The meeting was held at National Television and Radio Council

On November 2, 2021 National Television and Radio Council has held a meeting with the program directors and heads of the news departments of the nationwide television channels.

At the meeting, it was said about the non-observance of personal integrity issues in the news shown in recent days on a number of television channels regarding an 11-year-old girl who had been raped and gave birth to a child, about the negative consequences of such cases, which caused widespread discussion on television air space.

The Chair of the Council Ismat Sattarov said that the open dissemination on the air of the identity of minors in connection with various criminal acts is wrong. The Code of Professional Ethics of Journalists of Azerbaijan, as well as other countries in general, clearly reflects this issue: if children have been subjected to sexual violence or committed crimes, their anonymity should be preserved on the air, when presenting events in programs, the requirements of personal integrity should be respected – the face should not be shown, the name and surname should  be changed, the necessary measures are taken to not recognize the victim and prevent additional psychological pressure. General or one-sided interpretation of the incident, interviews with child victims, subjective opinion and broadcasting of discussions on social networks around the event on the nationwide air are unacceptable.

During the meeting, there was also an exchange of views on the statistics of the plots and reports broadcast on television channels related to the martyrs of the Patriotic War, and it was recommended to prepare and broadcast materials about the martyrs about whom stories and reports have never been broadcasted on any channel yet.