DUSHANBE — A prominent Tajik religious and political figure has criticized authorities for restricting access to his religious website, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda told RFE/RL today that restricting access to turajon.com is unconstitutional, because the website is not political.

The State Communications Service issued a directive, a copy of which was shown to journalists on May 19, ordering internet providers to restrict access to the site because of «a technical problem.» As of May 20, the website could only be accessed by using proxy servers.

The website was created by Turajonzoda and his brothers a year ago. Since then, it has had more than one million visits.

Turajonzoda is a former head of Tajikistan’s Muslims, a former deputy prime minister, and one of the former leaders of the Tajik Islamic movement. His brothers are also well known religious leaders

Turajon.com is devoted to Islamic issues. The Turajonzoda brothers use it to publish their views, and sometimes answer questions from site visitors about religious issues.

Several new books by Turajonzoda were recently posted to the site. Visitors can also listen to sermons by prominent Islamic leaders at Friday prayers.

During the military operation in Tajikistan’s eastern Rasht district last fall, authorities similarly restricted all communications with the eastern part of the country, citing «technical problems,»

The precise nature of these technical problems was never made public.

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajik_authorities_criticized_for_restricting_access_to_religious_websit

Journalists interested in furthering their studies on media and diversity can apply to a graduate program.

The University of Westminster and the Media Diversity Institute are launching a one-year Master’s program in Media and Diversity in September 2011.

The course is aimed at media professionals, students of journalism and media studies graduates who want to gain experience in intercultural communication or understanding and dealing with diversity in the media.

It is designed to equip students with the practical and theoretical skills needed to engage in responsible media coverage of diversity. Classes will be taught by experienced journalism academics as well as by practicing journalists from organizations such as the BBC.

The first course will start in September 2011 at the University of Westminster in central London. A limited number of bursaries will be available.

For more information, click here: http://www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/media/journalism/diversity-and-the-media-ma

http://ijnet.org/opportunities/masters-course-media-and-diversity-launches-uk

Date:03/10/11 — 07/10/11
Deadline:31/07/11
Gmedia Center
Location:GenevaSwitzerlandSee map: map.search.ch, Google Maps

Journalists interested in human rights can apply for a free workshop in Geneva.

The workshop, sponsored by Gmedia Center, aims to enhance and deepen journalists’ understanding of human rights principles and protection mechanisms.

It will be held in conjunction with the session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodical Review.

Qualified applications will receive grant sponsorship to attend the workshop. The grant includes tuition, airfare, accommodation and a daily allowance.

Journalists from Togo, Uganda, Thailand, Venezuela and Syria are strongly encouraged to apply.

For more information, click here: http://gmediacenter.net/index.php?option=com_seminar&Itemid=9

http://ijnet.org/opportunities/grants-human-rights-workshop-offered-journalists-worldwide

DUSHANBE — Iran’s ambassador to Tajikistan says Tajik officials are responsible for the long delay of the launch of the Afghan-Iranian-Tajik television project, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

In 2006, presidents Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran, and Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan agreed to launch a joint Persian-speaking television channel called Navrooz-TV. The project has still not been implemented.

Talking to journalists in Dushanbe on May 19, Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Sherdust said the necessary equipment for Navrooz-TV was brought to the Tajik capital long ago.

Sherdust complained that Tajik officials responsible for the project are avoiding meetings and talks about the final steps needed to launch the joint television channel.

He also pointed out that the TV station’s Afghan partners similarly ignore the project and avoid any discussion of the matter.

Sherdust said Afghan Culture and Information Minister Makhdum Rahmin refused to take part in discussions regarding the project while he was visiting Tajikistan last week.

Sherdust added that according to the agreement about the TV station, Tajikistan was responsible for providing an appropriate building for Navrooz TV’s television broadcasting center, Iran was to provide all the necessary equipment and studios, while Afghanistan had promised to provide a satellite channel in Persian for the television station.

Many of the people in Afghanistan, Iran, and Tajikistan share cultural and linguistic similarities.

http://www.rferl.org/content/afghan_iran_tajik_tv_project/24180773.html

Deadline:27/06/11
Online News Association (ONA)

A competition seeks digital tools that have significantly enhanced online journalism.

The Online Journalism Awards, sponsored by the Online News Association, are open to websites and all digital platforms, including smart phones, e-readers and tablets, where journalists have originated content or selected and amplified it. Both individuals and organizations may enter.

Work must have been published between July 1, 2010 and June 15, 2011. There are 13 award categories available, including categories for students. To see a full list, click here.

Last year’s winners included CNN for breaking news on the Haiti earthquake and The New York Times for a multimedia report on the Taliban. To see a full list of winners, click here.

Eight awards come with a total of US$33,000 in prize money.

For more information, click here: http://journalists.org/?page=oja2011overview&utm_source=Online+News+Association+List&utm_campaign=c1f0fed841-OJA_call_for_entries_5_19_115_18_2011&utm_medium=email

http://ijnet.org/opportunities/online-journalism-competition-seeks-entries-worldwide

In an era of explosive global stories and shrinking news budgets, Al Jazeera is the latest broadcaster with plans to create training for citizen journalists.
The tutorials will enable citizens to report on events, especially in areas that are not covered by mainstream media. The network is creating tutorials for citizen journalists focusing on multimedia including Flip cameras and other devices. No dates were announced for the program launch.

