Kazakhstan: Critical Newspaper Raided and Banned
Officials have raided the editorial office of one of Kazakhstan’s last independent newspapers, as it emerged that a court has ruled in secret to close it down.Bailiffs “burst into the office” of the...
View ArticleWatchdog Blasts Kazakhstan’s New “Barefaced Government Censorship”
An international human rights watchdog has urged Kazakhstan to repeal controversial new legislation allowing the government to impose tight restrictions on journalists during emergencies.The “blanket...
View ArticleTurkey: Q&A with Freedom House's Press Freedom Report Project Director
For those who follow Turkey closely, that Freedom House moved the country from "Partly Free" into the "Not Free" category in its annual Freedom of the Press report was not particularly surprising....
View ArticleKyrgyzstan Re-Criminalizes Libel with Vague New Law
Activists in Kyrgyzstan say they lost another battle against creeping authoritarianism this weekend when President Almazbek Atambayev signed a so-called “False Accusation Law.” The US Embassy says the...
View ArticleUzbek Journalist Fined for Criticizing Authorities
A court in Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent, has slapped an enormous fine on a journalist for “threating public security” after he criticized local authorities. The case was prosecuted so quickly, in...
View ArticleRussian Social Network Falls Foul of Tajikistan’s Internet Censors
A popular Russian social networking site appears to have become the latest target of Tajikistan’s Internet sentinels. Odnoklassniki.ru became inaccessible in Tajikistan this weekend, users say. Tajik...
View ArticleKyrgyzstan’s Spooks Sue Journalist for Defamation
A lawsuit brought against an independent journalist by Kyrgyzstan’s secret police suggests the country’s democratic gains are backsliding, a prominent human rights group says. The State Committee for...
View ArticleUzbekistan Tightens Screws on Bloggers
Uzbekistan has introduced new no-go areas for bloggers, tightening up a media environment that is already among the most repressive in the world. Bloggers are now banned from using online platforms...
View ArticleJournalists Fret as Russian Media Swamps Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s journalistic community has long debated how to face the pervasive influence of Russian media in the Central Asian country. The topic has increased in urgency with the bitter international...
View ArticleKazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Threaten Media for Terrorism Reporting
By reporting on terrorist propaganda, is a journalist propagating terrorism? Journalists often debate how to cover terrorism without doing more harm than good. But prosecutors in Kazakhstan and...
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