A report by the U.S.-based watchdog Freedom House says the global financial crisis is having a negative impact on freedom of the press.

The 2009 Freedom of the Press Index, released ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, indicates that while press freedom in open societies is being affected mostly in terms of decreased funding, in countries with oppressive governments, the crisis is providing new tools for further strengthening the leadership’s grip on the media.

According to the index, which rates 195 countries worldwide, the biggest drop in press freedom was witnessed in Central and Eastern Europe, in addition to most of the former Soviet Union.

The Freedom House index assesses the countries included in the survey by measuring the degree of print, broadcast, and Internet freedom available through a single calendar year. It provides numerical rankings and rates each country’s media as «Free,» «Partly Free,» or «Not Free.»

According to the report, which summarizes countries’ performances during 2008, concluded that 56 percent of people living in the combined region of Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (FSU), excluding the Baltic States, live in media environments that are «Not Free.»

But while the countries in the region share a common history of communist oppression, the trajectory of countries in the FSU diverged significantly in 2008 from that of Central and Eastern Europe in terms of respect for fundamental political rights and civil liberties.

The press freedom ratings for these sub-regions reflect a similar divergence.

Repressive Governments

Christopher Walker, Freedom House’s director of studies and one of the authors of the index, tells RFE/RL that former communist states in Central Europe such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland are clearly designated as “Free” and have remained so throughout the crisis.

But in Eastern Europe, and particularly in the countries of the FSU, where press freedom has been experiencing a slow but steady decline for years, the economic turmoil has exacerbated the trend.
All in all, the system isn’t enabling a meaningful discussion of alternative issues in Russia

“The ongoing trajectory of media freedom in the region suggests that there’s been a consolidation of unfree media environments in the former Soviet Union,» Walker said.

«And this has significant implications at a time when the global economy is playing a role in the health of independent media… In already vulnerable media environments there are even larger questions about independent media’s ability to function in the former Soviet Union.”

In more repressive settings, Walker says, authorities have always enjoyed near-complete control over allocating resources and using the legal system to manipulate media.

Now, with funding drying up, it is even easier for repressive governments to reward complacent media outlets on the one hand, and penalize dissenting voices on the other.

Russia Downturn

Russia continues to be the media-crackdown leader among the FSU countries, and has passed the trend on to a number of neighboring states.

Russia has been on a gradual decline in media freedom since 2003, when it was downgraded from a “Partly Free” to a “Not Free” country.

“What we’ve seen is really a systematic and consistent constriction of Russia’s media over the last several years, including last year, where Russia also underwent a slight downturn for a number of reasons — including the absence of independent judiciary to ensure that media freedoms are upheld, and ongoing self-censorship, which has been a growing problem over the course of recent years,» Walker said.

«All in all, the system isn’t enabling a meaningful discussion of alternative issues in Russia.”

Ten out of 12 of the non-Baltic post-Soviet states are ranked as «Not Free.» Three of the world’s 10 worst press-freedom abusers — Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan — are found in the former Soviet Union.

Azerbaijan is another country which attracted significant media attention in 2008 because of several cases when journalists have been imprisoned for their work but then released.

Walker of Freedom House notes this as a “positive development,” but says it’s insufficient to indicate major change in Azerbaijan’s continued clampdown on the media, which last year included a ban on foreign broadcasters, including the BBC, Voice of America, and RFE/RL.

“One of the things that we cited in our review of Azerbaijan, as part of the larger pattern of media suppression, were the steps taken to remove a number of international broadcasters from the airwaves in Azerbaijan,» Walker said.

«So, if we look at the broader picture of media freedom in Azerbaijan, the release of journalists that’s just occurred in the larger institutional picture are a small but positive step in an otherwise highly repressed media environment.”

Central Asia has been for years one of the weakest regions for free media, and 2008 was not an exception, says Walker.

While it comes as little surprise that frequent human-rights and press-freedom abusers like Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have again been given the lowest possible rankings, Kyrgyzstan, one of the brighter spots in Central Asia, underwent a two-point decline in 2008.

“That was principally a result of its decision to remove Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from the state broadcaster, but it follows a larger pattern of pressure that we’ve seen on independent media outlets in the country,” Walker said.

Lack of an independent judiciary and the inability of the judiciary to protect journalists remains a serious concern in many of the FSU states, where reporters continue to put their personal safety at risk.

