OSCE Center in Dushanbe presented a study on feasibility of Tajikistan’s printing media

Rukhshona Najmiddinova, the OCSE Center’s public relations assistant said that the assessment of the cost of production of local newspapers was conducted within the framework of a wider study in order to analyze main obstacles for printing media in the country.

”Our goal is to create an information base for public officials responsible for the media, and provide them with recommendations on strengthening financial sustainability of Tajik newspapers, — said Michail Unland, the OSCE Center’s media advisor. — The more stable are the newspapers, the better is the information they give to readers”.

Mirsaid Sultonov, the author of the study says that very few newspapers in Tajikistan are profitable; the rest of them struggle to survive. “Many of the media managers have journalistic backgrounds, but they lack managerial skills”, — said Sultonov.

According to the study, the main reasons of cost-inefficiency are high production costs and inability to attract advertisers. “Many of the government newspapers solve these problems by means of State subsidies and forced subscription campaigns – also supported by the government”, — says the study.

There are no daily newspapers in Tajikistan, and most printing outlets have only up to three thousand copies, which means the lack of access to the printing media.

For a more thorough and detailed study, the OSCE Center in Dushanbe is going to convene a meeting of editors and managers of Tajik newspapers. The meeting is scheduled for January 2008.

http://www.asiaplus.tj/