Presentation of the concept of the Tajik media coalition was made by Zafar Abdullaev, secretary of the Tajik Media Alliance. He described the potential and benefits of the media coalition in achieving common strategic goals – legal reform, protection of rights among journalists, adoption of the code of ethics, and efficient interaction with the authorities.
“So far, casual attempts of adopting new laws in the sphere of media laws and establishing a code of ethics by certain media organizations have not brought any positive outcomes. One of the reasons for that is the “fragmentation” of the domestic media. The coalition would ensure the coherence of our efforts”, — said Abdullaev.
It should be noted that this idea is not something brand new. In 2006, such a coalition named “Partnership in the name of democracy” was created by three associations – NANSMIT, ANESMI and the Media Alliance, but shortly afterwards, was self-liquidated.
Doubts about the viability of the coalition were expressed again. Chairman of NANSMIT, Nuriddin Karshibaev suggested to reserve the independent nature of all media unions, but – when necessary – to unite for definite projects or in certain situations.
Akbarali Sattorov, chairman of the Tajik Union of Journalists thinks that “the idea of setting up the coalition is quite acceptable, but the projects requires thorough consideration and attraction of many potential stakeholders – editors and NGOs”.
Umed Bobokhanov, director of the Asia Plus media group considers that the coalition is needed, but within its framework, there should be a freedom of implementing both joint and individual projects”.
The parties decided to get back to the issue of the coalition in April. The round table was organized by the Media Alliance of Tajikistan with support of Internews Network.

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