Nikola Krastev, Radio Liberty / Radio Free Europe

Источник: http://www.rferl.org/content/Financial_Crisis_Causing_Drop_In_Media_Freedom_Worldwide/1620201.html

Washington — Now that the World Digital Library has been launched on the Internet, its creators want to add new partners and content from every country in the world.

Inaugurated April 21 at the headquarters of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, the World Digital Library (WDL) includes about 1,200 documents from more than two dozen libraries and institutions in 19 countries. The response on launch day was “tremendous,” says John Van Oudenaren of the U.S. Library of Congress. “We had over 7 million page views, 615,000 unique viewers. We had people [accessing the site] from every country in the world.”

A collaborative project of the Library of Congress, UNESCO and more than 30 global partners, the WDL focuses on significant primary materials such as manuscripts, maps, rare books, sound recordings, films, prints, photographs and architectural drawings, all in their original languages. The site’s interface — including its search functions and explanatory material — is in seven languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian. (See “World Digital Library Offers Cultural Treasures from Around Globe.”)

“One of the big challenges for the future,” Van Oudenaren said, “is to add new partners so that we have some partners from every country in the world, and also to add content.”

He said that in advance of the launch, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington wrote to “every national librarian and every national archivist in the world” informing them about the project and inviting them to discuss partnerships, and UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura did the same in letters to cultural ministers in every UNESCO country.

“The only way we’re going to turn it into a genuine world digital library is to get everybody aboard,” Van Oudenaren, senior adviser for the WDL at the Library of Congress, told America.gov April 27.

Earlier, he held a digital video conference with information resource professionals at the INFOS 2009 conference in Bratislava, Slovakia. The University Library in Bratislava, a WDL partner, contributed items from the Bašagić Collection of Islamic Manuscripts. That collection is included on the UNESCO Memory of the World register, which seeks to preserve valuable archive holdings throughout the world.

“There are a number of UNESCO Memory of the World items on the World Digital Library,” Van Oudenaren said, “and that’s the kind of material — special, unique, important cultural material — that we want to be focusing on as we move forward.”

While the WDL includes rare books, “this is not a mass book-digitization project,” Van Oudenaren said. The books complement other cultural content or are cultural artifacts themselves. Some examples are the first known South American imprint, Pragmatica, a four-page edict issued by King Philip II of Spain in 1584; the Devil’s Bible (Codex Gigas), created in the early 13th century in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic); and the first printed edition of the classic Japanese work Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji), 1596–1615.

“We’re hoping that [the WDL] increases the amount of non-English and international content on the Internet,” Van Oudenaren said. “We wanted to make sure we had a good representation from all the different cultures and not just Western culture.” One of the main goals of the project is to promote better understanding between cultures, its creators have emphasized.

The WDL also aims to help bridge the digital divide by helping developing countries acquire the technical capability to digitize their cultural and historical collections, Van Oudenaren said.

REACHING OUT TO YOUNG PEOPLE

Because the World Digital Library is intended as an educational resource, especially for students and other young people, it has been designed to appeal to computer-savvy users. “We did a lot of work in optimizing speed and functionality,” Van Oudenaren said. “Young people are conditioned by fast, highly functional commercial sites. … They don’t want to click on something and wait for five minutes while it shows up.”

Additionally, young people “don’t just want to be passive viewers of Web sites, they want to share things with their friends, and so we’ve provided those options,” he said. Every document on the WDL has a link with “no fewer than 46 different options — everything from simple printing and downloading to Twittering, Facebooking and so on — to let you share it with your friends.”

“If you want to be relevant and you want to do some good in terms of helping people understand each other better, you’ve got to reach out to young people,” Van Oudenaren said.

“We’ll be listening to what people have to say about what they like, what they don’t like, and we’ll be continuing to improve and adding features,” he said.

The World Digital Library Web site was developed by the Library of Congress, with some technical assistance on Arabic search and other issues from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, Van Oudenaren said. Partners contribute content, share technology or provide other services.

Funding comes from private sources, including Google Inc., the Qatar Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, Microsoft Inc., the Lawrence and Mary Anne Tucker Foundation and the Bridging Nations Foundation.

US Embassy to Tajikistan

Washington — If journalists are persecuted, imprisoned or killed, society as a whole is the victim, say media and democracy advocates speaking in advance of World Press Freedom Day.

