One Year After Andijan: Uzbekistan Fights its Own “Information War”

Four years ago this May, supporters of independent media cautiously greeted the removal of Uzbekistan's official censor. Self-censorship remained, of course, with cynics seeing this as enough rope for editors to hang themselves, and optimists hoping that a fresh generation of journalists might take advantage of the opening.

But recently, the government has adopted a policy that may make free-press advocates nostalgic for the good old days. Rather than reinstating censorship to counter what President Islam Karimov has characterized as an "information war," Uzbek officials have gone on the counter-offensive. Their aim was recently summed up in an article in the government newspaper Uzbekiston Ovozi. "Of course, one could adhere to the wisdom that the dog barks, but the caravan rolls on," commentator Ibrohim Normatov wrote April 20. "But this display of tact could be seen as cowardliness, so it's better to say what we think."

The barking of tightly controlled mass media outlets has certainly been loud, at least inside Uzbekistan. The government campaign, launched in the aftermath of the Andijan events of May 2005, has sought to both to discredit its critics, namely those in the United States and European Union, and to insulate the country against outside ideological and cultural influences. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Under the government's direction, Uzbek media have tried to neutralize foreign outlets. For example, the British Broadcasting Corp. and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have been the focus of a series of blistering attacks by the pro-governmental site www.press-uz.info. One May 5 report began; "The BBC's unreliable information makes one doubt the professionalism of this media outlet."

Chris Patten, the former EU External Relations Commissioner who now heads the Brussels-based Crisis Group think tank, has likewise been the target of several attack articles. They have all responded to his March 22 piece in the International Herald Tribune, in which he predicted that Uzbekistan would "snap" at some point in the medium- to long-term. He ranked Uzbekistan as among the most "self-destructively repressive regimes" in the world, going on urge the international community to prepare for "a potential meltdown in Central Asia." One immediate step that should be taken, Patten suggested, was a move "beef up media development targeting Uzbekistan, to support journalism training in the region and broadcasting into the country from abroad, including news and educational programs."

Patten's "position as chairman of Crisis Group