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Tajikistan
The Media
At the time of independence, Tajikistan had several long-established
official newspapers that had been supported by the communist regime.
These included newspapers circulated throughout the republic in
Tajik, Russian, and Uzbek, as well as papers on the provincial,
district, and city levels. Beginning in 1991, changes in newspapers'
names reflected political changes in the republic. For example,
the Tajik republican newspaper, long known as Tojikistoni
Soveti (Soviet Tajikistan), became first Tojikistoni
Shuravi (using the Persian word for "council" or "soviet")
and then Jumhuriyat (Republic). The equivalent Russian-language
newspaper went from Kommunist Tadzhikistana (Tajikistan
Communist) to Narodnaya gazeta (People's News-paper).
Under the changing political conditions of the late-Soviet and
early independence periods, new newspapers appeared, representing
such groups as the journalists' union, the Persian-Tajik Language
Foundation, cultural and religious groups, and opposition political
parties. After antireformists returned to power at the end of
1992, however, the victors cracked down on the press.
In the Soviet era, Tajikistan's magazines included publications
specializing in health, educational, rural, and women's issues,
as well as communist party affairs. Several were intended especially
for children. Literary magazines were published in both Russian
and Tajik. The Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan published five
scholarly journals. In the postindependence years, however, Tajikistan's
poverty forced discontinuation of such items. In the early 1990s,
Tajikistan had three main publishing houses. After the civil war,
the combination of political repression and acute economic problems
disrupted many publication activities. In this period, all of
the country's major newspapers were funded fully or in part by
the government, and their news coverage followed only the government's
line. The only news agency, Khovar, was a government bureau. Tajikistan
drew international criticism for the reported killing and jailing
of journalists.
Data as of March 1996
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