The United Nations highlighted the importance of a free media by establishing World Press Freedom Day in 1993, setting aside May 3 each year to remember slain and imprisoned journalists. This year’s theme is the safety of journalists.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Karen Stewart told America.gov that “by attacking journalists you are attacking a very basic fundamental of a free society,” the right of citizens to have free and open access to information.

“And without those freedoms you cannot have democracy,” the former ambassador to Belarus said April 27. In Belarus, “the embassy worked very hard to support journalists in very trying, repressive circumstances with programs like legal assistance training and funding of external radio operations.”

An independent media brings transparency and accountability to government — indispensable elements for a healthy economy as well as democracy, Stewart said.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reports that in 2008 some 41 journalists were killed while doing their jobs and 125 were imprisoned. A new trend, according to the organization, is “the arrest of Internet journalists — bloggers, Web-based reporters and online editors [who] now account for more than one-third of the journalists jailed around the globe.”

Don Podesta, consulting manager and editor for the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), a part of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), also highlighted the importance of journalistic freedom.

Podesta, a former Washington Post reporter and foreign correspondent in South America, said Americans “have to promote free and independent media around the world, and that means protecting journalists, because you can’t have robust democracies without them — it’s that simple.”

CIMA’s main goal, Podesta said, is “to help journalists in the developing world by providing information, networks and research on the important role of media in sustaining democracies around the world.”

A 2008 report compiled by CIMA/NED called “Empowering Independent Media” states that in many political settings, “violence against journalists is prevalent.”

Some of the reasons for this include:

• Media laws are often weak and selectively enforced.

• Governments control and censor the media.

• Cooperation for access to information is lacking.

• Too few lawyers are willing to defend or protect journalists.

Carl Gershman, president of the NED, said, “If journalists are being harassed and even killed with impunity, then nothing we [nongovernmental organizations] do to improve their professionalism will be enough to ensure a free press.”

The danger for the press, especially investigative reporters, is “greater today than ever, especially in Somalia, Iraq and Russia,” Gershman said. “It is a difficult time with a lot of repression from governments fighting what they see as threats from an independent media.”

As a show of bipartisan support for international press freedom, U.S. lawmakers set up the Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press in May 2006. The aim of the caucus is to advance press freedom worldwide by combating censorship and the persecution of journalists. The caucus is co-chaired by Senator Richard Lugar (Republican of Indiana), Senator Chris Dodd (Democrat of Connecticut), Representative Adam Schiff (Democrat of California) and Representative Mike Pence (Republican of Indiana).

In a press release, Dodd said, “Journalists and representatives of the press are on the front lines of freedom of information. When they are harmed or intimidated, the victim is not only them but democracy.”

Schiff said, “Where there is no freedom of the press, there is no freedom.” He added, “Journalists should not have to work in fear of governments throwing them in jail or harming them or their families simply for doing their job.”

US Embassy to Tajikistan

U.S. remembers journalists who were killed in quest to make truth known

United States Mission to the OSCE

World Press Freedom Day

As delivered by Chargé d’ Affaires Kyle Scott

to the Permanent Council, Vienna

April 30, 2009

This weekend, we mark World Press Freedom Day. We do so with a somber note, for, as we acknowledge and praise media workers around the globe for their public service, we also remember those who have been harassed, jailed, physically assaulted, and even killed in the quest to make the truth known.

Media workers worldwide put themselves in harm’s way, and not just in war zones. In countries around the globe, journalists risk their lives on a daily basis, when they shine a light into dark corridors of government corruption, expose intolerance, or otherwise displease powerful figures with something to hide. The ugly and unacceptable reality is that those who murder journalists – those who silence voices vital to democracy and freedom – far, far too often are getting away with it.

In its recently published 2009 Impunity Index, the Committee to Protect Journalists focuses on the disturbing trend of the murder of journalists that remain unsolved. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, on average, only one out of ten times is someone convicted when a journalist is murdered. In many cases, governments simply fail to act at all. In even more disturbing instances, governments may actually be involved in the murder or cover-up. This failure to aggressively pursue these crimes and prosecute the perpetrators sends a message to the killers that they can act with impunity – that they will not be brought to justice.

