Newsweek: inglorious path from brilliant journalism to yellow press
The voice of Armenian propaganda

ANALYTICS  26 December 2023 - 15:27

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the American news magazine Newsweek. It is unquestionably one of the most famous magazines not only in the US but in the world. It is the weekly magazine that has been the winner of the most prestigious awards in the publishing industry. But does its glorious past mean it is still respectable? I would like to say no. Why is that?

For decades American quality journalism had a principle: information on the pages of a publication or a television screen must have two sources of verification. In this way, a high level of credibility was maintained. Newsweek magazine has long since abandoned this principle. It has repeatedly been embroiled in horrific scandals that have proven that the once-solid publication cannot be considered as such. It has too eagerly embraced the tabloid principle and chased every sensation.

The May 9, 2005, issue of Newsweek reported on how detainees at the Taliban prison at the military base at Guantánamo Bay had desecrated the Qur'an. This information had a bombshell effect. It went so far that the Pentagon promised an investigation. But it ended before it could begin. The magazine's Washington bureau chief, Daniel Klaidman, apologised. That's all.

The magazine's false report sparked off massive protests, and not just in Afghanistan. Dozens of people were killed and injured. And not a single one of those involved in spreading the false news was held to account. This fact alone is enough to tarnish Newsweek's reputation indelibly.

But that's just the point: the magazine has continued to display an appalling lack of credibility. In May 2012, for example, Newsweek's cover featured an image of US President Barack Obama with a halo the colour of the rainbow flag, one of the LGBT community's most recognisable symbols. The photo is accompanied by the caption "The first gay president". It was a lie, a deliberate and calculated one. Newsweek simply wanted to draw attention to itself in such a flamboyant way, according to The Daily Mail.

Newsweek has not been punished for having published another fake story. And this has nothing to do with freedom of speech at all. Free speech should never, under any circumstances, become a weapon in the hands of those who use the media to smear people, to repeat intentional, easily disproved lies. Especially when it comes to lying about an entire country, which is Azerbaijan.

Next year, Baku is set to play host to the UN Climate Change Conference. It is one of the most important dates in the environmental calendar and one of the leading symposia on climate change. The annual summit, also known as COP29, is a symbol of all that is good in the world as its participants grapple with one of the greatest existential threats of our time. And the fact that Azerbaijan has been chosen to host COP29 next year is an event of great significance for our country.

But what is the reaction of Newsweek magazine to what has happened? It published a whole article full of lies about Azerbaijan. But the truth does not interest the American magazine, which is once again on the hunt for a sensational story. Newsweek calls "short-sighted, confusing and dangerous" the decision to hold COP29 in Azerbaijan.

In the process, the magazine makes itself ridiculous. On December 7, Armenia and Azerbaijan issued a joint statement in support of Baku's candidacy for the COP29. In addition, a group of Eastern European countries have chosen Baku to host next year's COP29 climate talks. How can one describe the support of several independent countries as "short-sighted, confusing and dangerous" without being accused of lying and provoking?

It can hardly be a coincidence that this article was published on the heels of the announcement of a snap presidential election in Azerbaijan. Obviously, the Armenian diaspora was also involved, as the article mentions both the "illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor" and the claim that Azerbaijan "forced more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians to leave their homes in Karabakh".

The authors of this slander somehow failed to remember that the "homes" of Armenian passport holders cannot be on the territory of Azerbaijan. As well as the fact that Azerbaijan has repeatedly offered to all Armenians who wish to live in the Karabakh region of our country to go through all relevant procedures and obtain Azerbaijani citizenship, guaranteeing all their rights.

The most striking thing in this whole story is that Hikmet Hajiyev, an aide to Azerbaijani President Hikmet Hajiyev, discussed the issue of Armenian return to Karabakh in an interview with Newsweek a few days ago.

"Azerbaijan is proud to have a multi-ethnic society, in which different ethnic minorities live side by side in peace. Armenians living in Karabakh can have the same conditions. But we have said that we cannot accept aggressive separatism, we cannot accept the so-called 'NKR', and we cannot accept armed forces on the ground," Hikmet Hajiyev reasonably noted.

At the same time, I would like to stress that official Yerevan still does not guarantee similar rights to Azerbaijanis displaced from Armenia as a result of ethnic cleansing. But what can we say when Newsweek writes about some "political prisoners", refers to arrested junta leaders whose hands are covered with Azerbaijani people's blood, and even calls Ruben Vardanyan an "Armenian humanist"?

Obviously, Newsweek has turned into an Armenian propagandists' and revanchists' fighting paper. It promotes Armenian separatism and territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Furthermore, it does so at the very moment when there is a high possibility of signing a peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

And who is against peace between Baku and Yerevan? The world Armenian community. This includes the Armenian diaspora in the US, which has succeeded in engaging many American politicians of different persuasions. And we can assume that it is the Armenian diaspora in the US that is behind yet another scandalous, provocative article in a publication that has a glorious past but a very "yellow" present.

Caliber.Az