The Milli Majlis (Parliament of Azerbaijan) has approved a set of new requirements for information agencies during the first reading of a proposed amendment to the country’s “Law on Media.”
According to Azernews, the legislative proposal was reviewed during an extraordinary session of parliament held on July 4.
The draft law outlines several new criteria that information agencies must meet. Notably, agencies will be required to maintain contracts for information supply or acquisition with at least 20 media entities. In addition, they must have accredited journalists in no fewer than five foreign countries.
Moreover, to qualify as active under the law, an agency must ensure that at least 80 percent of the content it publishes on at least 20 days per month complies with the standards outlined in Article 60.5 of the Media Law.
Article 60.5 specifies that online media outlets are considered active if they publish a minimum of 20 mass information items daily over a period of 20 days in a given month.
Another key change affects print media. Under the proposed amendments, print media entities that are not registered in the national Media Registry will face publication and distribution bans. These restrictions would apply both to publishers and distributors of unregistered print products.
Following discussion, the proposed changes were put to a vote and approved in the first reading.
