Domestic Central Asian online media are unable to report about controversial religion issues because of sparse resources and governmental, cultural and self-imposed restraints, a Michigan State University researcher has found.
And while Western news Web sites can provide that type of reporting, local reporters don't have ready access or the training to find those stories online, MSU assistant professor of journalism Eric Freedman found.
The governments of the five predominantly Muslim former Soviet republics in Central Asia sharply restrict religious freedom and practices for reasons of politics and tradition. Most mass media is state-owned or tightly controlled, and journalists exercise self-censorship even without official censorship. This results in a dearth of reporting by domestic media about religious freedom and constraints.
Freedman analyzed the content of all religion, religious practices and religious freedom stories that involved one or more of the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan posted on three Web sites in 2003. Stories on religion and terrorism dominated, accounting for half the articles.
Freedman is a former Fulbright scholar at the Uzbek State World Languages University in Tashkent and has led training workshops for professional journalists in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Most stories posted on Eurasianet, IRIN News and the Institute of War and Peace Reporting are written by local journalists, even if many or most of their readers are located elsewhere.
"The findings underscore the reality that journalists reporting on religious issues in the region - even foreign journalists for foreign news organizations like these - operate under rigid legal and political restraints," Freedman said.
Reporters frequently use pseudonyms as their bylines and have difficulty persuading sources in and out of the government to allow their real names to be used in stories.
Internet access is sharply limited with little training available to develop Internet skills, and personal computer ownership and cybercafes are unaffordable for most Central Asians. Even for journalists, the Internet has not become a routine work tool, Freedman found.
"There are major religious conflicts in this volatile area of the world, and citizens of the region can't find out what's going on from their own media," said Freedman. "And there is limited access to outside media on what could be life and death issues."
As long as religion remains such an explosive political factor in the region, any change is likely to slow to arrive, he added.
Contact: Eric Freedman, Journalism, 517-355-4729, freedma5@msu.edu; or Russ White, University Relations, 517-432-0923