The Tajik legislation offers plenty of opportunities for information requests—both to journalists and civil society representatives. In order to help media professionals orient themselves in provisions of law, improve the quality of requests and, in doing so, the quality of pieces of journalism, Thomson Media in collaboration with NANSMIT has created an online learning course ‘Access to Information in the Republic of Tajikistan’.
After the course completion, students will learn to submit information requests to different institutions and echelons of the government, using provisions of different laws, depending on their particular situation. They will be capable of wording the requests in such a manner that they most sure get a relevant response.
The course will help work with denials of information and non-committal replies, and also will it teach to file second request to the effect that it becomes impossible to disregard it.
Besides the theory part, the course is filled with useful hints. It is showcasing real situations from the practice of leading media professionals, both in Tajikistan and internationally.
Experts of the course:
Ian MacWilliam—journalist and media specialist with high work experience in post-Soviet countries, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East. For 25 years he has worked as a reporter, producer and editor, including 10 years at BBC radio and television. He has contributed to Economist, Observer, The Daily Telegraph, Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. As a reporter, he worked in London, Paris, Moscow, Tashkent, Almaty, Kabul, Islamabad and Peshavar, and also in Libya, Tunis, Iraq and other places. He obtained a Master’s degree in terrorism and security studies at King’s College London.
Nuriddin Karshiboev—journalist, founder and head of the National Association of independent media of Tajikistan (NANSMIT). He is a graduate of the faculty of journalism, Moscow State University. Upon graduating from the university, he had worked at the leading newspaper Tojikistoni soveti (Djumkhuriyat) and the national information agency of Tajikistan, and in 1999 he decided to safeguard media employees’ rights.
Khurshed Ulmasov—founder of the tele-, radio- and advertising firm TIROZ. Expert in multimedia and convergent media. Has been working in the media for 21 years.
Gulnora Amirshoeva—CEO at OOO Vecherniy Dushanbe, Chief Editor at newspaper Vechiorka. Soros Fund awardee for best journalist pieces in economy. Laureate of the OSCE journalism contest occasioned to the World Press Freedom day. Laureate of the Tajikistan’s highest journalism prize in the name of A. Lokhuti.
Negmatullo Mirsaidov—international journalist, expert in political, economic and social issues. A co-founder of the international TV- and radio company Mir. First political observer of Tajikistan’s radio and TV. Currently works as an independent journalist.
Sukhrob Pulotov—lawyer in the field of media. Has worked for educational institutions and law enforcement. From 2014—lawyer at the National Association of independent media of Tajikistan. In the context of cooperation with the Media Council of Tajikistan he delivers legal aid and consults journalists.
Jamshed Marupov—factcheking journalist, media trainer. Co-founder of Factcheck.tj and ZiraMedia websites, Chief Editor at Factcheck.tj. From 2012 he has been doing journalistic investigations.
Lidia Isamova—journalist, media expert. In 1997-2001 she worked as an editor and Head of Information Services at the Asia Plus new agency. Former Tajik correspondent at Associated Press. In 2002-2005, IWPR country director in Tajikistan. From 2003—RIA Novosti correspondent in Tajikistan.
The course instructor is Matluba Mustaeva—independent journalist originating from Central Asia and currently working in Berlin. Graduate of the faculty of international journalism (Tashkent), has rich experience of working for international media. Former head of the sporting news agency championat.asia, worked in online journalism and social media networking in international media companies.
Please join the learning process right away!
If you haven’t done any courses on the Journalism Now platform, it will offer you to sign up. You will then be able to use the login and password that you get to enroll for the course, which you can undergo at any time.
Warm welcome!
For reference:
Access to Information in the Republic of Tajikistan – first out of two specialized online learning courses in the Tajik language created by Thomson Media. The organization plans to release one more course, in fact checking, in July 2020.
The courses come as a result of cooperation of Thomson Media and NANSMIT in the project ‘Righting the Balance: Building the Resilience and the Relevance of Independent Media in Tajikistan’. The project is funded by the European Union and is being implemented by NANSMIT in partnership with Thomson Media and the ‘Your Lawyer’ human rights advocacy group.