No country should be complacent about violence against journalists. In the United States, we witnessed in 2007 the shocking murder of an investigative reporter, Chauncey Bailey, in California. The full dimensions of this crime are only slowly being unraveled as the investigation, and the controversy over its handling by local law enforcement authorities, continues. In 2008, six journalists were killed in OSCE participating States because of their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. We call on these OSCE participating States to hold the killers accountable. According to that same NGO, sixteen journalists have been murdered in the Russian Federation alone since 1999 because of their reporting on crime, unrest, and corruption. Of these sixteen killings, only one case has been resolved.

The United States again commends the repeated efforts of the Representative on Freedom of the Media to sound the alarm on this growing problem and to remind OSCE participating States of our OSCE commitments on press freedom. As Miklos Harazsti has said, «Attempts at silencing critical voices with the help of violence should be seen and handled by law enforcement not as ordinary crimes, but as acts aimed to undermine the basic democratic value of free expression.»

It is with this sentiment in mind that we should all pause to commemorate World Press Freedom Day and pledge to work together to turn our OSCE commitments into living reality.

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.

Read more: http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2009/April/20090430143624eaifas0.1451837.html#ixzz0EbTlDQG1&B

US Embassy to Tajikistan

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
April 2009

In April 2009 the NANSMIT Monitoring Service received 30 reports. Nineteen of them describe the factual situation in the media in the light of socio-legal and political environment; six reports describe direct violations of rights of media professionals; and five reports describe 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

2 April
All media, Dushanbe

Draft Declaration of facilitation to mutually beneficial exchange of printing products among the CIS countries was adopted at the 12-th Interstate Council of CIS on Cooperation in the Sphere of Publishing.

The Interstate Council also assumed a decision on creating a joint printing body for the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The 12-th Council took place in Dushanbe, on 1-2 April. Members of the Council are Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia and Tajikistan.

2. Factual status of media and freedom of speech

1 April
Mirzoshohrukh Asrori, Minister of Culture, Dushanbe

Speaking at the 12-th Interstate Council of CIS on Cooperation in the Sphere of Publishing Minister of Culture Mirzoshohrukh Asrori said that Tajikistan has all conditions for democratic development of the media. There are 133 printing houses, 44 publishing firms, 6 news agencies, 74 magazines, and 176 newspapers.

14 April
TV and Radio Committee under the Government, Dushanbe

The State TV and Radio Committee under the Tajik government has installed 15 transmitters in the most densely populated regions of the country to ensure proper broadcasting of the TV stations Safina, Bakhoriston, and Jahonnamo.

17 April
OSCE Center in Dushanbe

Speaking at a regional seminar on labor migration in Dushanbe, Ambassador of the OSCE Center in Tajikistan Vladimir Pryakhin said that “Tajik guest workers are described in a lop-sided manner in the media; the image of a labor migrant looks like a caricature…”

“However, we often forget that these people create values worth of billions of dollars, bringing benefits to the recipient countries where they work”, — he added. Pryakhin said that the OSCE Center in Dushanbe is going to launch a contest on the best story about labor migrants and their positive input in development.

28 April
Iranian news agency Fors, Dushanbe

Iranian information agency Foros has opened its office in Dushanbe.

According to Muhammad Siddikifar, regional representative of Fors in Central Asia, “The Iranian media can become a bridge connecting te countries of the region that have common cultural and historical roots”.

Fors is planning its activities on the basis of integration and close cooperation among the countries in the spheres of information, scientific, cultural and economic exchange.

30 April
Davlat Nazriev, head of Information Department, Misistry of Foreign Affairs, Dushanbe

“Twenty four representations of foreign media with about 100 journalists are working currently in Tajikistan”, — said Davlat Nazriev, head of the Tajik Foreign Ministry’s Information Department. He added that the Tajik authorities have always had a positive attitude to the media, especially the foreign press covering domestic and foreign policy of Tajikistan.

4. Journalists protecting their civil and professional rights

6 April
All media, Dushanbe

The Tajik National Association of Independent Mass Media (NANSMIT) is celebrating its tenth anniversary. On this occasion NANSMIT held a press conference in Dushanbe to present the results of its activities and tell the media about its plans and strategy for the future.

14 April
All media, Dushanbe

The British Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) conducted a one-day seminar on “Writing news and analytical articles”.

