Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan ranked 147th of 180 countries in the 2026 RSF World Press Freedom Index, with a score of 34.95. It rose one position from 148th in 2025, although its score declined from 35.24. Reporters Without Borders says censorship, surveillance and self-censorship are prevalent and that bloggers continue to face threats and arrest. Uzbekistan sits above Kazakhstan at 149th, Tajikistan at 155th and Turkmenistan at 173rd, and below Kyrgyzstan at 146th.

State Media Monitor maps five entries in Uzbekistan. Three are classified State-Controlled and two Captured Public or State Managed/Owned Media. None sits in the independent family.

The National Television and Radio Company of Uzbekistan operates 26 television and 16 radio channels in 2026, including twelve territorial television and radio companies. The 2026 budget documentation anticipates seventeen radio channels from 2027. Uzbek State Press is an analytical grouping for four newspapers published through two combined editorial institutions. UzA, the Uzbekistan National News Agency, publishes in nine languages and incorporates the Karakalpakstan Information Agency. All three are State-Controlled.

Mening Yurtim, known as MY5, is a family and entertainment channel, while Daryo.uz is a major online news portal. Both are classified Captured Public or State Managed/Owned Media.

The decisive distinction between the classifications is funding. The three State-Controlled entities are supported predominantly or substantially from public funds. The two captured entries satisfy the ownership and compromised-independence conditions, while the available evidence does not establish that either operating company is predominantly financed from the state budget.

The 2026 budget documentation allocates UZS 887.5908 billion to MTRK and UZS 44.1 billion to UzA, a combined UZS 931.6908 billion, rounded to UZS 932 billion in the summary card. Indicative allocations for UzA rise to UZS 48.7 billion in 2027 and UZS 53.6 billion in 2028.

State-press financing is documented differently. An aggregate UZS 49.6204 billion is allocated to five Cabinet-linked newspaper editorial offices: Nurli jol, Ovozi tojik, Jadid, Yangi Oʻzbekiston and Pravda Vostoka. The document does not identify the amount attributable specifically to the combined Yangi Oʻzbekiston and Pravda Vostoka office. It does not include Xalq Soʻzi and Narodnoye Slovo.

The combined Xalq Soʻzi and Narodnoye Slovo office nevertheless has a separate statutory funding basis. A joint decision of the councils of the two parliamentary chambers reorganised it as a state institution and provides that staff salaries and equivalent payments are financed from the state budget.

The operating companies of MY5 and Daryo reported substantial income in 2025. Ozod Yurt Toʻlqinlari LLC, which operates MY5, recorded approximately UZS 86.224 billion in total revenue, while Simple Networking Solutions LLC, which operates Daryo, recorded UZS 16.453 billion. These are total-revenue figures rather than verified breakdowns of commercial income. The MY5 figures and Daryo figures do not disclose how much originated from advertising, sponsorship, public contracts or related entities.

No direct budget appropriation was identified for either operating company. Daryo’s ownership chain nevertheless requires qualification: the 2026 budget allocates UZS 54.465 billion to the Content Preparation Centre for Mass Media, Daryo’s sole state owner. State Media Monitor could not establish whether any of that allocation was transferred to Simple Networking Solutions or used to finance Daryo’s operations. That funding relationship remains an important variable for distinguishing CaPu from State-Controlled status.

The ownership arrangements of the captured entries differ. The latest identified corporate record for MY5’s operator gives 61 per cent to the Central Council of the Youth Union of Uzbekistan and 39 per cent to the National Association of Electronic Mass Media. The Youth Union is formally a non-governmental organisation. Journalists interviewed by State Media Monitor in Tashkent in February 2026 described it as indirectly managed by state officials, and State Media Monitor therefore treats the majority owner as state-managed. The corporate record should continue to be monitored for changes.

Daryo is operated by Simple Networking Solutions LLC. Current Tax Committee-derived corporate data identifies the Content Preparation Centre for Mass Media under the Administration of the President as its sole founder. The Centre’s institutional website confirms that it operates under the Presidential Administration. This establishes the public-ownership condition and provides a sufficient basis for retaining Daryo in the map, notwithstanding Daryo’s own terms page continuing to describe the publication as private.

Appointments across the State-Controlled entities are made through government or parliamentary structures. MTRK’s chairman and four deputies are appointed and dismissed by the Cabinet of Ministers in agreement with the President. UzA’s Director General and two deputies are appointed by the Cabinet with presidential agreement under Presidential Resolution PQ-4541. The Cabinet governs the Yangi Oʻzbekiston and Pravda Vostoka editorial institution, while the councils of the two chambers of the Oliy Majlis approve the governing regulation and editorial board of the Xalq Soʻzi and Narodnoye Slovo office.

State Media Monitor identified no independent supervisory board or protected appointment procedure at any of the five entries. Where consultative bodies exist, they do not provide arm’s-length supervision. UzA has a statutory Advisory Council that may include media representatives and independent experts, but the Director General chairs it and approves its composition and operating rules. MTRK has a collegium whose membership is approved by the Cabinet on the chairman’s recommendation.

A common legal position runs through all five. Articles 5 and 5¹ of the Law on Mass Media declare the media free, prohibit obstruction of or interference in media activity, and provide that state support may not be used to restrict independent professional activity. Article 7 prohibits censorship, including demands for prior approval, alteration or withdrawal of material. State Media Monitor identified no independent governing or enforcement mechanism capable of applying those provisions against state or state-managed owners and government-appointed management.

The regulatory architecture changed during the review period. Presidential Decree PF-111 of 14 July 2025 abolished the Agency for Information and Mass Communications and transferred its information-sphere monitoring and control functions to the Inspection for Control in Informatization and Telecommunications, commonly known as Uzkomnazorat. The change took effect on 16 July 2025 and reshaped state oversight without establishing an independent broadcasting or press regulator.

Statutory mandates place several of the mapped entities directly within government communication. UzA’s regulation requires it to report on domestic and foreign policy, socio-economic change and reform from the standpoint of Uzbekistan’s national interests, and its performance indicators are approved by the Prime Minister. The founding mandate of Yangi Oʻzbekiston centres on explaining state reforms, presidential policy and the implementation of government programmes. Presidential Decree PF-91 of 2 June 2025 named UzA and MTRK among the bodies responsible for organising coverage of the decree’s aims and expected results across mass media, the internet and social networks.

Cabinet Resolution No. 796 of 17 December 2025 assigned the Content Preparation Centre responsibility for arranging social-insurance podcasts through Daryo.uz, Kun.uz and Qalampir.uz. Because the assignment names several portals, it is evidence of government commissioning across the sector rather than conclusive evidence of editorial control unique to Daryo. At Daryo, however, it operates alongside direct ownership by the responsible state body and the absence of independent governance. MY5’s published staff structure separately includes a senior adviser responsible for promoting state youth policy and the President’s five initiatives.

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