Azerbaijan has ordered the BBC to shut its office in the country, officials in Baku said Thursday, in what the British broadcaster denounced as a “move against press freedom.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has long faced accusations of stifling the media and persecuting political opponents in the energy-rich Caucasus nation.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ayahan Hajizade said Baku had told the BBC there was no “legal grounds” for it to operate a representative office in Azerbaijan, saying that Baku operated on the basis of “reciprocity.”

He did not elaborate further on the reasons for the forced closure.

In a statement, the BBC said: “Following verbal instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, the BBC has made the reluctant decision to close its office in the country.”

“We deeply regret this restrictive move against press freedom, which will hinder our ability to report to and from Azerbaijan for our audiences inside and outside the country.”

BBC’s Azeri language service has an audience of around one million people a week and had been operating in the country since 1994.

Azerbaijan’s Hajizade accused the BBC of trying to “politicise” the issue and of “double standards.”

He said that the closure of the local office does not affect the accreditation rights for one BBC correspondent.

Azerbaijan is one of the worst places in the world for media freedom, according to the Reporters Without Borders rights group.

“Virtually the entire media sector is under official control,” and “authorities are trying to suppress the last of the still-independent media, as well as journalists who reject self-censorship,” it says on its website.

Baku said “similar decisions” had been taken regarding “other foreign media organisations,” without providing further details.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

During the last quarter of 2024, Netflix pulled a larger audience in the UK than BBC One, becoming the country’s most popular TV service. Across its entire portfolio, the BBC remains the UK’s favourite news and entertainment destination, but this is nonetheless a significant milestone for a US-based streamer. After all, Netflix was a service that sent DVDs through the post in California a couple of decades ago.

I have researched TV in the streaming era and the issue for national broadcasters is that streaming is a global industry. That is to say, content produced locally benefits operations globally – subscribers in country A benefit from content produced primarily for viewers in country B. As such, there are mutual gains from subscriber growth in either territory, since that provides an incentive for a platform to increase content in either location.

And as Netflix grows, so too does its value to viewers. This model constitutes a considerable competitive advantage for it and other platforms that stream content across borders.

Without Hollywood films and TV series, Netflix would be a fringe player in the US market, but this content also appeals to subscribers around the world. The same applies to Korean programmes, which serve a demanding local audience and have also proved popular worldwide. In mid-January, Netflix’s most viewed shows in the UK were a mix of US and Korean programmes, including the second season of Squid Game.

Netflix is savvy at making content circulate across continents, using its huge library to its advantage. Its scale gives it an unassailable edge over local rivals.

This strategy is centred on content portability and was explained by Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, who said: “We’re not trying to make more Hollywood content for the world, we’re trying to make content from anywhere in the world to the rest of the world.”

In fact, Netflix has both Hollywood and non English-language content. But in any event, the platform never competes on a level playing field with local services and whenever it enters a market it does so with the benefit of a library built for other territories.

Netflix and the other streaming giants are reshaping media systems across Europe. An audience survey in four European countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands) of 1,813 respondents aged between 16 and 34 revealed that Netflix was by far the most popular destination for long-form content such as films. The survey also confirmed that Netflix, alongside Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, were the most watched streaming services in these four countries.

THE STRUGGLE FOR BROADCASTERS

As a result of this renewed competition, Europe’s commercial broadcasters are struggling for advertisers, viewers and investors. My calculations show that at the end of 2024, the collective market capitalisation of Europe’s largest commercial broadcasters in the region’s five biggest markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK), plus the Nordic countries, was just 5.6% that of Netflix (US$14.2 billion (£11.5 billion) versus US$252.5 billion).

Navigating this global system is equally challenging for public service media like the BBC. They too are losing audiences, particularly young viewers, to streaming services. Historically, the EU and the UK have been good at protecting their film and TV production sectors.

An EU directive, for example, stipulates that streaming services must “secure at least a 30% share of European works in their catalogues” and ensure that content is prominently available. In the future, the EU and UK may have need to strengthen their support for public service media as well.

Netflix has invested billions in UK-produced content, including Black Doves starring Keira Knightley. Ludovic Robert/Netflix

But Netflix is fond of European content anyway, and is investing billions of dollars in the region. For the first time in 2024, the service was spending more on international content than US programming (US$7.9 billion versus US$7.5 billion). And, in the UK alone, Netflix has invested more than US$6 billion since 2020.

While on the face of it this investment is a coup for domestic creative industries, the issue is that it remains a US-based service that decides which stories are told, and how. Netflix is interested in indigenous content, but during the production process its commissioners shape these stories with a transnational audience in mind.

As such, the local stories that Netflix selects in the UK and elsewhere are not necessarily those that a public service broadcaster would choose to tell. What’s more, the UK has no control over the ownership of these platforms and, depending on whose hands they fall into, this may prove an issue in the future.

Public service media, including the BBC, are instruments of national self-representation, which reflect a country’s idiosyncrasies, its mood and its strengths and weaknesses better than any other platform. It is an ability and a privilege the UK must retain.

(Author: Jean Chalaby, Professor of Sociology, City St George’s, University of London)

(Disclosure Statement: Jean Chalaby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment)

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

London:

Folk legend Neil Young has pulled out of this year’s Glastonbury music festival, alleging it has fallen under “the corporate control” of its partner the BBC.

