Uzbek Media – Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width

Despite new figures from Uzbekistan showing a rapid rise in the number of media outlets, the increase has not been accompanied by any expansion in journalistic work, still less freedom of expression.

A January 15 statement from the state agency responsible for media said the total number of outlets had gone from 395 in 1991 to 1,119 last year, while the number of newspapers had doubled in the last decade to close to 950. In addition, there were around 100 television and radio stations, 146 news websites and four news agencies.

Local observers say the apparent diversity is illusory, and most of the new outlets either belong to political parties or offer only light entertainment. As before, there is no scope for serious journalism or analytical reporting.

"None of the private media has journalists," a Tashkent-based media-watcher said. "They don’t write anything there, and all they do is reprint old material from the Russian tabloids."

The chief editor of a Tashkent newspaper, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed this was the case.

"When the authorities talk about rising numbers of media, they mean publications designed to make money," he said, adding that the content had not improved at all.

The editor cited as examples the Darakchi and Tasvir newspapers which specialise in entertainment and family dramas and have large circulations. Such papers have few problems obtaining licenses to operate, their content means censorship is not even needed, and they make a lot of money.

The situation is the same with commercial broadcasters, which simply carry wall-to-wall music and video clips. These TV and radio stations are all part of a network controlled by the National Association of Electronic Media, a state-controlled agency which provides transmission equipment to its members free of charge.

"The rising number of TV channels carry Russian, Indian and Turkish-made programmes and serials, ," a local observer said. "There are more and more FM radio stations, which just have DJs, music and adverts."

Alexander, a 32-year-old viewer in Tashkent, said that if he switched over to any TV channel, he was more likely to find a concert than a programme about a serious matter in Uzbekistan.

“It creates the impression is that everything is great here, that people are satisfied with their lives, and that the authorities think only about the people’s welfare,” he says.

Dilmurad Kholmatov, a Tashkent-based expert, said it would be pointless even to try to cover politics and social affairs because of the high risks that would entail.

"The authorities won’t tolerate criticism," he says.

As the number of officially-sanctioned media outlets has grown over the last decade, journalists in Uzbekistan have been arrested, newspapers closed down, and independent websites blocked. Censorship continues to be enforced rigorously.

"As before, more than 100 Russian and western news sites are blocked in this country," Sergei Naumov, a media expert based in Urgench in northwestern Uzbekistan, said. "In formal terms, the numbers of independent [non-state] media have grown, but this fails to address the long-term problems... of government and security services exercising rigid control over information."

Websites like Centrasia.ru, Ferghana.ru, Uznews, Gazeta.ru, RFE/RL, BBC and IWPR that provide information about Uzbekistan are banned.

The major national dailies are Pravda Vostoka, Narodnoye Slovo and Halq Sozi, which like the four national TV and radio channels are state controlled. Then there are various media outlets run by political parties and organisations, all of which are close to government.

The 2010 Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders lists Uzbekistan as one of the worse offenders, alongside Tunisia, Cuba and Equatorial Guinea.

This article was produced as part of IWPR's News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.