«People are at the heart of it,» said a member of the network’s social media team, Esra Dogramaci, during the BBC Social Media Forum. «It is up to us to give them a microphone and amplify their voices. In Syria, for example, we have no correspondents on the ground. We are relying entirely on people to send the content to us to send out.»

Al Jazeera is the latest broadcaster to launch training for citizen journalists. As networks recognize the value of having reporters on the ground when events erupt, they are stepping up training efforts to turn anyone with a mobile phone or a camera into a news provider.

The BBC World Service offered training and equipment for citizen journalists in 2009; other initiatives include Small World News, launched in 2005, which has recently been arming citizen reporters on the ground in Libya with Kodak Zi8 cameras and 6 HTC Wildfire mobile phones.

http://ijnet.org/stories/al-jazeera-launch-citizen-journalism-training

Journalists from developing countries can apply for a UN fellowship.

The Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalists’ Fellowship Programme, sponsored by the UN General Assembly, gives journalists from developing countries and countries in transition the opportunity to spend six weeks at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

Participants take part in briefings, visit major media outlets and travel to Washington, D.C. for meetings at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Candidates must be between the age of 22 and 35, be employed for a recognized media outlet and fluent in English. The fellowship includes flights and a daily stipend to cover housing, meals and other transportation.

To find a list of eligible countries, candidates must contact the United Nations Information Centre or United Nations Development Programme office closest to them. Applicants will be selected in June.

For more information, click here: http://www.un.org/en/media/fellowship/

http://ijnet.org/opportunities/un-fellowship-journalists-developing-countries-worldwide

BISHKEK — Kyrgyz television journalist Samat Asipov has been hospitalized after a severe beating at the hands of unknown attackers in Bishkek, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.

Asipov suffered multiple injuries, bruises, and concussion in the attack late on May 11.

Almaz Turdumamatov, a senior producer for the Fifth Channel television company for which Asipov works, told RFE/RL that three individuals attacked Asipov near the Kyrgyz Technical University as he was returning home from work at around 10.00 p.m. Turdumamatov said the attackers did not take Asipov’s wallet, mobile phone, or documents.

«We do not exclude the possibility that the attack was connected with Asipov’s professional activities, because over the last two years he covered parliamentary news and social, economic, and political problems,» Turdumamatov told RFE/RL.

Police in Bishkek’s Lenin district have opened an investigation.

http://www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyz_journalist_hospitalized_beating/24099088.html

Uzbek President Islam Karimov says the popular uprisings in North African and Middle Eastern countries this year have been instigated by «foreign powers» who want to control the region’s natural resources, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reports.

Karimov, who spoke on May 9 on national television, is the first Uzbek official to comment on the popular revolts that have taken place in such countries as Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Libya since January.

Many Uzbeks were likely surprised that Karimov raised the issue, because there have been absolutely no reports in the state-controlled Uzbek media about the revolutionary events in the Arab world that have seen longtime rulers such as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ousted from power.

Karimov — who is 73 years old and has been president since 1990 — said his conclusion about the revolts was that «the disruption of peace in Arab countries, to incite [the people] against each other, no doubt, it’s not possible without [foreign] influence. This is definitely coming from [the world’s] big powers.»

Speaking on «Memory Day,» Uzbekistan’s version of Victory Day, Karimov said in the interview that he couldn’t believe that in countries with «such great wealth [in natural resources] this kind of disruption, violence, and clashes could occur spontaneously.»

The Uzbek leader went further, aligning the causes of the Arab uprisings with those of the Andijon massacre in southern Uzbekistan on May 13, 2005, when Uzbek security forces opened fire on protesters and killed hundreds.

He noted that Uzbekistan also possesses vast resources of gas, oil, gold, and uranium. «Foreign powers were behind the Andijon uprising, too,» he said.

Karimov once more warned Uzbeks to be vigilant and stay alert for interference by «dark forces» from outside the country and to keep an eye on the younger generations.

http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbek_president_says_foreign_powers_behind_arab_uprisings/24097499.html

DUSHANBE — A Tajik journalists’ organization has awarded Hikmatulloh Sayfullohzoda a special prize for «journalistic bravery» on World Press Freedom Day, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

The Media-Alliance gave the award to Sayfullohzoda, editor in chief of the weekly «Najot,» founded by the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, on May 3.

Sayfullohzoda was beaten by unknown attackers on February 8 and spent two weeks in the hospital recovering from his injuries. No suspects have been arrested in his case.

A special award from the Media-Alliance was given to Ramziya Mirzobekova, a correspondent for the independent weekly «Asia Plus» who is being sued by Deputy Interior Minister Anvar Taghoymurodov for defamation.

In a show of support for Mirzobekova, the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe chose her to attend a World Press Freedom Day event in New York on May 3. World Press Freedom Day is sponsored by UNESCO, the UN’s cultural organization.

In statement released on Press Freedom Day, U.S. Ambassador Ken Gross said Washington is concerned by the continued pressure on Tajik journalists and said the United States hopes the «Tajik government will recognize that the independent media plays a vital role in a healthy, democratic society.»

Meanwhile, Mansur Sayfiddinov, media adviser to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, said the government rejects the recently released report by Freedom House that describes Tajikistan’s media environment as «not free.»

Sayfiddinov told RFE/RL that the several independent media outlets that exist in the country are greater in number than the official press outlets and said they are free to criticize the government.

But Tajik journalists say independent media suffered a big setback in recent months after officials banned a number of newspapers and websites for three months due to «security reasons.»

http://www.rferl.org/content/tajikistan_press_freedom/24090874.html