Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan ranked 171st of 180 countries in the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index, with a score of 23.95, falling four positions and 1.52 points from 167th and 25.47 in 2025. Reporters Without Borders says virtually the entire Azerbaijani media sector is under official control, identifies state-owned television as the country’s most popular source of information and reports that no independent television or radio service broadcasts from within the country.

The prosecution of independent journalists intensified during the review period. On 27 July 2026, the Baku Court on Grave Crimes sentenced nine journalists, media workers, civil-society activists and opposition figures in the Toplum TV case to terms totalling 120 years, 11 months and 28 days, approximately 121 years. Toplum TV founder Alasgar Mammadli received fourteen years. Akif Gurbanov and Ruslan Izzetli received fifteen years each, while the other defendants received terms ranging from just under twelve to fourteen years. The defendants were accused of illegally receiving and using Western donor funding as part of an organised criminal group. They denied the charges, and their lawyers said the verdicts would be appealed. The Associated Press reported the sentences.

In April 2026, the Supreme Court upheld the sentences imposed in June 2025 on six Abzas Media journalists and staff members and RFE/RL journalist Farid Mehralizada. Ulvi Hasanli, Sevinj Vagifgizi, Hafiz Babali and Mehralizada received nine years each; Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova received eight years each; and Mahammad Kekalov received seven and a half years. The seven sentences total 59.5 years. The defendants rejected the charges as retaliation for journalism. RFE/RL’s account of the original verdicts records the individual terms.

The trial of 12 journalists and media workers in the Meydan TV case remained under way during 2026. The authorities also continued proceedings against journalists living abroad, including convictions in absentia.

The regulatory architecture was reconstructed during the year. Legislation adopted in August 2026 abolished the Media Development Agency, transferred its functions to a new Media and Broadcasting Council and made that body the legal successor to the Audiovisual Council. President Ilham Aliyev appointed Ahmad Ismayilov as chairman and appointed six other members on 8 September 2026. The appointments are recorded by the President’s office. The restructuring consolidated state regulation without establishing an authority independent of the executive.

State Media Monitor maps five entries in Azerbaijan. All are classified State-Controlled, and none sits in the independent family.

AzTV, Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting, is a closed joint-stock company operating three television channels and two radio services. Azerbaijan’s 2026 budget allocates it AZN 42,366,255. The current service roster is confirmed by AzTV’s official platform. İTV, the Public Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, is a statutory public-service broadcaster operating television and radio services. Its 2026 allocation is AZN 21,776,383. Azerbaijan State Press is an analytical grouping for Azərbaycan, an organ of the Milli Majlis, and the newspaper companies operating under the President’s Administrative Department. In July 2025, Respublika and Xalq qəzeti were merged into Xalq LLC, while Bakinskiy Rabochiy was reorganised as a separate limited-liability company. The restructuring is set out in the presidential decree of 11 July 2025, while the Milli Majlis lists Azərbaycan among its official organs. Yeni Azərbaycan is the official newspaper of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. Under State Media Monitor’s methodology, ownership by the country’s ruling party satisfies the state-ownership condition. AZERTAC is Azerbaijan’s official state news agency, constituted as a public legal entity. Its 2026 allocation is AZN 7,156,175.

The five differ materially in governance. İTV has the most procedurally buffered appointment arrangement: its nine-member Broadcasting Council is elected by the Milli Majlis from candidates proposed by non-governmental organisations, and the Council elects the Director General. This structure derives from Article 16 of the public-broadcasting law.

By contrast, AzTV’s chairman and deputy chairmen are appointed directly by the President. Under AZERTAC’s governing arrangements, its chairman and two deputy chairmen are appointed by the President, while the remaining two Management Board members are appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers in agreement with the President. Yeni Azərbaycan is governed by a party chaired by the President, whose First Deputy Chair is the First Vice-President.

State Media Monitor removed five entries from the Azerbaijani mapping in this cycle: Space TV, ATV, SOCAR Media, ARB Media Group and Real TV.

These removals do not demonstrate improved editorial independence or reduced state influence. Evidence and credible reporting of alignment with government positions remain, although their strength differs between outlets. The removals result from applying a stricter evidentiary standard to ownership and control amid persistent corporate opacity.

For Space TV, ATV, ARB Media Group and Real TV, State Media Monitor could identify licensed operators or historically reported founders but could not obtain authoritative, current records establishing the shareholders, beneficial owners or controlling persons. Founder, shareholder, beneficial owner and person exercising de facto control are distinct positions, and reported association with political figures does not by itself establish ownership.

SOCAR Media presents a different evidentiary problem. Its establishment as a public union founded by the state-owned oil company SOCAR is documented. A public union has founders rather than shareholders, however, and State Media Monitor did not obtain its charter or current governance records establishing SOCAR’s continuing appointment rights or control over its governing body. The state connection is therefore documented, but continuing institutional control was not established to the evidentiary standard applied in this cycle.

Articles 26.6 and 26.7 of the Law on Media require audiovisual media entities to notify the regulator of changes in participants and to file annual information about founders, participants and management. Article 73.9 makes most Media Register information inaccessible to the public.

At least part of the missing legal-ownership information should therefore exist in regulatory filings but is not publicly accessible. Those filings might not, however, identify ultimate beneficial ownership, informal influence or the person exercising de facto control.

The resulting mapped set contains only entities whose state or ruling-party ownership and governance can be established through legislation, decrees, charters or other authoritative records. It consequently represents the verifiable minimum extent of state-controlled media in Azerbaijan, not the full extent of state influence over the media sector.

State Media Monitor will reconsider the removed entries if authoritative ownership records, governance instruments or evidence of a state control mechanism becomes available.

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