This monitoring presents a compilation of reports from Tajikistan’s media and private reports from the NANSMIT monitoring network in the country

Coordinator of the Monitoring Network in Tajikistan:
Abdufattokh Vokhidov
Head of the Legal Service:
Orifjon Azimov
Head of the Project in Tajikistan:
Nuriddin Karshibayev

Freedom of Speech in Tajikistan
Situation in October 2008

In October 2008 the NANSMIT Monitoring Service received 27 reports. Twenty one of them describe the factual situation in the media in the light of socio-legal and political environment; five reports describe direct violations of rights of media professionals; and one report describes conflicts and accusations against the media and journalists.

I. PECULIARITIES OF POLITICAL, SOCIAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL CLIMATE IN THE COUNTRY DEFINING THE FACTUAL SITUATION IN THE MEDIA

1. Public speeches and statements of superior officials defining the factual situation in the mass media

9 October
Media in Khatlon province

“The absence of modern printing facilities, the lack of periodicals, insufficient tools for communication, plagiarism in the media, impediments to journalists created by the authorities are the main reasons for poor development of the media and the freedom of speech in the south of Tajikistan”, — Ozodagon weekly, #40, 9.10.2008.

17 October
Turko Dikaev, Asia Plus news agency, Kulyab, Khatlon province

Correspondent of the Asia Plus news agency in Khatlon province Turko Dikaev failed to send important information from the city of Nurek.
The city with the population of 50 thousand has only one Internet center serviced by the Babylon mobile company. Residents complain that the Internet communication was absent for more than two weeks, and the Internet provider took no measures to restore the connection.

22 October
All media, Dushanbe

Tajikistan is rated 106 among 173 countries in the global Freedom of Press rating published by Reporters Without Borders. Tajikistan is neighboring to Uganda and Mauritania.
Among the countries of the former Soviet Union Tajikistan is close to the Baltic states and the Ukraine.

27 October
All media

Last week the former Kazakh capital Almaty hosted the 10-th Central Asia Conference “New challenges in the sphere of broadcasting, and transition to digital broadcasting”.

The Conference was organized under support of the OSCE regional office. It was attended by representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as by international experts.

According to the Tajik President’s Office, the Ministry of Justice has in its registry 28 TV organizations, 8 of which are state TV companies and 20 are non-government ones (private, commercial, corporative, etc.).

2. Actions of officials defining the factual status of the media

30 October
All media

The meeting of the Council of the CIS state and public TV organizations is scheduled for 31 October in Moscow.

Participants of the Council are planning to discuss the issues of creation of an Inter-State Information Pool, namely, the agreement, regulations and standards.

Members of the pool will provide information on important events and developments in their countries, which will be formed in packages for further transmission to other countries’ TV companies.

It is expected that the Inter-State TV Company Mir will play the role of coordinator in this pool.

3. Journalists protecting their civil and professional rights

5 October
Independent School of Journalism

From 3 to 5 October the Independent School of Journalism “Tajikistan – XXI Century” held the second training session for journalists and official public press secretaries.

According to Safo Safarov, executive director of the journalism school, participants of the training analyzed such topics as “Legal and ethical principles of interaction between the authorities and the media”, “National and international standards of access to information”, “New media technologies”, etc.

The training was organized within the framework of the project “Access to information: cooperation and transparency” supported by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.

9 October

Somoniyon TV, Dushanbe

On 9 October the Economic Court in Dushanbe started hearings on the appeal from the Somoniyon TV against the State Committee on Television and Radio under the government.

TV Somoniyon submitted two applications: on compensation of a material loss in the amount of 88 thousand Somoni inflicted by the State Broadcasting Committee, and on the revocation of the resolution of the State licensing commission, which entailed the denial of broadcasting license to the TV company.

The court hearings were postponed until 14 October after public statements made by lawyers.

9 October
All media, Dushanbe

On 9-10 October the public organization “Khoma” held an international conference “Decriminalization of defamation is a major step towards democratic development of the society”. The conference was supported by the OSCE Center in Dushanbe and the US-based NGO Internews Network. More than 100 representatives of Tajik courts, the media, universities and human rights organizations took part in the conference.

Participants voiced the necessity of involving the civil society and the authorities in discussions of the legislation establishing criminal responsibility for publications containing “libel and defamation against government officials”. Certain legal provisions create obstacles for journalists, especially those “treading on forbidden ground”, i.e. criticizing high-ranked public servants.

II. VIOLATIONS OF RIGHTS IN THE MEDIA

1. Censorship

2 October
TV Safina, Dushanbe

Working on a project implemented jointly by the NGO Save the Children and TV Safina, journalist Farangis Nazrieva produced a TV story “When I was a child”. The 18-minute story shows and describes the being of children working in markets and other public places to make their living.

