Uzbekistan Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
April 7, 2013
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country’s media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and produced the first Europe & Eurasia MSI in 2001.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download the Complete Uzbekistan MSI Chapter (PDF): 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001
MSI Uzbekistan - 2013 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 0.69
Having the largest population and armed forces in the region, for more than two decades Uzbekistan has been ruled by president Islam Karimov, whose regime is often referred as “dictatorial.” Even though President Karimov is known for his public calls against censorship and for freedom of speech, the Uzbek authorities are known for their intolerance to political competition and criticism, clamping down on everyone who dares to speak against them.
For the past several years, Uzbekistan has had neither political nor media plurality, due to increasing pressures on freedom speech and expression and the escalation of such repressions since 2005, when Uzbek security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing and injuring hundreds.
Following the Andijan massacre, independent media organizations, such as the Uzbek services of RFE/RL and BBC that criticized the government’s actions, were forced to close their bureaus in Uzbekistan. In 2011, the government shut down the Tashkent office of Human Rights Watch, which had been the only remaining major international human rights group and supporter of free speech in the country.
In 2012, the Uzbek government continued its systematic pressure on independent journalists, human rights activists, and opposition members. In July, independent journalists Sid Yanyshev and Pavel Kravets were detained by police and questioned for several hours for taking photos in one of the central markets of Tashkent. As a result of being harassed by authorities for two years, independent journalist Elena Bondar, alumni of the OSCE Academy’s journalism summer school in Bishkek, had to leave Uzbekistan and seek asylum in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.
At least two foreign journalists were not allowed to enter the country in 2012. Natalia Antelava, correspondent with the BBC, and Viktoriya Ivleva, a journalist with the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, were denied entry into Uzbekistan upon arrival at the Tashkent airport.
The Internet, long the least-controlled media domain in Uzbekistan, has come under tighter control by the government. Because of their systematic use of online filtering and censorship, the government of Uzbekistan has taken a regrettably strong leadership position in the annual “Enemies of the Internet” report issued by Reporters Without Borders, along with other repressive countries such as China, Iran, and North Korea.
Note: Due to the repressive environment in Uzbekistan, IREX did not conduct an in-country panel. This chapter represents desk research conducted on the situation, interviews, and the results of questionnaires filled out by several people familiar with the state of media in the country.
