information access

When I began working with journalists, editors and civil society leaders- and the public they serve- in countries where media freedom is not a given, one of the first things I noticed was the low expectations that government should be accountable to its citizens. As a taxpayer and voter in the United States, I have a very vivid perception that I own a share of what government does and that I have a right to know in almost all cases how it goes about it. This is more often not the case in many of the countries in which we work where free elections, strong independent media, and basic individual rights are lacking.

As part of United Nations' International Year of Youth, I asked our Chief of Party for the Azerbaijan New Media Project Angela Nicoara about her experience with youth and their involvement in media. Angela says that media tools and skills can help youth have an outlet to affect their own communities and futures in Azerbaijan and throughout the world.

Here are more of Angela's answers.

On behalf of IREX, I am pleased to announce that 22 diligent Azerbaijani students and their mentors won netbooks and flipcameras in a recent national contest for the ‘Best Research Essays Using Internet.' One hundred and sixty nine candidates entered from all over the country, notably Sumgait, Guba, Shirvan, Imishli, Ganja, Gazakh, Sheki, Zagatala, Ismayilli and Mingachevir. Plagiarism was penalised, with positive results.

More than 150 journalists and civil society leaders gathered in Erbil, Iraq for a ground-breaking two-day media conference, entitled “Emerging Technologies, Emerging Democracies,” held by IREX and the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR).