On 22 September chairman of the Tajik Bar Association Naim Amirbekov had a meeting with Tajik journalists. The meeting was held within the framework of the project “Support to Tajik Independent Media” being implemented by the Tajik National Association of Independent Mass Media (NANSMIT) under support of the US-based non-governmental organization National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Mr. Amirbekov touché upon the issue of responsibility for mistakes in publications. Usually, newspapers make references to a note on the last page saying that “the editing board bears no responsibility for published materials”. “This does not disembarrass the newspaper from responsibility”, — said Amirbekov. — “Only the court can establish the responsibility for mistakes – deliberate or unintentional”.

The lawyer also made a reference to Article 30 of the Tajik law “On printing and other mass media”, which says that prior to publishing an article, the journalist should check and analyze all data and facts.

NANSMIT Monitoring Service