The 79-year-old musician, who was once one of the line-up of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, said he had been “looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs”.

But he added that the “BBC… wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in” at the festival held in late June in southwest England.

“It seems Glastonbury is under corporate control,” the US-Canadian singer and songwriter claimed in a statement on his website.

“We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour, because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be.”

Neither the festival organisers nor the BBC replied to AFP requests for comment on Young’s withdrawal.

The full official line-up for the world-famous festival has not been announced yet.

But rumours had swirled that Young and his group The Chrome Hearts would be taking to the stage at the festival’s home at Worthy Farm, in the county Somerset.

Young, who last played Glastonbury in 2009, did not give specific details of what the BBC’s demands had been.

In 2009, fans accused the BBC of not broadcasting the whole of his set.

The broadcaster said at the time that it had spent “months” negotiating with Young’s team what they could screen of his show.

“Neil’s management agreed to let TV and radio broadcast five songs as they watched and listened to his performance. They believe in the live event and retaining its mystery and that of their artist,” the BBC said then.

Tickets for this year’s festival sold out within 35 minutes when they went on sale in November, with standard tickets priced at 373.50 pounds ($471.50).

Raspy-voiced British rock star Rod Stewart will play the coveted legends slot, more than two decades after he headlined the festival.

Glastonbury attracted more than 200,000 fans in 2024, hosting 3,000 performances across some 80 stages. Many of the gigs were broadcast by the BBC, which has partnered with the festival since 1997.

Glasto, as the festival is popularly known, was inspired by Britain’s 1960s counter-culture and hippie movements, with its first iteration as the Pilton Festival in 1970.

Glam rockers T. Rex were the first headliners. Since then, it has attracted cult status and big names, from David Bowie and Paul McCartney to Stormzy and Elton John, who played his final UK gig there in 2023.
 

Pooja Sharma, who has performed funeral rites for over 4000 people, has been named on BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women across the globe for the year 2024. Her name features alongside the likes of Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, actor Sharon Stone and Olympic athletes Rebeca Andrade and Allyson Felix.

Ms Sharma has been performing the last rites of unclaimed bodies in Delhi for the past few years.

While announcing the names of the 100 women, the British broadcaster noted that it acknowledges the toll this year has taken on women and that it celebrates those, who through their resilience, have been pushing for change. “The list also remains committed to exploring the impact of the climate emergency, highlighting climate pioneers who work to help their communities tackle its impacts,” it added.

Who is Pooja Sharma?

Born on July 7, 1996, in the national capital, Ms Sharma comes from a middle-class family. She has founded an NGO, named Bright The Soul Foundation, which works towards the welfare of the marginalised communities, with an aim to inspire and empower people.

According to its official website, Ms Sharma lost her elder brother on March 12, 2022. He was “brutally murdered in front of her eyes due to a small argument.” Ms Sharma performed the last rites by tying a turban on her head after nobody came forward to help them.

Over the past three years, she has performed the last rites for thousands of unclaimed bodies in India’s capital city.

She has faced resistance from priests and her community since the role has traditionally remained reserved for men in the Hindu faith.

Ms Sharma, despite the backlash, has performed funerary rites for people from different faiths and religions to give everyone the dignity they deserve in death.

She often shares her work on several social media platforms and has close to 3.50 lakh followers on Instagram.

Ms Sharma’s NGO also works towards environmental welfare, old age care, abandoned children and child education. They provide people with various necessary items free of cost.

Three Indians have made it to the list of BBC’s 100 Most Influential and Inspiring Women of 2024. Social activist Aruna Roy, wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat, and funerary rites pioneer Pooja Sharma have joined a stellar lineup that includes stranded astronaut Sunita Williams, Hollywood actress Sharon Stone, rape survivor Gisele Pelicot, Nobel Peace laureate Nadia Murad, and climate activist Adenike Oladosu.

Aruna Roy, Social Activist

Social activist Aruna Roy has dedicated over four decades to championing the rights of India’s rural poor. A former civil servant, Ms Roy co-founded the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), an organisation advocating for transparency, fair wages, and government accountability. Her efforts were instrumental in enacting India’s Right to Information Act in 2005.

As president of the National Federation of Indian Women, Ms Roy continues to lead grassroots movements and published her memoir, The Personal is Political, earlier this year. 

Vinesh Phogat, Olympic Wrestler

Vinesh Phogat, a three-time Olympian and one of India’s most decorated wrestlers, has been a strong voice against gender bias in sports. She has earned medals in the World Championships, Commonwealth Games, and Asian Games.

This year, she became India’s first female wrestler to reach an Olympic final but was disqualified after being 100 grams over the weight limit. Following this, Ms Phogat retired from wrestling and ventured into politics.

Known for speaking out against gender stereotypes, she led a prominent protest by Indian wrestlers against former Indian Wrestling Federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexually harassing female athletes – a charge he denied. The protest gained national attention when Ms Phogat and others were detained by police during a demonstration.

Pooja Sharma, Performer Of Funeral Rites

Pooja Sharma has redefined societal norms by performing funerary rites for unclaimed bodies – a role traditionally reserved for men in Hindu culture – in Delhi. Her mission began after the death of her brother, whose final rites she had to perform alone.

She is the founder of Bright The Soul Foundation and in the past three years, Ms Sharma has conducted over 4,000 last rites for people from various religions.