The Death of Journalism in Azerbaijan

In his first 100 days in office, Trump dismantled the U.S. government’s main overseas aid agency, USAID – which he said was run by “radical lunatics” –  freezing billions of dollars in global aid projects, including an estimated $268 million to support independent media around the world. (OCCRP’s parent organization has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the funding freeze.)

Trump also forced the shutdown of international news services including Voice of America by withdrawing funding. VoA and other U.S.-funded media targeted by Trump, such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, often provided the only alternatives to state-run media networks in undemocratic states.

Surveillance And Smearing Used To Target Critical Journalists 

In parallel with Azerbaijan’s crackdown on independent journalists, pro-government media have waged a campaign that reinforces allegations of illegal funding, sometimes publishing what they claim are private conversations involving the accused or their friends and family.

Journalists targeted said that although some of the private communications and footage shown in the reports may have been fabricated, some appeared to be genuine, raising questions about how they were obtained. 

Reports from Baku TV, a prominent pro-government outlet, have included what it said were screenshots of text and audio messages between Meydan TV journalists on Signal and Slack. 

Another pro-government media outlet, Qafqazinfo.az, presented a montage of what it said were documents including grant project proposals and a freelance contract, mainly related to Toplum TV and one of its journalists. 

Azeri-Press Agency (APA) published screenshots which it alleged showed private calls and messages between a journalist in Azerbaijan and Meydan TV journalists operating abroad, as well as personal information allegedly belonging to Meydan TV freelancer Nurlan Gahramanli. That report was soon followed by Nurlan’s arrest.

Meydan TV’s management told OCCRP they believed the genuine material used in the pro-government takedowns of the outlet’s journalists may have been obtained “under duress.”.

“Our journalists have been subjected to police brutality and threats in attempts to gain access to their electronic devices,” they alleged.

An Abzas Media representative told OCCRP that local law enforcement had been providing material to pro-government media to “defame journalists” and “discredit them in the public eye.”

Media freedom advocates also raised concerns about how the authorities and pro-government media would have obtained such private information. 

OCCRP reported in 2021 on the targeting of dozens of Azerbaijani journalists by Pegasus spyware. London-based NGO Media Defence, which is providing legal help to several detained Azerbaijani journalists, has since filed applications to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of a number of victims, alleging the state violated their privacy.

“Whether [the authorities] secured it through hacking their phones, through monitoring them, through surveilling them in other ways, I think in combination, all of this has a very serious impact on the way in which journalists conduct their activity,” said Pádraig Hughes, legal director of Media Defence.

Baku TV, APA, and Qafqaz did not respond to requests for comment. 

Who Controls The Media in Azerbaijan? 

In its latest report, RSF said that “virtually the entire media sector is under official control” in Azerbaijan.

“No independent television or radio is transmitted from within the country, and all print newspapers with a critical stance have been shut down,” the report said. 

The government owns three television stations, including AzTV, and a news agency called Azertag. 

But there are also dozens of privately owned pro-government outlets  — and a lack of transparency requirements means details about who controls them are not publicly recorded. Azerbaijan’s government banned public access to company ownership information in 2012. 

Baku TV, for example, is part of a holding company called Global Media Group (GMG), which also controls several other pro-government media outlets in Azerbaijan — including Report News Agency and the news website Oxu.Az — as well as Haber Global TV in neighboring Turkey. 

But public records do not show who owns GMG. 

According to publicly available documents registered with Azerbaijan’s tax authorities, GMG’s legal representative and board chair is a former state transport ministry official called Elnur Abdullayev.

His Facebook page shows him with President Aliyev on two occasions. Aliyev awarded him an honorary diploma in 2020 for “services in the development of mass media in the Republic of Azerbaijan.”

In May 2024, GMG became a signatory to the U.N. Global Compact, a voluntary initiative in which businesses pledge to abide by sustainability principles, including human rights. The pledge was signed by Abdullayev.

An email sent to Abdullayev via GMG went unanswered.