DUSHANBE, February 16, Asia-Plus – A roundtable meeting to discuss quarterly news conference given by ministers, department heads and local officials was held in Dushanbe on February 15. The meeting was staged by the information department of President’s Executive Office.
The meeting participants included representatives from president’s office, heads of media, senior representatives from NGOs dealing with media issues, as well as spokespersons for ministries and departments.
Correspondent of BBC’s Persian Service in Tajikistan Iskandar Firouz said in an interview with Asia-Plus that the main objective of the meeting was to discuss quality of the quarterly news conference and ways to remove their shortcomings.
Nouriddin Qarshiboyev, the head of the National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (Nansmit), telling the meeting noted that some ministries and department refuse to provide information pleading upcoming news conference.
Tajik Journalists’ Union head Akabarali Sattorov noted that briefings given by ministries and departments do not meet completely requirements of media in socially significant information.
For their part, spokespersons claimed that journalists do not properly get ready for the news conference and are not active during them.
Participants at the meeting also discussed the issue of working language of the briefings. “Opinions on this issue were divided,” said Firouz, “Representatives from press services referred to the law on state language law, while journalists pointed to the necessity of removing linguistic barrier and providing translation.”
We will recall that President Rahmonov signed a decree on March 4, 2005 obligating ministers, department heads, and local officials to give quarterly news conferences.
