Open Azerbaijan

Open Azerbaijan is a non-profit media outlet founded in 2016. According to its director Zohrab Ismail, the primary goal was to create a magazine-type medium, not a news-oriented one, because the latter is quite rare in Azerbaijan.

Open Azerbaijan focuses on transparency and openness issues; it analyses government institutions' policies and reports on government transparency and actions. The staff publishes analyses, in-depth articles, expert critiques, and investigative stories about politics, the economy, geopolitics, and human rights using data visualisation and infographic tools.

According to Ismail, anti-corruption is one of the topics to which Open Azerbaijan gives ample space in its coverage. Many people in the country have been arrested on corruption charges. Hence, the platform publishes regular reports from the trials of those people.

Open Azerbaijan primarily covers nationwide stories; however, the editorial currently publishes articles on the Ukrainian war and Azerbaijan's foreign affairs.

In addition, social media platforms are actively used as journalism tools. Open Azerbaijan publishes interviews with experts and short documentary videos on its social media channels. On Facebook, the organisation has approximately 89,000 followers; on Instagram, over 32,000 followers.

Open Azerbaijan had an English version, but no information other than Azerbaijani is currently published. However, according to Ismail, the English version could be relaunched soon.