Azerbaijani media outlets have developed along with other spheres over the past twenty years, Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Social and Political Department Chief Ali Hasanov said addressing the conference "State independence and media outlets" in Ganja on Wednesday.

He said independent media outlets have been formed over these years, which function as a public institution with its self-government mechanism and elective bodies of journalists. It is good that the government canceled regulating media activities, Hasanov said.

Journalists trained in the Soviet period laid foundation of the current mass media in Azerbaijan, he added.

"Unfortunately, some journalists in Azerbaijan abuse their profession, do not respect the laws and break journalistic ethics principles," Hasanov said, adding that both the state and media organizations are struggling with such journalists.