Turnarounds Are More Than A Tip-toe Through The Tulips

Michael Hedges October 3, 2011 Follow on Twitter

Systemic change offers opportunities for new thinking about a nation’s media. Wholesale upheavals, from “flower” and "color" revolutions to “springtime” protests and, even, wars, would seem to create the right conditions. And, too, the digital revolution should open the media space. Reality, though, is a laggard.

In the South Caucasus region – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia - television outweighs all other media. In a recent study of Armenia’s media landscape by the Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) (July 2011) 90% said they get information through TV and just 7% via the internet. Television is similarly dominant in Georgia, though internet and mobile media usage is rising rapidly and the print sector is reasonably healthy. The picture, literally, is the same in Azerbaijan.

In the two decades since the fall of the Soviet Union, media development in those former client States has taken an all too familiar trajectory. A history of media control under authoritarian regimes begets more of the same. State media dominates with an aside to “friendly” private sector owners. Newspaper readership is low, TV viewership is high and all media has that tabloid edge. Media workers are harassed, often jailed and occasionally come to bodily harm.

Western governments and the occasional philanthropist have and continue to invest in media development in the South Caucasus. Training programs abound as well as direct grants for capital expenditures. While major international advertisers have increased their investments in the region most of that spending goes toward product merchandising rather than media outlets. Local ad spending is often divvied up according to special relationships.

The Web is having a definite impact in much of the region, certainly in urbanized areas. IPTV channels, internet radio stations and local Web portals are gaining viewers, listeners and readers. The number of Facebook users in Azerbaijan has risen to more than 6% of the country’s population, reported Facebakers Research (September 20), gaining over 100,000 users in the first four months of 2011. Facebook users in Armenia doubled in the last six months of 2010, according to NEWS.am (January 6). More than 600,000 Georgians use the popular social networking site.

One of the more popular Georgian language social network site is chemikucha.ge, which provides a dialogue between officials and citizens. It was launched as a platform for reporting not insignificant problems with street repair. Using his official Facebook page for questions, Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava hosted a “question time” program via LiveStream last June. But underscoring the tentative South Caucasus reality, an elderly woman in Georgia scavenging for copper cut off the internet to and from Armenia completely last March for several hours. Internet service in Georgia and Azerbaijan was also affected.

Authorities interest in or willingness to restrict internet access in the region is far less than clamping down on traditional media. The Azeri government in 2010 proposed a licensing regime for internet service providers and websites but, apparently, lost interest. According to 2010 ITU figures, 27% of Azeri’s had access to the internet, double the 2008 rate.

Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are Council of Europe (CoE) members and, as such, are bound by conventions on human rights, pluralism, rule of law, freedom of expression and information. Reviewing a 2010 report critical of human rights in Azerbaijan, CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg noted little progress in a year. “One of my recommendations was to end practices of unjustified or selective criminal prosecution of journalists or critical opinion makers,” he said in a statement (September 29). “However, resort to such methods has apparently not abated. Fabricated charges have been used to arrest and silence parliamentary candidates, journalists and members of youth groups. Such intimidation is inconsistent with the principles of a democratic society founded on human rights principles and the rule of law.”

In late August a reporter for US funded Radio Liberty was grabbed off the street in Nakhchivan, driven to the Iranian border and told not to come back. Nakhchivan is a semi-autonomous enclave separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by a sliver of Armenia. Correspondent for Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety (IRFS) Hakimeldostu Mehdiyev, subject of continual harassment by local Azeri authorities, was fined €900 (September 27) for “illegal use of electricity.”

Azerbaijan is scheduled to host the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) next May, the annual international song and costume television event organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). An Azeri singing duo won the ESC, giving authorities the opportunity to answer a few questions. The ESC Reference Group, comprised of representatives from several EBU public broadcaster members, visited the capital Baku in late August and confirmed Azeri state broadcaster Ictimai TV and Radio Company as the official local host producer. A venue has yet to be announced.

Regardless of where it’s held, the ESC is a major television event. The EBU has a lot riding on a smooth performance and 60 years experience so no detail passes their scrutiny. “It's paramount for us that during Eurovision weeks, people be able to come to Azerbaijan; the contestants, the delegations, journalists be able to come in and work freely,” said Eurovision Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand to Radio Liberty (September 1). “It is very important for us. We have asked the government to simplify the visa rules. It should be easy to come and work here.”

“Simplifying the visa regime ahead of Eurovision is not under discussion,” snapped Samad Seyidov, Azerbaijan’s delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), quoted by Radio Liberty (September 3). “Azerbaijan has historical traditions of hospitability, therefore I think no problem will arise regarding this issue.”

“We have already informed the EBU that we do not need half-guarantees from Azerbaijan, we need guarantees of the Union,” said Armenian Public Television chairman  Aleksan Harutyunyan, quoted by NEWS.am (September 7). Armenian, a long time ESC participant, has demanded security guarantees for its contestants and delegation. Armenia and Azerbaijan have a long standing feud over the slice of land known as Nagorno-Karabakh . They are technically still at war and have no diplomatic relations.

The EBU maintains it is not a political body but, once again, it’s thrust into the role of peacemaker. The theory that no two countries with McDonalds burger-houses go to war was effectively debunked with the 2008 conflict between Georgia and Russia. The 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku is still several months – and a few negotiations - away.

Media development in the South Caucasus region will be bound by engagement, some of which will be televised.

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