DUSHANBE, September 11, 2012, Asia-Plus — The events in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) has demonstrated that the public institutions are still weak in promptly providing information.
Davlat Nazriyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), remarked this on September 11 at a roundtable entitled “Modern Challenges in the Sphere of Information Space and Role of Media in Tajikistan.”
According to him, some media sources, in particular the European print media, allegedly spread unreliable information during those events. “We were surprised and concerned that unreliable information is provided to the public,” Nazriyev said, noting that the state-run media should have been more active in providing information.
The MFA spokesperson also noted that public relations department must be set up at all public institutions. He pointed to the necessity of making work of those departments more active “in order protect the public against the unreliable information.”
Meanwhile, Rustam Joni, the founder of the daily newspaper
Imrouz News
, noted that some public institutions provide unreliable information, misrepresenting the facts.
As an example he described some reported about the Khorog events that had been released by the public institutions.
“Thus, the first official statement about the Khorog events noted that 17 civilians were killed during the operation. But following the sharp reaction from media, the public institutions then said that 17 military personnel and one civilian were killed. It was also noted that 30 militants were allegedly detained. Meanwhile, in his latest interview with journalists, the Minister of Defense Sherali Khairulloyev said that no one militant was detained,” said the
Imrouz News
founder. “How journalists can provide authentic information if they work with such “reliable” sources?”
Joni considers that the authorities wanted to conceal some data from the public.
“As far as the European media sources, which are accused of providing unreliable data, their reports have found confirmation gradually. For example, information that 20 civilians were killed in Khorog on July 24 has been confirmed subsequently,” he said.
The RIA Novosti’s correspondent in Tajikistan, Lidiya Isamova, considers that there ought not to severely criticize the independent media sources, “because unlike the state-run media sources, they have provided at least some information from Khorog.”
