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UZBEKISTAN
Although the Constitution provides for “freedom of
thought, speech, and convictions,” the Government
continues to limit these rights severely.
A 1991 law
against “offending the honor and dignity of the
President” limits the ability to criticize the
President. Ordinary citizens remain afraid to
express views critical of the President and the
Government in public. A new mass media law that
came into effect in January provides for freedom of
expression, protects the rights of journalists, and
reiterates the ban on censorship. Nonetheless,
several articles of the law, and the lack of due process
provided for in their implementation, allow the
Government to use the law to silence critics. One
provision makes journalists responsible for the accuracy
of the information contained in their news stories,
potentially subjecting them to criminal prosecution if a
government official disagrees with a news report.
Another permits authorities to close media outlets
without a court judgement. Yet another prohibits
stories that incite religious confrontation and ethnic
discord. Authorities have prosecuted dissidents for
violating similar provisions in other laws.
Finally, the law prohibits the registration of
organizations whose purposes include subverting or
overthrowing the constitutional order.
A resolution
passed in July by the Cabinet of Ministers as part of the
implementation of the media law requires all media
outlets to register by January 1, 1999. A 17-member
interdepartmental government commission is empowered to
grant or deny registration. A media organization
must provide information about the intended content or
programming, sources of funding, means of distribution,
founders, and sponsors. In order to be registered,
broadcasters must now pay higher annual fees and must
conform to certain technical standards.
Information
remains very tightly controlled. Although the
Constitution prohibits censorship, it is widely practiced
and the Government tolerates little, if any, criticism of
its actions. For example, by intimidating
advertisers and newsstands, the NSS put the newspaper
Suhbatdosh (from Shahrisabz near Samarkand) out of
business, according to its editor. The journal had
published articles critical of local leaders. The
last opposition newspaper to be published was that of the
Erk party. In 1993 it was banned and has not been
published since.
There are no
private publishing houses, and government approval is
required for all publications.
Newspapers may
not be printed without the approval of the Committee for
the Control of State Secrets. All newspapers are
printed by state-owned printing houses, which refuse to
print any newspaper whose editor does not confirm that
the Committee has cleared the issue a few hours before
being submitted. Journalists who want to ensure
that their work is published practice self-censorship.
The Uzbekistan
Information Agency cooperates closely with the
presidential staff to prepare and distribute all
officially sanctioned news and information. Nearly
all newspapers are government owned and controlled; the
key newspapers are organs of government ministries.
Private persons and journalist collectives may not
establish newspapers unless they meet the media
law’s standards for establishment of a “mass
media organ,” including founders acceptable to the
Government. Nonetheless, two private newspapers
(one in Samarkand and one in Tashkent) are permitted to
operate without censorship. They have no editorial
content and consist of advertisements, horoscopes, and
similar features.
Limited
numbers of foreign periodicals are available, but the
Government does not allow the general distribution of
foreign newspapers (see Section 1.f.). The
Government does not permit rebroadcast of Russian news
programming by private television stations. Four
state-run channels that fully support the Government and
its policies dominate television broadcasting. A
cable television joint venture between the state
broadcasting company and a foreign company broadcasts the
Hong Kong-based Star television channels, including the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Deutsche Welle,
and Cable News Network world news, to Tashkent and a few
other locations. Access to cable television is
beyond the financial ability of most citizens.
There are
between 30 and 40 privately owned local television
stations and 4 privately owned radio stations. In
January the first two radio stations opened, but the
Government quickly closed them. However, at least
in part in response to international criticism of the
closing, the Government allowed them to reopen a week
later. Generally, broadcasters practice
self-censorship and enjoy some leeway in reporting
critically on local government. Samarkand
Independent Television, which operates four channels, is
known for such reporting. It is clearly sensitive
to political concerns from the Government and
concentrates on nonpolitical news, yet it denies that it
is censored formally.
The
Urgench-based independent television station, repeatedly
closed by local government but reopened in 1997 after
winning national court appeals, was licensed and is
operating.
