Baku discusses media, culture, and society
By Nigar Orujova
An international symposium focusing on media and culture was held in Baku.
The symposium entitled "Mass media and culture in the context of global change in the society" gathered representatives from six countries who made speeches, held meetings and discovered regions of Azerbaijan.
The event was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of establishment of Azerbaijan Writers Union, the 75th birth anniversary of journalist Rashbil Zakharyaev and the 55th anniversary of establishment of Azerbaijan Journalists Union.
The event, organized by the International Charity Fund of Mountain Jews (STMEGI) brought together writers, journalists and political scientists.
Azerbaijani writer and the Chairman of the PEN Club, Chingiz Abdullayev said: "In the context of global changes taking place in the world, the personal responsibility of every journalist and author increases, each word that instantly replicated and spread throughout the world can play an important role in the life of communities."
Abdullayev added: "How the world is changing? What new technologies provide with? What is the criterion of the responsibility of journalists and writers?"
STMEGI President, German Zakharyayev from Russia, said as the organizer of the publication of four newspapers in different countries, he could not but supports the idea of the symposium.
"It [the symposium] succeeded and I am pleased with responses given by the professionals. In a joint statement, we encourage members to be honest with themselves and the society in which we live and work. Guba is my homeland and I'm flattered to hear the experiences of the participants discovering the beauty of this land," he stressed.
Zakharyayev said the talks and debates in the symposium will be published, and the presentation will be held at the Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Law of the Azerbaijan's National Academy of Sciences in the coming year.
Another participant, Editor-in-chief of Iskusstvo Kino magazine, Daniil Dondurey said it is important to realize the significance of the media in the context of global changes and their multifactorial impact on all spheres of social practice.
"Underestimation of their impact not only on the formation of civic consciousness, but also on shaping the personality of both the potential and the main resource of the 21st century and lack of social order for investigation into these technologies are extremely dangerous," Dondurey said.
Head of Humanitarian Programs JCRC from the U.S. Mikhail Nemirovsky said Azerbaijan surprises the visitors with its openness and multicultural policy.
"I was pleased with the equal status of minorities in Azerbaijan, the feasibility of civil rights and liberties, preservation of language and traditions," he said.
Sergei Weinstein, the editor of the scientific series "Russia - Azerbaijan: historical dialogue" from Russia said since the appearance of the first printing press by Johann Gutenberg in the mid-fifteenth century, there have been many technological advents in the field of social communications.
"Proportion of the humanitarian and technocratic has always been viewed as a problem which will remain objectively unsolvable until the end. The pendulum of public preferences ranged in one direction and then the other. Over the years, it became clear that the technology in the field of social communications has changed a lot and people and their societies have become more complex," he said.
Other speakers of the event were Chairman of Azerbaijan Journalists Union Elchin Shikhli, Israel Ariel University professor Reuven Enoch, Professor, Russian State Social University Ibrahim Melikov, Author and Anchorman Fuad Akhundov.