[1] In the late 1980s and early 1990s, journalism in Tajikistan underwent a transformation as the Soviet Union liberalized under glasnost and perestroika.
Journalists in both private and state-run media were permitted greater editorial and investigative freedoms to report on issues and to challenge government propaganda.
The first journalistic death in Tajikistan occurred on 12 February 1990 when a sniper in a government building opened fire on demonstrators in Dushanbe, killing a number of individuals, including a Lenfilm employee filming the events from his hotel.
[2] Journalists continued to face official harassment through the fall of the Soviet Union and the independence of Tajikistan in 1991.
[6] Other NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Glasnost Defense Foundation, have issued reports condemning the lack of press freedoms in Tajikistan.