VZCZCXRO4470
RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0906 1930825
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 110825Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0766
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0201
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0126
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0170
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0139

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 000906 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM KPAO PGOV PHUM TI
SUBJECT:  PRESIDENT RAHMON'S "NEWS CONCEPT" -- A PUBLIC RELATIONS 
STRATEGY, A PROPOGANDA MACHINE, OR BOTH? 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive But Unclassified - Not for Internet Distribution. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary: President Rahmon's chief information analyst 
announced plans to establish an "information center to manage the 
image of Tajikistan" and "a Ministry of Information to manage the 
licensing of electronic and print media" at media advocacy 
roundtables June 26 and July 4.  The analyst said the proposals are 
part of a "news concept" President Rahmon endorsed April 30.  The 
plans, developed without input from or prior knowledge of media 
representatives, are raising concerns about a consolidated effort to 
restrict and/or control the media.  End summary. 
 
¶3. (U) The presidential administration is proceeding with plans to 
establish two new government agencies as part of its "news concept" 
that President Rahmon approved April 30, according to Mahmoudkhon 
Sarayev, an information analyst in the presidential administration. 
The government had made no public announcement before Sarayev 
mentioned the plans during his participation in two roundtable 
discussions sponsored by media advocacy groups in Dushanbe June 26 
and July 4 about access to information and dialogue between media 
and the government licensing bureau. 
 
¶4. (U) During the June 26 roundtable discussion, sponsored by the 
Helsinki Commission to support unhindered access to information, 
Sarayev said the information center would fulfill the President's 
millennium development goal to integrate government structures into 
the "world of information" available through internet technologies. 
In explaining the dual purpose of the proposed center, he said the 
government's role is to "oversee the dissemination of internet 
information and predict who will attack the government and how."  To 
make internet information secure against hackers, he said the center 
would promote the use of the Tajik internet domain ".tj" as an 
alternative to the Russian domain ".ru".  The other purpose of the 
center, he said, would be "to maintain the image of the country," 
both inside Tajikistan and abroad. (Journalists' responses to the 
government proposal reported in septel). 
 
¶5. (U) At the July 4 roundtable on media licensing sponsored by 
Tajikistan's Association of Independent Electronic Media (TajANSMI), 
the OSCE, Internews Network, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 
Sarayev off-handedly dropped the news that a new state institution 
would take responsibility for licensing both print and electronic 
media.  He said the new agency would unite all media systems in the 
country and that "it cannot be ruled out that it will be like a 
ministry of information."  The Ministry of Culture currently issues 
licenses for print media; the State Committee for TV and Radio 
Broadcasting issues television and radio licenses. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment. The news concept, information center, and plans to 
open a Ministry of Information took local journalists and media 
advocacy groups by surprise.  When emboff asked Sarayev for a copy 
of the news concept, he said the official media had it, but state 
press representatives told emboff they did not have it either.  When 
emboff approached Sarayev a second time, he said he only had one 
paper copy left, did not have an electronic version, and suggested 
the MFA information department might have a copy.  The reluctance to 
share a document that defines government media policy undermines 
confidence in the government's motives, and demonstrates the 
Qconfidence in the government's motives, and demonstrates the 
government's shortcomings in the area of freedom of information.  No 
journalists or media advocacy groups were included in the planning, 
which adds to concerns that this may be a consolidated effort to 
restrict and/or control the media.  End comment. 
 
HUSHEK