RFE/RL’s Tajik Service: Radio Ozodi
Radio Ozodi is a trusted source of local news, attracting outsized audiences with compelling reporting on issues not otherwise covered by Tajikistan’s state-run media.
About
- Operating from Dushanbe bureau in Tajik and Russian languages.
- Despite highly restrictive censorship, number one news website in Tajikistan, according to national media monitors.
- Radio Ozodi is a critical source of news for over two million Tajik labor migrants in Russia.
- Countering Russian disinformation about the war in Ukraine: reported on Tajiks killed fighting for Russia and forced mobilization of Tajik migrants.
- Uncovered public corruption in trade with China that forced official response.
- Investigated a secret Chinese military base in Tajikistan and reported on the security situation along the Tajik-Afghan border.
- Reported on Tajik security forces’ ongoing repression of influential Pamiris in response to May violence after a young man was killed.
- Published the names of hundreds of victims of Tajikistan’s civil war on 25th anniversary of peace agreement.
Awards
- Ozodi’s Mullorajab Yusufi recognized at Media Camp of Central Asia (2022) and by the Tajik NGO Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law.
- Orzujon Bedimoghovwon USAID media contest for best reporting on women business leaders.
- Global Investigative Journalism Network praised Radio Ozodi’s exposé on the abuse of Tajik passports by migrant workers and international terrorists.
Impact
January – December 2022
- Website: 5.6 million visits; 33.7 million page views
- YouTube: 29.5 million views; 1.9 million subscribers
- Facebook: 78.5 million video views; 18.2 million engaged users
- Instagram: 117.4 million video views; 1.54 million followers
Updated: April 2023
Media Climate
- In June 2022, four RFE/RL journalists were attacked after they interviewed an activist.
- Authorities regularly block Ozodi’s website and refuse to accredit journalists.
- Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index ranks Tajikistan 152nd out of 180 countries.