Media of Turkmenistan

The Niyazov regime concentrated heavily on gaining full control of the media. The government funds nearly all newspapers, and criticism of the president is absolutely forbidden. State licensing policy effectively eliminates all outlets not reflecting official views. To avoid reprisal, domestic and foreign journalists engage in self-censorship.

In 2003 the newspapers with the largest circulation were Adalat (Justice), Mugallymlar gazeti (Teacher’s Newspaper), Neytral’nyy Turkmenistan (Neutral Turkmenistan), Turkmenistan, and Vatan (Fatherland). Most newspapers appear weekly or three times weekly. The only domestic news agency is the Turkmen State News Service; the Anadolu Agency of Turkey maintains an office in Ashgabat. Broadcasting is under the full control of the National Television and Radio Company of Turkmenistan, which operates four national television channels. No recent information on radio stations is available.^[1]

See also

• Communications in Turkmenistan

References

1. ^ Turkmenistan country profile. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (February 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.