Tajik State Television and Radio

State Media Monitor uses Tajik State Television and Radio as an analytical grouping for the state broadcasting system administered and coordinated by the Committee for Television and Radio under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan. The name does not denote a single legal entity: the Committee is a central executive authority, while the individual television and radio services are constituted as separate state institutions. Televizioni Tojikiston is the flagship television service. Nosir Ozod Saidzoda chairs the Committee.

Media assets

National and thematic television: Televizioni Tojikiston, TV Safina, Jahonnamo, Bahoriston, Varzish, Sinamo, Shahnavoz, Ilm va Tabiat, and Television Tourism and Folk Crafts

Regional state television: TV Dushanbe, TV Sughd, TV Khatlon, TV Kulob and TV Badakhshon

National radio: Radio Tojikiston, Sadoi Dushanbe, Farhang and Ovozi Tojik

TV Dushanbe adopted its present name in March 2017, replacing TV Poytakht.

Ownership and governance

The Committee for Television and Radio is a central executive authority responsible for implementing state broadcasting policy, coordinating broadcasting, developing regulation and infrastructure, licensing television and radio services and monitoring compliance. Its official description also states that it supervises broadcast quality, programme content and the direction of programme development. It administers state property and sectoral financing in relation to its subordinate institutions. The government’s institutional portal sets out these functions.

The Committee’s current governing framework was approved by Government Resolution No. 428 of 30 July 2020, which remains in force. The regulation was amended in January and April 2026. Tajikistan’s official legal database records the instrument and its status.

This structure combines sector regulation with administrative control of state broadcasters. The Committee licenses and monitors non-state stations while overseeing subordinate state institutions, creating a structural conflict between its regulatory and operational responsibilities.

Nosir Ozod Saidzoda was appointed Chairman by Government Resolution No. 51 of 21 January 2025, succeeding Nuriddin Said. Official reporting continued to identify Saidzoda as Chairman in July 2026. His appointment and those of senior directors at Safina and Jahonnamo were made through government resolutions.

Samandar Iskandarzoda was appointed director of Televizioni Tojikiston in August 2022 by order of the Committee Chairman, following agreement with the President. State Media Monitor could not independently confirm whether he remained in office in September 2026.

State Media Monitor identified no supervisory board, protected appointment procedure or external oversight body insulating the broadcasters’ management from government and Committee control.

Source of funding and budget

Tajikistan’s Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting provides that state television and radio organisations are maintained from the state budget. Local experts and journalists interviewed by State Media Monitor in March 2023, May 2024 and March 2025 likewise described public financing as the broadcasters’ principal source of funding.

The services are not, however, financed exclusively from the budget. In January 2024, then Committee Chairman Nuriddin Said stated that advertising revenue earned by Television and Radio Tojikiston amounted to TJS 4 million. He also said that advertisements were assessed for conformity with national and state values. Asia-Plus reported his statements.

Editorial independence

Editorial independence is not institutionally protected in practice. The broadcasters are subject to a Committee that controls state broadcasting policy, oversees their management and monitors broadcast content.

Formal legal safeguards nevertheless exist and should be acknowledged. Article 3 of the Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting lists objectivity, reliability, access to information and free expression among the principles of broadcasting. Article 6 prohibits interference by state and local authorities in broadcasters’ creative activity, as well as state censorship and persecution for criticism.

Those provisions are counterbalanced by the same law’s governance structure. Article 5.1 places state regulation and control in the hands of the Government acting through the Committee and authorises the Committee to monitor programmes, information broadcast and technical quality. Article 8 defines the national and regional state broadcasters as publicly financed organisations. The statutory provisions are reproduced by WIPO Lex.

The formal prohibitions on interference and censorship are not supported by independent governance or enforcement. The Government appoints the Committee Chairman and senior broadcasting officials, while no independent regulator, governing board or external complaints mechanism separates editorial decision-making from state administration.

In a report covering the first half of 2021, the Committee’s programme coordination directorate said that it had monitored the channels’ creative activity and reported to the Committee collegium on coverage of designated themes. These included national self-awareness, patriotism, civic honour, unity, peace and stability, the strengthening of statehood, state independence, the constitutional order and national values. This evidence dates to 2021 rather than being independently confirmed current practice.

Current official reporting nevertheless continues to describe the state broadcasters’ agenda in explicitly state-oriented terms. In July 2026, the Committee said that state television and radio had directed their work towards coverage of domestic and foreign policy, the achievements of independence, national strategic goals, constructive activity, national identity and cultural and historical values.

State Media Monitor’s content monitoring in 2023 and 2024 found consistently pro-government output, dominated by coverage of state officials and particularly the President, while opposition and critical viewpoints were marginalised or absent.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor could not identify a published policy governing generative artificial intelligence, mandatory human verification, model provenance or audience disclosure at the Committee or any of the mapped broadcasters. It also could not establish the extent to which AI is used in production.

Tajikistan adopted a national Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy to 2040 through Government Resolution No. 483 of 30 September 2022. The strategy establishes policy objectives for AI development but is not a binding disclosure regime for AI-generated media content. The strategy is available through Tajikistan’s official legal database.

Classification rationale

Tajik State Television and Radio remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is state-owned and directly state-governed. The mapped broadcasters are state institutions within a system administered and coordinated by a central government committee. The Government appoints the Committee Chairman and senior broadcasting officials, and no independent board, protected appointment mechanism or external oversight body separates management from state control.

It is publicly financed, while also receiving commercial income. The broadcasting law provides for state-budget financing, and local experts described this as the principal funding source. Advertising revenue is also documented, but no accounts, annual allocations or revenue breakdown are available.

Its editorial agenda is aligned with the state. The Committee exercises statutory authority over broadcasting policy and programme monitoring. Its own reporting frames state broadcasting around government policy, state-building, patriotism and national values, while State Media Monitor’s content monitoring found consistently pro-government coverage.

The formal freedom-of-expression and anti-censorship provisions in Articles 3 and 6 of the broadcasting law are relevant, but they do not offset direct government appointments, the Committee’s combined regulatory and administrative powers, public financial dependence, the absence of independent oversight or documented editorial practice.

September 2026