DUSHANBE. June 3. “Asia-Plus” -- Tajik mass media show disrespect to women in 99% of publications, head of the Council of Tajik Media, doctor of historic sciences Ibrohim Usmonov spoke today at a roundtable “Survey of legal, moral and esthetic causes of subjecting Tajik media to legal liability.”

“In the majority of materials journalists represent women as their husbands’ servants, prostitutes, greedy creature searching for easy ways of earning money and so forth. In addition, women are never shown as eminent politicians, successful business owners or good journalist,” he said.

Scientist believes that “the existing Tajik journalism strives to dress women in yashmak. Yashmak is not considered Tajik national garment, but refers to religious attribute,” he commented. “Furthermore, the Holy Koran does not oblige to wear religious attributes.”

In addition, he said, Tajik media advocate begging even though they do not want to do so. “Practically every issue of any newspaper contains information in which Tajikistan’s government asks the global community for assistance and information about various organizations or countries that respond to the government’s appeal. One of the Tajik newspapers even wrote that “the volume of assistance could be higher if the number of victims and damage volume were high,” he said.

He is confident that such publications negatively affect the morality of the Tajik nation and humiliate it in the eyes of other nations.

Usmonov urges journalists to criticize everything that hampers the development of the Tajik society, but take into account ethic norms.