The video story had been shown to Mr. Pirov, director of TV Safina. Right before the scheduled broadcast he prohibited the story, saying that he is not in favor of showing negative phenomena in Tajikistan. The manager also referred to his “patriotic feelings”.

COMMENT

Article 30 of Tajikistan’s Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and the right to use the mass media. Only propaganda of social, racial, ethnic, religious and language animosity is prohibited by law. State censorship and persecution for criticism are also prohibited. Thus, the actions of the TV Safina official can be interpreted as “internal censorship”, which is illegal.

2. Ungrounded denial of publicly important information

6 October
Radio Khatlon, Kurga-Tube

Mehrubon Sattorova, correspondent of Radio Khatlon required information from Tajiktelecom mobile company regarding the enterprise’s development plans. Fozil Mallaev, deputy director of the company’s branch in Khatlon province refused to share any information with the journalist referring to the prohibition from his senior managers.

16 October
Nargis Bozorova, Radio Khatlon

Nargis Bozorova, correspondent of Radio Khatlon approached Tolib Zubaidulloev, deputy chief physician of the city hospital in Kurgan-Tube. The doctor refused to share any information with the journalist without preliminary permission from the province health officials.

COMMENT

Freedom of speech and the right to use the mass media are guaranteed by Article 30 of the Constitution. There might be certain exceptions – if the data contains state security secrets. But it does not concern the cases described above.

Article 31 of the Tajik law “On printing and other mass media” enables journalists to seek and disseminate information by any legal means. Article 5 of the law in question obliges state, political and public organizations and their persons in charge to provide the media with any requested information.

3. Violation of labor rights

2 October
Farangis Nazrieva, freelance journalist, Dushanbe

Journalist Farangis Nazrieva accused director of TV Safina Makhmadsaid Pirov of non-paying her honorarium for an accomplished assignment. According to Nazrieva, in March 2008 TV Safina and the international NGO Save the Children signed an agreement in order to produce a series of TV programs about child labor in Tajikistan. One of the programs had been prepared by Nazrieva, but Pirov banned it from broadcasting.

According to the agreement, Save the Children had to wire the amount of six thousand Somoni to TV Safgina’s banking account. The TV crew was expected to receive 3,280 Somoni out of this amount, but nobody received the honoraria.

COMMENT

The case described above refers to violation of labor rights. Labor disputes are investigated in court according to the legislation. We recommend the journalist to apply to court for collecting her honorarium from the employer.

This report is based on compiled materials from the media and private information presented by correspondents of the NANSMIT Monitoring Network

Coordinator of the Monitoring Service
Abdufattokh Vokhidov

Project Manager
Nuriddin Karshibayev

In a recent development that passed largely unnoticed, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has ranked Tajikistan in its 2008 Press Freedom Index, as having the highest level of media freedom among the five Central Asian states.

In the index published on October 22, Tajikistan ranked 106th among 222 countries with a score of 25.5 (on a scale of 1-100, 1 being the best and 100 the worst score), ahead of Georgia (ranked 120th with 31.25), Kazakhstan (125th; 35.22), Russia (141st; 47.50), Azerbaijan (150th;53.63), Belarus (514th;58.33), Uzbekistan (162nd;62.70), Iran (166th;80.33) and Turkmenistan (171st.95.50). Of the former Soviet republics, only the Baltic states, Armenia, Ukraine, and Moldova ranked higher than Tajikistan.

Some might consider that Tajikistan «hit the jackpot» undeservedly. But there are in fact solid grounds for the ranking that emerged. More important, and more worrying, is the fact that it is becoming progressively more difficult to evaluate objectively the media situation across the former Soviet Union, given that the governments in question have had 16 years in which to perfect the art of creating a democratic image that does not reflect reality.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlighted that trend in a report titled «Despots Masquerading as Democrats» (http://hrw.org/wr2k8/introduction/index.htm) released in January 2008. That report documents the way in which many authoritarian regimes have succeeded in crafting a favorable image by means of electoral fraud, sidelining and discouraging the political opposition, and silencing the media. The situation in Tajikistan fits that pattern perfectly.

RSF says its report «does not look at human rights violation in general, just press freedom violations.» That is probably why it fails to mention significant trends in the relevant countries that could shed more light on the situation as a whole. Explaining how the index was compiled, RSF says it sends a questionnaire to its partner organizations, journalists, researchers, and human rights activists.

RSF’s Tajik partner is the National Association of Independent Mass Media (NANSMIT), an NGO founded in 1999. NANSMIT head Nuriddin Qarshiboev says he does not agree with the country’s score.

Little Sign Of Improvement

«There was no improvement of press freedom in Tajikistan,» he said in an interview with RFE/RL’s Tajik Service. He pointed to two new negative trends, alongside the existing deep self-censorship that emerged during the 1992-97 civil war in which some 60 Tajik journalists were killed.

