20 Years Later: Uzbekistan
By Global Journalist Staff Posted Apr 14 2010
Uzbek photographer and director Umida Akhmedova was convicted of slander this past February for her documentary, The Burden of Virginity, which was said to paint a negative portrait of Uzbek people.
AP Photo
Uzbekistan is a country often severely restricted by its heads of state.
After officially eliminating state censorship in 2002, the government has still found a way to take extreme measures to restrict independent journalism. The State Press Committee and the Inter-Agency Coordination Committee, for instance, have been known to harass and stifle the work of burgeoning independent media outlets. Both groups helped to create rules that required media outlets to re-register if they failed to pass a summary review.
The state controls newspaper distribution, and because of that, state-owned newspapers dominate Uzbekistan, according to the United States Library of Congress’ 2007 profile of Uzbekistan. Stories presented about Uzbekistan are often skewed because the only news agency from the country, Uzbekistan News Agency, is state-controlled, and those created outside the country still hold offices in Uzbekistan.
Most attempts by Uzbekistan journalists to think outside the box or tell the truth is often scorned and charged as a crime. For example, in 2009 Umida Ahmedova, a photographer, was charged with defamation and damaging the country’s image through a series of documentaries that showed men, women and children in hardship in obscure villages across the country. For her eye-opening work, she was found guilty this past February of slander and of insulting the Uzbek people. An attempt at appeal was denied.
Despite struggles made on behalf of journalists by authorities, independent journalist Alisher Taksanov says other journalists who fail to follow the rules of their craft create further struggles.
“Beyond the heavy censorship, Uzbekistan’s journalism also suffers from its own many illnesses, such as dilettantism, incompetence or violation of ethical principles,” he says.
Whatever the reason for the troubles concerning journalism in Uzbekistan, it’s certain that writers in the country have a long way to go to gain total press freedom.