Yesterday, the Uzbek parliament debated yet more media bills.
Utkir Djuraev, deputy chief of Uzbekistan’s Press and Information Agency, denied reports that the debate centered on ways of suppressing the media. Representatives of nongovernmental organizations, lawyers, and the media have been involved in the discussions, he says.
Djuraev’s denial backed up by saying that lawyers and representatives from NGOs and the media is about as believable as saying that an election was entirely free and fair because CIS election monitors verified it as such. And that’s especially the case in light of other recent legislation.
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Nathan Hamm – author of 2040 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.
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I don’t have the link for the story, but there was a story here indicating that the Parliament was debating whether to consider the internet as a mass media outlet — thus requiring registration and regulation.