Khovar

Khovar is Tajikistan’s official state news agency and its central state information body. According to the agency’s institutional history, its predecessor was established on 31 December 1925, when the presidium of the Revolutionary Committee of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic created a Tajikistan branch of the Soviet telegraph agency TASS. The branch subsequently became the Tajik Telegraph Agency, or TajikTA. It initially received TASS material from Moscow for distribution to republican newspapers while producing a small local information bulletin.

TajikTA was renamed the Tajik Information Agency Khovar on 10 April 1992. Under Government Resolution No. 184 of 30 April 2004, it received its present name and status as the National Information Agency of Tajikistan Khovar under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan. The agency is headquartered in Dushanbe and publishes in five languages. Subhiddin Shamsiddinzoda has served as Director since January 2023. Khovar’s institutional history and current leadership page documents these details.

Media assets

News agency: Khovar, publishing in Tajik, Russian, English, Arabic and Persian

Radio: Radio FM Khovar, broadcasting on 101.5 FM in Dushanbe and online through the Khovar website

Radio FM Khovar is a state unitary enterprise operating within the Khovar system. It was established in 2011 following a government decision approving its creation. Khovar’s current institutional page identifies the radio service, its director and its online stream, while the agency’s December 2025 institutional history confirms that it continues to operate.

Ownership and governance

Khovar is a central state information body operating under the Government of Tajikistan. Its current status and governing regulation were established by Government Resolution No. 184 of 30 April 2004. Its statutory functions include collecting and distributing information on the principal issues of state domestic and foreign policy and the country’s political, economic, social and cultural life.

The agency has the exclusive right to collect and distribute official information and documents concerning the activities of the President, the Majlisi Oli and the Government, and to transmit commentaries on them.

Senior leadership is appointed directly by the Government. Through Resolution No. 28 of 19 January 2023, the Government appointed Subhiddin Shamsiddinzoda as Director. Resolution No. 19 of the same date dismissed his predecessor, Saidali Siddiq, on retirement. Khovar’s current leadership page and its reporting in April 2026 continue to identify Shamsiddinzoda as Director.

Source of funding and budget

Khovar is financed from the republican budget. Paragraph 4 of its governing regulation expressly establishes budget financing, corroborating the accounts of local experts and journalists interviewed by State Media Monitor in February 2024.

The financial position is nevertheless not fully transparent. State Media Monitor could not identify an annual budget appropriation for Khovar, published financial statements, audited accounts or a current breakdown between budget and commercial income. This remains the principal evidentiary gap.

Khovar’s institutional page lists a commercial department, indicating that the agency has a structure for generating non-budget income. Radio FM Khovar is separately constituted as a state unitary enterprise; in a 2017 interview, Khovar’s then director said that the radio service operated from advertising revenue.

Editorial independence

Khovar’s institutional mandate places it directly within the state information system. As the Government’s central information body, it has exclusive responsibility for distributing official information and documents concerning the President, Parliament and Government.

The agency’s own institutional descriptions reinforce this position. Its 2025 centenary account described Khovar as an official source of information and a promoter of the achievements of independence. Its governing mandate centres on coverage of state policy and the activities of public authorities rather than on an arm’s-length public-service remit.

Local journalists and experts interviewed by State Media Monitor in February 2024 said that Khovar’s output systematically privileges senior officials, particularly the President, while downplaying or excluding dissenting voices. An ad hoc review of material published between February and May 2024 was consistent with that assessment.

Some formal legal protections apply. Tajikistan’s Law on Periodical Press and Other Mass Media, Law No. 961 of 19 March 2013, expressly includes information agencies within its scope. Article 3 declares the media free, treats interference by state bodies and officials in editorial activity as unlawful, and prohibits censorship and persecution for criticism.

These provisions do not establish structural independence. State Media Monitor identified no independent governing body, protected appointment process or external mechanism capable of enforcing them against a government-controlled agency whose Director is appointed by the Government.

AI and digital policy

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

Tajikistan adopted an Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy to 2040 through Government Resolution No. 483 of 30 September 2022. The strategy establishes national development objectives and priorities but does not constitute a binding disclosure regime for AI-generated media content. State Media Monitor identified no binding national provision requiring news organisations to label material generated or assisted by artificial intelligence.

Classification rationale

Khovar remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is state-owned and directly state-governed. Khovar is legally designated as the central state information body under the Government of Tajikistan. The Government appoints its senior leadership, and State Media Monitor identified no independent governing body, protected appointment procedure or external oversight mechanism.

It is state-financed. Khovar’s governing regulation expressly provides for financing from the republican budget. Although the agency maintains a commercial department and its radio enterprise has historically earned advertising revenue, no current accounts or revenue breakdown are available. The annual allocation and precise composition of the group’s income remain the principal evidentiary gaps.

Its editorial agenda is directed by the state. Khovar’s statutory mandate centres on state policy and gives it exclusive responsibility for distributing official information concerning the President, Parliament and Government. Interview evidence and State Media Monitor’s review of published material found systematic prioritisation of senior officials and exclusion of dissenting voices.

The formal protections in Article 3 of the press law do not counterbalance direct government governance, statutory integration into the state information system, public financial dependence or the absence of an independent enforcement mechanism.

September 2026