Private radio
and television broadcasters formed an independent
association in June (ANESMI). The association
resisted both generous incentives and heavy pressure from
the Government to elect the Government’s candidate
as chairman. Government officials openly threatened
members of the group and the opposition candidate who was
elected. By year’s end, the Government twice
had denied ANESMI’s application for registration as
a professional association and Justice Ministry officials
reportedly advised the group privately that it never will
be registered. ANESMI’s ability to attract
international funding and operate legally has been
effectively restricted.
Many observers
fear that some of the radio and television stations may
not be able to meet the new mass media law’s
requirements for registration. In particular,
observers fear that the new annual broadcasting fees and
required technical standards may force many of these
stations out of business. The high fees have
discouraged several entrepreneurs who sought to open
radio stations. The Commission issued no outright
denials of registration to television or radio stations;
however, delays in the burdensome registration procedure
forced five commercial television stations to suspend
operations. By year’s end, two of them had
been registered. The delays do not appear to have
been politically motivated.
Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America are not
permitted to broadcast from within the country, despite
the Government’s 1992 contractual agreement to allow
this activity. Permission for the British
Broadcasting Corporation radio to broadcast from within
the country was reduced from 3 to 2 hours per day in
December. Moreover, the Government informed the
station that as of January 1999, it would be required to
broadcast on a very low FM frequency, that most radios
would not be able to receive. One of the private
Tashkent radio stations (My Town) began rebroadcasting
BBC programming on December 15, but was closed by the
authorities after 3 days.
The Government
has granted academic institutions increased autonomy, but
freedom of expression still is limited. Most
institutions are modernizing their curriculums, but
up-to-date textbooks are difficult to find.
Commentary
The new mass media law was passed on 26 December
1997. The provision mentioned in the report is a
major obstacle for journalists. For example, one
Jizzak (a small town about half-way between Tashkent and
Samarkand) journalist did a news report about corruption
in his town. The story came in the wake of the
President’s firing of the Samarkand Region Governor
for corruption. The reporter interviewed people on
the street asking them about corruption in their city,
and they said corruption was just as bad or worse in
Jizzak. As oftentimes happens with an
envelope-pushing story in Uzbekistan, the director of the
station who broadcast the story was called on to the
local mayor’s carpet and blasted. The mayor
told him that he could not show that on TV and that he
must fire the journalist who did the story, or the
station would be closed down. The station director
fired the journalist.
The
conservative commission that grants or denies
registration is stacked with two members from the
national security service, one member from internal
affairs, and one from the defense ministry, and is famous
for its lack of professionalism and arbitrariness.
When the commercial director for Tashkent-based
Europa-Plus petitioned the commission for a response to
his station’s registration application, after the
application had been sitting for more than three months,
he was told that the commission would review the
application, only after they had collected ten
applications, and decided to meet. However, the
Resolution No. 293 mandates that the commission must
answer an application within 30 days. The station
has still not yet received an official answer to its
application, or a registration.
The official
name for “Samarkand Independent Television” is
Samarkand Television or S-TV. It is not one of the
strongest envelope-pushing stations in Uzbekistan.
We train S-TV journalists, and the station participates
in our weekly news exchange program. We ask for
balanced news stories about events, but in my watch I
have not see one S-TV report critical of the local
government. It definitely concentrates on
entertainment and non-political news, and its journalists
sometimes practice self-censorship. For example,
when the news hit about the regional governor being fired
for corruption, we called down to S-TV for a report, but
their staff would not touch the topic.
The
government’s arbitrary denial of ANESMI’s
application continues. In April, the association
received an official refusal by the Ministry of Justice
to register as a private fund in Tashkent. The
refusal, the fourth in the last year, but the first
official and written refusal, said the association
charter is “too similar” to the State TV
charter.
In Uzbekistan,
the commercial stations reported significant losses and
were put on the brink of bankruptcy as a result of the
unfounded registration delays. Some observers
accredited the delays to the stations support of the
ANESMI movement. Two of the strongest supports of
ANESMI were delayed registrations the longest.
Richard L. Sleder
Internews Uzbekistan
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