OSCE and BBC train Azerbaijani journalists in elections reporting

BAKU, 12 February, 2003 -  A two-week training course on election reporting has just been launched by the OSCE Office in Baku in conjunction with the BBC Training Centre, based in Yekaterinburg, Russia. 

Experts will train around 25 staff members of the local independent TV and radio stations as well as press officers of the political parties. The programme is designed to help the participants improve their professional skills and play a more significant role as the main messenger between the people and their representatives before, during and after elections.  

"The way in which the media cover an election campaign is a topic of crucial importance", said Ambassador Burkhard, Head of the OSCE Office in Baku.

"A free and fair election is not only about casting a vote in the proper conditions. It is also about having adequate information about the parties, policies, candidates, as well as knowledge of the election process itself so that voters can make an informed choice. A democratic election with no media freedom would be a contradiction in terms". 

The programme, which is the first of a series of seminars for Azerbaijani media to be organized by the OSCE Office in Baku, will focus particularly on how media outlets can educate the voters to exercise their democratic rights, report on the development of the election campaign, and provide a platform for the political parties to communicate their message to the electorate. 

In view of the fact that this is a presidential election year in Azerbaijan, the OSCE Office intends to organize such training programmes over coming months, in the capital of Baku as well as throughout the country.