29 April
All media, Dushanbe

A seminar on interrelations between NGOs and the media was held in Dushanbe on 28-29 April in Dushanbe. The seminar was organized by the Tajik public organization “Umedbakhsh” within the framework of the project on promotion of public interests under support of the Aga Khan Foundation.

II. VIOLATION OF RIGHTS IN THE MEDIA

1. Impediments to professional activities in the media

1 April
Radio Khatlon, Kurgan-tube, Khatlon

On 30 March correspondents of Radio Khatlon Makhmadali Akramov and Dilbar Sattorova went on errand to collect information about the educational process in schools 23 and 49 of Bokhtar district in Khatlon province. Having received permission from deputy chairman of the district, they came to the schools, but the directors did not believe them, which was reflected in the radio programs produced later. The school directors complained about the broadcasts demanding apologies from radio managers.

2. Ungrounded limitations in access to publicly important information

13 April
Mukkamal Odinaeva, IWPR correspondent, Dushanbe

Correspondent of IWPR Mukammal Odinaeva approached the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade with questions regarding economic cooperation between Tajikistan and Iran. Head of a department under the Ministry said that his unit does have comprehensive and veracious information, but he cannot provide it to the journalist without permission from deputy Minister.

Deputy Minister Kenjaev also refused to share this information with the correspondent saying that “the data available in the Ministry can be at variance with the data available in the Tajik State Investment Committee”.

Kenjaeva approached the State Investment Committee where she faced the same difficulties. An official from the unit she applied to said that no information can be shared with the media without a proper approval by the boss.

Then the correspondent applied to the Committee’s press center, where she was promised this information, but “later”.

14 April
Prosecutor of Vose district, Khatlon province

A question regarding the criminal situation in Vose district in the first quarter of 2009 remained unanswered at a press conference on 13 April.

Sukhrobsho Farrukhshoev told the NANSMIT monitoring service that he asked this question to the district prosecutor Azam Nurov, but the latter said that “the question is irrelevant”. “Should you asked about a particular incident in the district, I would give you the answer, but if you need statistics, please, visit me some another day”, — he added.

20 April
valentine Kasymbekova, freelance journalist, Dushanbe

Freelance correspondent Valentina Kasymbekova came to the Tajik Migration Service under the Interior Ministry to receive statistical data on the number of migrants who left the country during 2009.

A policeman on duty said that she should come according to a schedule, at a preliminary arrangement. The correspondent explained that she came to get socially important information, not on her personal business. However, the policeman said he is instructed not to let anybody in without preliminary arrangement.

22 April
All media, Vose district, Khatlon province

The NANSMIT Monitoring Service has repeatedly reported about the difficulties in getting access to publicly important information, especially in remote areas of Tajikistan. Local officials often refer to “the necessity of having permission from their bosses”; otherwise, they send journalists to central offices and press centers in the capital.

Several journalists accredited in the city of Kulyab faced the same difficulties when they approached managers of the Amonatbank branch in Vose district, Khatlon province. Anvar Nodirov, office manager refused to inform the journalists about crediting for cotton farming in the area in 2009.

III. CONFLICTS. VIOLATIONS INCRIMINATED TO THE MEDIA AND JOURNALISTS

1. Accusation of embezzlement and document forgery

22 April

Pulat Umarov, former editor of the Tong newspaper, Khujand, Sughd province

The criminal case of former editor of the Tong newspaper is sent to the court for further investigation.

According to prosecutor’s office in the city of Khujand, former editor of the Tong newspaper Pulat Umarov and entrepreneur D. Toshmatov are accused of embezzlement and document forgery (Articles 257 and 340 of the Tajik criminal code). In the period from July to November 2008 they appropriated grant money allotted for their office. Maksud Khudaiberdyev, founder of the newspaper approached prosecutor’s office with a complaint.

2. Protection of honor, dignity and business reputation

6 April
Media Alliance of Tajikistan, Dushanbe

The Media Alliance of Tajikistan expressed concern about the comments of Kamol Kurboniyon, editor of the government newspaper Jumkhuriyat regarding his colleagues working for private media.

Kurboniyon expressed doubts about professionalism and skills of journalists and their ability to teach; he also expressed an idea that some private media are non-transparent and are guided by “foreign masters”, and thus, they work against the interests of the state.

Commenting on that, the NANSMIT Monitoring Service assumes that the editor’s words are taken from the context, and his ideas are misinterpreted.

