The Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan issued warnings to "ATV" and "MTV" channels.
On October 5, 2022 the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan held meeting in online format. At the meeting, facts related to violations on the air of the channels "ATV" and "MTV" were discussed.
Firstly, the Members of the Council discussed the fact of violation of the requirements of Article 14.1.15 (the requirements provided for by the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Protection of children from harmful information" shall be complied with) of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Media" on October, 04, 2022 on "ATV" channel of nationwide terrestrial television broadcaster - Independent Television & Radio Company "Azad Azərbaycan".
Thus, on October 4, 2022, at 13.16 during broadcasting of TV series "Chukur" aired between 13.10 – 13.50 on "ATV" channel scenes of injury to a person by using a special tool and suffering of that person were publicly shown. And this contradicts the requirement of Article 4.3.1 (information demonstrating violence and cruelty, the distribution of which is limited among children of a certain age group) of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Protection of children from harmful information".
Further, the fact of violation of the requirements of Article 4.2.1 (information promoting violence and cruelty) of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Protection of children from harmful information" on October, 03, 2022 on "MTV" channel of platform broadcaster carrying out satellite broadcasting - "Muz TV Azərbaycan" LLC was discussed.
Thus, during the program "Ümid ilə gəl", which was broadcast on "MTV" channel from 13.10 to 16.00, on October, 03, 2022, the dialogue held between the teacher and the presenter Tarikh Aliev (Tolik) about teacher's beating of students, and such behavior was welcomed by the presenter during that dialogue. According to article 4.2.1 of the Law "On Protection of children from harmful Information", this fact refers to information promoting violence and cruelty. According to the Article 9.2.2 of this Law, a restriction is imposed on the distribution of information products stipulated by Articles 4.2 and 4.3.4 relating to the age categories "18+" and "16+", between 6.00 - 23.00 local time. According to the Article 14.15 of the Law "On Media", the requirements stipulated by the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Protection of children from harmful information" shall be complied with.
After the discussions, the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan issued a warnings to Independent Television & Radio Company "Azad Azərbaycan" ("ATV" channel) and to "Muz TV Azərbaycan" LLC ("MTV" channel), if similar cases are repeated, severe administrative sanctions will be imposed to the broadcasters.