First, the government is increasingly worried by the availability of the Internet and has criminalized libel and defamation in cyberspace. Immediately after the passage of that legislation in July 2007, three young journalists who had cited information from an Internet site were brought to trial and risk being jailed for two years. Second, under the new law on access to information, government agencies have 40 days in which to respond to written requests for information. In his annual state-of-the-nation address, President Emomali Rahmon called on the government to make the mass media more efficient in «patriotic education of the people.»

According to Rajabi Mirzo, the former editor of the now closed newspaper «Ruzi nav,» the authorities have learned several ways of limiting press freedom unobtrusively. «We have many more so-called independent newspapers now, but many of them are serving the regime under unwritten gentlemen’s agreements,» Mirzo says. The scandalous closure of «Ruzi nav» in 2004 was condemned by many international observers, and the fact that Mirzo cannot register and print another newspaper could in itself be considered a violation of press freedom.

Mirzo says that international organizations are giving higher scores to Tajikistan not because the situation in that country has improved, but in comparison with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and also because conditions have deteriorated in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Dodojon Atovullo, the founder of «Charogi ruz,» the first independent newspaper in Tajikistan, was forced to leave Moscow for Paris last month due to threats by the Tajik authorities, who opened a criminal case against him because of his most recent interviews and his «newspaper in exile,» which is available on the Internet and in hard copies smuggled into Tajikistan.

Tajik prosecutors are also investigating the professional activities of Uzbek-speaking journalist Tursunali Aliev, who published an article criticizing the mayor of a small town. It goes without saying that no one has the right to say or write anything negative about President Rahmon and a select group of senior government officials.

Dozens of journalists have repeatedly complained to international organizations that the Radio and Television License Committee is preventing some 25 new radio and TV stations from launching their broadcasts by not granting them the required license. So in their view, the RSF index constitutes a weak international response to the media situation in Tajikistan, if not a wrong one.

In past years, negative RSF rankings have helped generate international support for embattled Tajik journalists who demand their rights be respected. But this year’s ranking serves to help the Tajik authorities in their roundabout approach to press «freedom.» Having consistently rejected previous international reports on freedom of the press, this year for the first time they called the RSF index «accurate and very balanced.»

Saidali Siddiq, who heads the information and analysis department within the presidential office and is one of President Rahmon’s image-makers, even reasoned that if not a single journalist was killed, jailed, or beaten over the past year, there are no grounds to challenge that rating. But surely freedom of the press means more than just refraining from killing or jailing journalists?

Salimjon Aioubov is a broadcaster with RFE/RL’s Tajik Service. The views expressed in the commentary are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL

Salimjon Aioubov, RFE/RL

Источник: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Eurasian journalists and students who are interested in studying in the United States can apply for the 2009 Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program. Deadline: October 31.

Funded by the U.S. Congress and administered by International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), the Muskie Fellowship selects applicants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Fields of study include business, environmental management, international affairs, and journalism and mass communications.

Participants will begin their fellowships with an orientation in early August 2009 in Washington, D.C., before arriving at their host institutions.

Applications are available at http://www.irex.org/programs/muskie/muskie_info.asp.

For more details on the program, including requirements, visit http://www.irex.org/programs/muskie/index.asp.

https://www.ijnet.org/ijnet/training_opportunities/deadline_nears_for_muskie_fellow_program

Mid-career journalists in Eastern and Central Europe are encouraged to apply for the European Journalism Fellowships to study at the Free University of Berlin in Germany. Deadline: December 15.

The program allows journalists from Europe and the United States to take a break from their professional positions to work on a research project for a year.

Three levels of fellowship are available: junior, standard, and superior. The junior fellowships are for journalists with about five years of journalism experience; and the standard fellowships are for more senior journalists. The superior fellowship goes to an outstanding journalist with a doctoral degree. The deadline for the fellowship is December 10.

Applications can be submitted in German or English, but participants must be fluent in German.

For more information, visit http://www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/en/kommwiss/institut/journalistenkolleg/ejf/index.html or contact ejf@zedat.fu-berlin.de.

https://www.ijnet.org/ijnet/training_opportunities/eastern_european_journalists_invited_to_apply_for

Photographers worldwide who plan to cover the aftermath of a conflict have until November 3 to compete for the Aftermath Project grants.

The competition’s goal is to promote photographic projects that tell the other half of the story of conflict: what it takes for individuals to learn to live again and to rebuild and restore civil society.

Sponsored by the Open Society Institute and the Compton Foundation, two grants of US$25,000 and US$15,000 each will be given for work to be carried in 2009.

Proposals should include an explanation of the aftermath issues related to the project, as well as an overview of the applicant’s plans during the course of the grant year.

