EBU Director General cites Tajikistan's case at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum

Bonn, 20 June 2011 – Today the Director General of the European Broadcasting Union* Ingrid Deltenre urged governments to respect journalists' human rights, and called for the immediate release of BBC reporter Urinboy Usmonov, who was arrested a week ago by Tajik police.

Addressing the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum** in Bonn, Ingrid Deltenre condemned such deplorable treatment of journalists, who frequently face death, intimidation, and imprisonment in their quest for the truth.

Ms Deltenre reiterated the EBU's unswerving commitment to the belief that democracies cannot function properly without free and independent media.

She said, “According to Reporters Without Borders, 26 journalists and assistants have been killed in the first few months of this year; 157 journalists and 135 citizens are imprisoned. This is simply unacceptable. Just last week BBC reporter Urinboy Usmonov was arrested by Tajikistan's security forces on dubious charges of association with an illegal Islamic group. The BBC has dismissed the accusation, and called for his immediate release. Today I add the EBU's voice to the chorus demanding that Mr Usmonov be freed, and urgently call on the Tajik authorities to respect his human rights.”

Ms Deltenre also highlighted how properly executed editorial independence holds the powerful accountable for their actions, bringing stability and cohesion to societies.

“Statistics show that countries with low levels of media freedom – where the watchdogs are weak – have high levels of corruption. So we can clearly say that democracy is weakened, or even called into question, wherever the freedom of public media organizations is undermined or threatened. This is why independent media, and especially free and independent public media, have an important role to play now and in the future,” concluded Ms Deltenre.

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Note to editors

*The European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
The EBU serves 85 national media organizations in 56 countries in and around Europe. It represents its Members and promotes the values and distinctiveness of public service media in Europe and around the world. The Eurovision and Euroradio networks deliver news, sports, events and music to EBU Members and other media organizations. Services to Members range from legal advice, technical standardization and development to coproduction and exchange of quality European content. For more information about the EBU: www.ebu.ch and www.eurovision.net

**The Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is a congress with international reach. It draws media representatives from around the world and people from the fields of politics, culture, business, development and science. More at: www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,14143,00.html