In February 2012, the Monitoring Service received 21 reports. Fourteen of them describe the factual situation in the media in the light of social, legal and political environment; four reports describe direct violations of rights of media professionals; and three reports describe conflicts and accusations against the media and journalists.
I. 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
22 February
Olimjon Salimzoda, Parliament, Dushanbe
The Tajik private weekly Vetcherny Dushanbe published an interview with the Tajik parliamentarian Olimjon Salimzoda. The official said the Parliament has set up a working group to revise the draft media law.
Salimzoda says that the working group has received 140 suggestions and remarks from different media institutions and government agencies. “Prior to submitting this draft document to the lower chamber, we need to study opinions of all interested parties”, — he said.
The draft media law has been studied for a year and a half by parliamentarians, media professionals, representatives of the civil society, independent lawyers, political parties, the Ministry of Justice, and the President’s Office.
2. Amendments in the legislation affecting the media
16 February
All media, Dushanbe
On 16 February, the public organization Journalist held a session at the round table to discuss the draft media law.
According to the results of the discussion, most of the articles and legal provisions in the new document need to be revised and edited. Participants of the discussion paid special attention to Articles 19 and 25 – respectively, “The right for disallowance” and “Special conditions for confidentiality of the source of information”.
3. Factual situation in the media and the freedom of expression
1 February
Millat weekly, Dushanbe
The Millat weekly touched upon the issue of poor professionalism of the Tajik national television (#5, 1 February 2012).
The article titled “Channel One – Adulator Number One” describes the amateurism of broadcasting materials prepared by the government television, as well as dull and boring reports about the national agriculture.
It is also noted in the article that any single achievement is related to the name of the President.
1 February
SSSR weekly, Dushanbe
The SSSR weekly also touched upon the work of state TV stations in the country regions. The article titled “The Khatlon TV trash” describes the quality of local broadcasting and the contents of TV programs.
“Those who are familiar and understand the problems of Khatlon province cannot watch the programs of “TV Khatlon”. The programs are produced unprofessionally; the station shows wedding parties and endless concerts; the existing problems are not depicted at all”, — says the article.
4 February
NANSMIT, Dushanbe
On 4 February 2012, the Tajik National Association of Independent Mass Media (NANSMIT) published a compiled report on freedom of expression in Tajikistan covering the period from 2005 to 2010.
According to the authors, the main problems in the area of freedom of speech in the country are caused by the imperfect media legislation and its incompliance with the international standards.
Another essential problem is the lack of unified application of laws in the media environment. The licensing committee under the government poses ungrounded requirements to video and audio products creating problems for private broadcasters. The system of licensing is extremely complicated; non-state TV and radio companies fall into dependence on the government licensing body. This particular condition leads to weakening of competition between the media making private broadcasters less powerful compared to the official electronic media. Thus, the audience does not have access to alternative sources of information.
The report published by NANSMIT also indicates the increased number of legal trials against the media initiated by government institutions. Six legal cases were registered in the period of 2010-2011 with the total amount of 1,4 Euro claimed as penalties and moral compensation for criticism (which government officials interpret as libel, insult and defamation).
The Tajik Criminal Code still contains Articles 135, 136, 137 and 330 (“Libel”, “Insult”, “Public insult of the President” and “Insult of a public official”). In such a way, the Tajik legislation ensures special protection of the state power from criticism. The issue of decriminalization of the Articles in question remains very relevant.
8 February
All media, Dushanbe
The Ozodagon weekly (#6, 8 February 2012) published an analytical article based on NANSMIT’s report on the freedom of expression in Tajikistan in 2010-2011.
In addition to the remarks and conclusions made in the report, well-known Tajik journalists and media experts indicate other problems and difficulties affecting the media environment in the country. Among them is the absence of private printing facilities, i.e. the printing production is fully controlled by the government institutions.
17 February
The Coalition of national NGOs, Dushanbe
On 17 February, representatives of the Tajik National Coalition of NGOs and the government working group discussed recommendations of the Universal periodical Review.
The NGO Coalition noted with regret that the recommendations on decriminalization of defamation are indicated as unacceptable in the government’s comments. The Coalition also states that the decriminalization of libel and insult does not pose any threat for the Tajik society.
It should be noted that Tajikistan is already making first steps towards decriminalization of libel, which is reflected in the verdict of the Supreme Court (23 December 2011) and in the draft media law. The decriminalization of libel would strengthen responsibility of public officials.
