Mikroskop Media

Azerbaijani journalists Fatima Karimova and Javid Abdullayev founded Mikroskop Media in Latvia in 2018. The non-profit media outlet, considered one of the few independent information resources operating in the Azerbaijani language, draws attention for its successful use of infographics and its activity in social media. Mikroskop Media produces investigative stories while relying on explanatory journalism and fact-checking.

After immigrating to Latvia for political reasons, the founders wanted to launch a media outlet covering stories on censured or hard-to-publish topics. The roganisation primarily covers Azerbaijani issues related to politics, economy, human rights, democracy. However, international issues such as the Ukrainian war and global geopolitics are also covered.

Mikroskop Media was the first media outlet to publish statistics on the number of women suffering domestic violence or killed by a family member in the country in 2019.

The organisation, which does not have an office in the country, collaborates with Azerbaijan-based freelance journalists to produce the content; however, their names remain anonymous for safety reasons. The team publishes in Azerbaijani and English, although the latter is limited to content that may attract the interest of a foreign audience.

One of the primary appeals of Mikroskop Media is its use of infographics and multimedia formats both on social media and the website.

Organisation was in the beginning funded by private funds of its founders while today it is funded by donor organisations.  The founders assume the media outlet will increase its financial resources in the following years, and consequently, its audience will grow.

Last updated: March 2024