Reaction to the RTVS news coverage

Dear Mr. General Director,

allow me to contact you in relation to the content of reports covering the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, which you broadcast in the News of the RTVS in the past period. On the basis of news reports broadcast by your television, Slovak citizens repeatedly receive information that depicts the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in a biased and one-sided way. As you know, there have been two parties in the conflict, Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. Nevertheless, you convey to the viewers the opinion of only one party, both through the statements of the representatives of Armenia and through the input the reporters sent by the RTVS, who assess the situation only from the point of view of Armenia and only from the territory of Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh.  The Azerbaijani party, whether representes by public officials, experts on Nagorno-Karabakh or internally displaced persons, has never been addressed by the RTVS news section. We are judging so on the basis of the nature of the unverified and distorting claims made in the news. The other side of the conflict, the Republic of Azerbaijan, has no space in the reports and has not been represented by anyone yet. We dare to substantiate our objection to the biased character of the RTVS news by stating that as a public television, you should act towards Slovak viewers as a medium representing all citizens of the Slovak Republic and be a guarantor of relevant, verified and, in particular, objective information. We believe that if it is possible to send an RTVS reporter to Nagorno-Karabakh or Armenia and finance his or her stay by means of license fees collected from the Slovak taxpayers, then the same can be done in the case of Azerbaijan. The possibility of connecting with the Azerbaijani side through information technology is also available. The Slovak media space lacks information from independent sources, through which the addressees would be able to critically and objectively assess the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is necessary to know all the facts about the course of the fighting, negotiations and further steps of both parties involved, as well as the countries involved in the conflict in any way.

In addition to the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Armenia has occupied 7 adjacent regions that are part of Azerbaijan. At present, it means that 20% of the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan is under the military control of Armenia. Armenia continues its attacks on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan – claiming another 19 dead and 70 injured civilians in the last 24 hours.

We hope that the above-mentioned broadcast reports were a matter of mischance and that RTVS will be willing to confirm its title of the “most objective” television news.

Sincerely,

Doc. Ing. Džalal Gasymov, PhD.
Honorary consul of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Dear
Mr. Jaroslav Rezník
General director of the Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS)
Mlynská dolina
845 45 Bratislava