Government officials may be banned from establishing private media

On February 19, an event was held to discuss the bill on amendments and additions to the Law “On the mass media”, Kun.uz correspondent reports.

In the new edition of the law, the following changes are expected:

- a ban on the establishment of private media for heads of government bodies;

- obligatory posting on the mass media website of information about both its founder and sponsors, which makes it possible to find out whether government officials are connected with the activities of the media;

- legalization of the right of the mass media to appeal to the parliament on execution of the Constitution, laws, parliamentary decisions and state programs on the part of state and economic administration bodies and their officials, as well as performance of their duties and functions;

- determination of liability for violating the mass media freedom.

It is also proposed to clarify some concepts of the current legislation, edit the rules that are outdated and have lost their significance, or exclude them from the legislation completely.

In addition, media representatives’ participation in open court hearings and development of a procedure for obtaining free information on the activities of courts were proposed. This procedure can be confirmed by a decision of the Supreme Court Plenum.

At the event, suggestions and comments were made on the bill developed by the Agency for Information and Mass Communications. According to organizers of the event, the views expressed will be taken into account when finalizing the bill and in the future the draft will again be submitted for public discussion.

It should be recalled that the law “On the mass media” was adopted on December 26, 1997. Amendments and additions were made to it on January 16, 2007 and on October 22, 2002. 

The draft new edition of the law “On the mass media” was put up for public discussion on October 16, 2019.