On 11 January, representatives of Tajik media organizations discussed the issues of media sustainability in the country in 2007. The round table organized by International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) took place in Dushanbe.

For a number of years, IREX has been conducting studies on Media Sustainability Index in the countries of Europe and Eurasia under support of USAID. The project applies standard methodologies and basic indicators to define the level of development of the media in different countries.

Participants of the meeting in Dushanbe discussed the legal and social aspects of the media freedom and access to information in Tajikistan, professional standards of journalism and editorial independence.

“In the course of our discussion, we came to the conclusion that there have not been essential changes in the sphere of mass media”, — said Lidia Isamova, a well-known Tajik media expert and moderator of the discussion.

Among the major obstacles in the development of the domestic media, the participants outlined the problems with licensing of private TV and radio companies, poor education in the universities, breaches in the legislation, and lack of solidarity among media professionals.

“We gather once in a while discussing the cases of flagrant violations of our professional and civil rights, — said one of the participants. — We timidly discuss the problems and criticize public officials. However, we have to be hard on the target if we wish real changes to occur. In other words, if the official violates the law, his actions should be hold up to ridicule systematically. Besides that, we should include comments of professional lawyers in our publications”.

The most important conclusions of the panel discussion that took place in the IREX office in Dushanbe will be published in a special bulletin.

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