I. Introduction This master’s thesis represents study of female newspaper and magazine editors in Azerbaijan based on Western and Soviet definitions of journalism with explanation of local national features of this p

I.2.3 Political Instrumentalization

In light of the previous chapter where we discussed concept of objectivity in the Western and the Soviet media systems it is not surprising that modern post-Soviet media loosing Soviet ideological guidance and disposing no knowledge of the Western objectivity sank after the capitalism crash-course of the 1990s into the abyss of journalistic promiscuity. Karol Jakubowicz (1995) for example found that journalists in Poland were as driven by private publishers in the post-Communist era as they had been by party commissars while under Soviet domination. (Zelizer 2004:156)

According to Russian scholar Chramchikhin (2003:136) “the well-known and barely-concealed venality of many journalists has led people to assume that virtually any article on any subject of importance has been “spun” order, which makes any kind of serious debate nigh impossible” Even though, the scholar in this passage refers to the Russian context, yet the same is true for Azerbaijan¹⁵ where fairness is held hostage by political affiliation or financial donorship. Hallin and Mancini (2004) explain media instrumentalization using the example of Il Giorno (The Day) newspaper owned by Enrico Mattei, the head of ENI oil company. Later Mattei acknowledged that Il Giorno owned its creation to the ENI that felt a necessity to have an instrument for intervention in the public decision-making process. Thus, the newspaper became a tool designed to function beyond the diffusion of news pedaling support for the oil company. Instrumentilized media do not serve public good but are designed to advocate and express economical or political aspirations of their owners and as Hallin and Mancini point out “professionalization level in media will be low since journalists will lack autonomy except to the extent that they enjoy it due to high political positions, will lack a common culture and sense of social purpose differing from purposes of political leaders affiliated with media, no criteria that will guide practice of journalism and media will serve particular interests rather than functioning as a “public trust.” (Hallin, Mancini, 2004) Azerbaijani media suffer predominantly from political instrumentalization¹⁶.