British public service broadcaster BBC highlighted the distribution of apartments to Azerbaijani journalists, SIA reports.
Azerbaijan - a country where reporters complain of being kidnapped, arrested, beaten and blackmailed - is to house 150 journalists in one building, it seems.
President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the Baku apartment block to mark Monday's National Press Day, announcing the scheme as a world-first and saying its presence showed there was "no discrimination in any sphere in Azerbaijan", reports private news agency. "Journalists can't buy houses with their salaries," he reportedly said, before suggesting the expansion of internet journalism proved freedom of speech existed in the former Soviet state.
APA reported him going on to talk about the "responsibility of journalists". "There are very few offensive articles in the press... false information cannot live long in the modern internet era. The Press Council maintains a constant focus on these issues," he's reported as saying. Azerbaijan was ranked 156th of 179 countries in Reporters Without Borders' most recent Press Freedom Index.
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