21 February
All media, Dushanbe
On 21 February 2012, the US-based organization Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published a report “Attacks on the media in 2011”, which says that the Tajik authorities use accusations of extremism and defamation as an excuse for repressions and punishment of the media and journalists who dare to criticize the power.
The report mentions litigations against Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov, correspondent of the Nuri Zindagi weekly and Urunboi Usmonov, correspondent of the BBC Uzbek Service in Sughd province.
22 february
Najot weekly, Dushabe
The Najot weekly (#8, 22.02.12) published an article titled “The Voice of People has nothing to do with the people” criticizing the parliament’s printing body Sadoi Mardum (The Voice of People).
The Najot weekly states that Sadoi Mardum publishes only boring information about the government’s sessions and the President’s trips. The newspaper pays no attention to any essential problems in the Tajik society; however, the expenditures are covered by the national budget.
4. Journalists protecting their civil and professional rights
21 February
All media, Dushanbe
The second training for media trainers was held in Dushanbe from 22 to 25 February within the framework of the project “Creating the national pool of media trainers”.
The project is conducted by the public organization Khoma under financial support of the Open Society Institute. The project’s partners are the School of Journalism under the Russian School of Economics and the Higher School of Journalism in Moldova.
The major goal of the project is to create the national pool of media trainers and consultants to stimulate the media industry in Tajikistan. Upon the accomplishment of the training sessions, participants will start developing their individual modules in various areas of journalism. The modules will cover various topics in both printing and electronic mass media: TV and radio reporting, newsrooms, international standards of journalism, TV editing podcasts, multi media journalism, etc.
The first training session was conducted in December 2011.
28 February
NANSMIT, Dushanbe
The Tajik National Association of Independent Mass Media (NANSMIT) has launched a new project “Improving access to reliable information from government sources” under support of the Danish organization International Media Support.
The program has educational elements for government press services and the media to ensure collaboration, as well as public lectures for university students. Consolidating the cooperation experience between the media and government press services, taking into account best practices, NANSMIT will develop a manual for journalists and press secretaries, which will be disseminated for free among beneficiaries.
II. VIOLATION OF RIGHTS IN THE MEDIA
1. Limitation of access to information
6 February
State television, Dushanbe
On 6 February, the Tajik state TV companies started transition to the digital format of broadcasting. The four stations – The First Channel, Safina, Bakhoriston, and Jahonnamo are unavailable in previous satellite format.
According to Tajiktelecom (the state communications agency) officials, those who wish to watch the state TV stations should switch over to simple TV antennae.
21 February
All media, Dushanbe
On 21 February 2012, the US-based organization Committee to protect Journalists (CPJ) published the report “Attacks on the Press – 2011” noting that in September 2011, the Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon abolished the requirement of conducting quarterly press conferences by ministries and other government institutions.
Experts see this move as an additional impediment in access to public information.
2. Violation of the right to freedom of information
25 February
Jumkhuriyat weekly, Dushanbe
The Tajik government’s official newspaper Jumkhuriyat criticized private printing outlets for “promoting” the political party “Bus!” (“Enough!”) acting abroad.
The government weekly states that by publishing such articles and advertising opposition movements private newspapers pursue the goal to increase the number of their readers; at the same time, they sow the seeds of discord in the society.
III. CONFLICTS, VIOLATIONS, ACCUSATIONS
1. Demand to refute incorrect information
2 February
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dushanbe
Responding to statements of the Russian publicist Egor Kholmogorov and the Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky regarding “genocide of Russians in Tajikistan”, the head of the Information Department under Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry Davlatali Nazriev stated that “there hasn’t been any genocide of ethnic Russians in Tajikistan”.
Kholmogorov and Zhirinovsky made their statements in a TV talk show “Honest Monday” broadcast by the NTV channel on 30 January 2012.
“Both individuals presented ungrounded allegations about genocide in the early 1990-s. They also made remarks on the necessity to stop attracting the Tajik labor force in Russia”, — said Nazriev.
The Tajik official expressed bewilderment about the ungrounded statements and regret about the lack of proper reaction and refutation by the Russian authorities regarding the hostile statements in the media.
14 February
Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, Dushanbe
On 14 February 2012, the Party of Islamic Renaissance of Tajikistan (PIRT) released a statement accusing the National Security Committee of disseminating prejudiced information in the media.
On 13 February, the state television broadcast a report filmed and edited by the Security Committee showing two drug smugglers and explaining that the two are members of PIRT.
Representatives of PIRT stated that the persons detained by the Security Committee have no affiliation to the party. PIRT approached the National Security Committee with a request to refute the information.