist can collect information within the legislative regulations and not interfering into the private life. The journalist is responsible only in the case of private life. However if any official commits actions contrary to morality, violates the law, the journalist has a right to collect information about that, to publish it and even to inform the law-enforcement bodies, to write critical articleâ€.

Chairman of Azerbaijan Press Council Aflatun Amashov said that no one could ban the reports of social importance. He said amendments to Article 32 of the Constitution were described in the different laws. The mass media law also allows using of secret audio- and videotape only with the permission of the taped person. Otherwise it is banned.

The law on â€œMass mediaâ€ also envisages the right to refute and this law determined the rules of refutation. These issues were envisaged in the previous laws,â€ he said.
Aflatun Amashov said the restriction in the constitution does not concern the issues of social importance.
â€œIt should be determined which information may be regarded as socially important. This issue will be discussed in the Press Council and we will more likely prepare an advisory document for journalists,â€ he said.

Asked whether the amendment to Article 32 will cause problem for journalists, Amashov said journalists will not face serious problems, if they work within the framework of the power allowed by the law.

Teacher of journalism faculty of Baku State University, expert on media issues Zeynal Mammadli told APA that the European Court of Human Rights has a notice on the information about private life of public figures and officials, this notice should be applicable to Azerbaijan, too.
â€œPublic figure and officials, even their private lives can be criticized, but there are certain terms. Media can cover the moments of the private life, which are of social importance. Taking into account the practice of our courts, the case in connection with an official was rarely solved in line with the European norms. This is the problem. The notions of official and public figure are not explained in our law. This poses threat. It is not known who may be considered an official, or a public figure. All this shows that the amendments made to Article 32 of the Constitution will create obstacles in the real life,â€ he said.

Zeynal Mammadli said it is normal if this amendment is applicable to ordinary people.
â€œBut it is not normal if we speak about an official and a public figure. In this case we should explain the notion of official and public figure. If a journalist has got facts, audio and video records about negative actions of an official, he should not be obliged to hide the facts because of the amendments to the constitution,â€ he said.

Director of Media Rights Institute Rashad Hajili said according to the amendment made to Article 32, secret audio, video recording is prohibited.
â€œOf course, it is connected with the protection of private life. But unambiguous prohibition of shooting will result in the restriction of journalistsâ€™ freedom of media and expression. This will result in the imbalance between these rights. Life of ordinary people is not interesting for journalists. They collect information about life of persons of public importance. This boundary is not clearly shown in the law,â€ he said.

Editor-in-chief of 525-ci qezet Rashad Majid said the attitude towards the amendment to Article 32 is not unambiguous. He said the amendment will not create serious problems for journalists.
â€œVarious laws envisage restrictions to interfere in the private life of a citizen without his (her) consent. But according to the international documents, these restrictions do not concern with the life of public figures. I think, thatâ€™s why sometimes famous people are blackmailed, or black PR is used. In most cases it does not serve journalism. Thatâ€™s why this amendment may cause problem only for the politicians carrying our black PR against each other,â€ he said.

Rashad Majid considers that â€œracketeeringâ€ journalism played a special role in making this amendment to the constitution.
â€œThey formed an opinion that journalists abuse freedom of expression,â€ he said.
Asked whether the attitude of officials towards media will change, the editor-in-chief said it was mainly connected with the personal features of officials.
â€œSome officials are open to media, some are closed, the others do not contact media. Therefore, amendments to the constitution do not change their attitude towards media,â€ he said.