The Aftermath Project is a California-based nonprofit that seeks to help broaden the public’s understanding of the true cost of war.

For more information, download the application, contact info@theaftermathproject.org or visit http://www.theaftermathproject.org/index.htm.

https://www.ijnet.org/ijnet/training_opportunities/grants_to_promote_post_conflict_photo_coverage

A video contest aimed at promoting democracy is encouraging submissions from all over the world. Deadline: January 31, 2009.

Launched by the U.S. State Department, the competition asks contestants to complete the phrase, “Democracy is…” through video.

Videos can be fiction, documentary, animated or live action, but must be no longer than three minutes, and have English subtitles if not in English.

The prize is an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., New York, and Hollywood. Eight winners will have their videos screened and meet with leaders of the U.S. film industry.

Submissions must be uploaded to the YouTube Contest site at http://www.youtube.com/democracychallenge.

For more information, visit http://www.videochallenge.america.gov/index.html.

https://www.ijnet.org/ijnet/training_opportunities/new_media_contest_to_award_videos_on_democracy

Saidali Siddikov, Head of Information-Analytical Unit under the President’s Office says that “public television is present in this or that form in a country, where television as such exists”. Siddikov made this statement speaking at the Tenth Media Conference of Central Asian Countries “New challenges in the sphere of broadcasting, including public broadcasting, and transition to digital broadcasting” held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Siddikov considers that any medium – to a certain extent – belongs to the society, and should meet requirements of this society; otherwise, it cannot exist. “There is a specific model of public television in Tajikistan, which – like many public TV channels in Europe – is funded by the State. However, public servants do not interfere in professional matters of TV personnel – it is prohibited by Article 6 of the Law “On TV and radio broadcasting”, — he added.

Currently, there are 28 TV organizations registered at the Tajik Ministry of Justice, out of which 8 are State TV companies, and 20 – are non-state (private, corporate, etc.). The most popular, according to the public rating, are the First State Channel, TV “Safina” and the Children’s “Bakhoriston” channel. They cover 91-99 percent of the country population. Siddikov says that such a popularity is the evidence of existence of the public television.

The Conference in Almaty was organized by the OSCE Center in Almaty. Among the participants were media experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The participants discussed the issues of creating a regional broadcasting infrastructure based on editorial autonomy, financial independence and legal guarantees.

Chairman of NANSMIT Nuriddin Karshibayev and professor of the Tajik State University Jovid Mukim presented reports on the Tajik media.

http://www.asiaplus.tj/

Journalists who want to learn more about the interaction between the press, politics and public policy can compete for the Joan Shorenstein Fellowship. Deadline: February 1, 2009.

The fellowship, offered by the Joan Shorenstein Center, enables journalists to study for one semester at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The program is open to U.S. or international journalists, scholars and policymakers.

Fellows receive a stipend of $30,000 disbursed in four installments over the semester.

Candidates must send a statement of interest, a project proposal, a resume and three letters of recommendation, along with the application form to the Fellowship Program Director Joan Shorenstein at Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

For more information, contact Edith Holway at edith_holway@harvard.edu, or visit http://www.shorensteincenter.org.

https://www.ijnet.org/ijnet/training_opportunities/fellowship_available_to_study_politics_public_pol

English-speaking journalists are invited to apply for a series of training workshops on human rights issues that will be held in Geneva during the Human Rights Council session from December 1 to 5. Application deadline is November 1.

Participating journalists will contribute to the production of a special issue of the Human Rights Bulletin as well as produce reports for their own media.

The workshops, being organized by the InfoSud Press Agency in collaboration with the Human Rights Tribune, will consist of briefings and interactions with agencies including the UN, NGOs, diplomatic missions and government.

For more information visit http://www.media21geneva.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=289&Itemid=317.

https://www.ijnet.org/ijnet/training_opportunities/human_rights_training_workshop_to_be_held_in_gene

Magazine publishing executives and managers will gather to discuss cross-border opportunities at the Worldwide Magazine Marketplace, scheduled for November 6 and 7 in Moscow, Russia. Registration is ongoing.

Held by the International Federation of Periodical Press (FIPP, in French), the conference features exhibits and workshops with experienced publishers on the practicalities and pitfalls of licensing, joint-venturing, Internet publishing, and syndication.

Participants may register as publisher exhibitors, smaller exhibitors, and delegates. Costs vary from UK£485 (about US$845) for single FIPP-member delegates to £7,050 (about US$12,245) for platinum exhibitors, which include 10 delegates.

For more information or to register online, visit http://www.magazinemarketplace.com/HOME.asp?m_pid=0&m_nid=28087

http://www.magazinemarketplace.com/HOME.asp?m_pid=0&m_nid=28087