Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has justly earned a proud legacy. Its stated mission is to provide “fair and objective news, analysis, and discussion” and project “democratic and pluralistic values.” In regions like Central Asia, where the press is severely restricted and critical journalists have been routinely harassed, beaten, arrested or murdered, journalists who report for RFE/RL’s affiliates often do so bravely and at great personal risk in the service of human rights and democratic ideals. As scholars working on Central Asia, we frequently turn to RFE/RL’s reporting as a crucial independent source of information on the latest developments in the region.
Unfortunately, in the hands of its current editors, RFE/RL’s Tajik language service no longer lives up to those values. Radio Ozodi, once the most credible source of news and information in the country, has become a mouthpiece for the deeply corrupt authoritarian government of Tajikistan’s President, Emomali Rahmon.
RFE/RL leadership, and the US Agency for Global Media which oversees it, have long neglected credible allegations of conflicts of interest surrounding Ozodi’s ties to businesses owned by the Rahmon family and its lack of editorial independence from the Tajik government. It has become clear that Ozodi is not fulfilling the mission of RFE/RL and is tainting the reputation of the United States with its pro-governmental coverage.