However, the Media Alliance appeals to all journalists – regardless of the medium they work for – to restrain from any “assessment” of professional qualities of their colleagues.

15 April
Emomali Rakhmon, President of Tajikistan, Dushanbe

On 15 April President of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon in his annual message to the parliament made a number of remarks regarding several web sites, which, according to him, conduct conscientious and malevolent campaign against Tajikistan.

“It is quite obvious that somebody is not very happy with the independence of the State of Tajiks and our multi-vector policy. Suffice it to look at the headlines of preconceived and “invited” publications”, — said the President.

The Tajik leader said that the analysis shows that about 30 thousand stories about Tajikistan appeared on various web sites in the period from 2004 to 2007. More than 80 percent of them were filled with libel, slander and ungrounded forecasts.

Rakhmon stressed that the domestic mass media should serve not only as a powerful information tool, but also as a shield against untruthful publications.

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 Karshibaev

Media can deepen divides by offending or confronting another’s culture or identity. Cartoons published in the Danish Press in 2005 that depicted the Prophet Mohammed, for instance, set off protests throughout the Muslim world, with critics calling the cartoons racist and blasphemous.

On the other hand, media can serve to «promote a tolerance and acceptance of difference,» according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). To do so, UNESCO says, media must «challenge prevailing attitudes and assumptions concerning the many ‘others’ in our world,» moving «beyond scripted stereotypes [and] stripping away the ignorance that breeds mistrust and suspicion.»

To highlight this goal, UNESCO has made the theme of World Press Freedom Day 2009, to be celebrated May 2 and 3, «the potential of media in fostering dialogue, mutual understanding and reconciliation.»

Is the role of media really to promote tolerance, understanding, and an acceptance of diversity, as UNESCO calls for? Or is the media’s role simply to report the facts, even if such facts breed mistrust or fuel divides?

IJNET

The Sughd province unit of the Tajik Drug Control Agency jointly with the public organization Safo launched a contest for journalists on best coverage of the topic “Drug abuse, stigma and access to socio-medical services”. Results of the contest will be declared on 25 May 2009.

The main idea and goal of the contest is to raise public awareness on drug abuse consequences, and reduction of discrimination of drug addicts.
The contest is being conducted within the framework of events dedicated to the International Day of Countering Drugs.

NANSMIT Monitoring Service

The National Association of Independent Media, Tajikistan (NANSMIT) has summarized the outcomes of monitoring in the sphere of freedom of speech in the first quarter of 2009. The monitoring service has registered 97 reports, 71 of which define the factual situation among the media in the light of social, legal and political aspects, the other 19 inform about direct violations of journalists’ rights, and the other 7 concern conflicts and accusations against the media and journalists.
Nuriddin Karshibaev, chairman of NANSMIT says that the list of recent violations of journalists’ professional and civil rights is incomplete. “So far, some journalists – in view of subjective reasons – are not willing to report about such facts”, said Karshibaev.

http://www.nansmit.tj/

The decision on termination of broadcasting of RTR-Planet is not final

“The Committee on TV and Radio Broadcasting under the government of Tajikistan is ready to consider an official proposal of the Russian State TV and Radio Company on the renewal of its broadcasting”, — said Abdurakhmon Abdumanonov, deputy chairman of the Committee at a press conference in Dushanbe on 17 April.
“We are ready to consider official proposals from the Russian State TV Company”, — said Abdumanonov. — “We have never stated that our decision is final and irrevocable”.

For background information see the following articles:
http://www.eng.nansmit.tj/analysis/?id=43
http://www.eng.nansmit.tj/analysis/?id=44

http://www.asiaplus.tj/

The Broadcasting Committee under the government of Tajikistan has installed 15 transmitters of different capacities in densely populated areas of the country to ensure quality rebroadcasting of the state TV channels Safina, Bakhoriston and Jahonnamo.

Speaking at a press conference in Dushanbe, deputy chairman of the Committee Abdurakhmon Abdumanonov told the media that the TV channel Jahonnamo has expanded its activities and now has its resident correspondents working abroad.
During the reporting period the Committee’s licensing commission has considered applications from 15 private TV companies. Four of them have received their licenses for the first time, and licenses of other four stations have been prolonged. The other applications were rejected in view of incompliance with the legislation.

http://www.khovar.tj/