THE TAJIK “SCOOP BOOM”

In
recent months, the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, has been experiencing
something extremely unusual, a flood of journalists arriving to the city. On
the way to Afghanistan, once again a center of attention of global politics,
reporters stopped by the hundreds in this forgotten mountain city to prepare
the last logistics and documentation for their journey.

By
mid-October, more than 3,000 foreign journalists had arrived in Dushanbe,
generating the highest revenue stream to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
the ten years of Tajikistan’s independence. The Central Bank faced an
unexpected shortage of U.S. Dollars, which resulted in a short devaluation of
the Tajik Somoni, the national currency introduced on Tajikistan’s
Independence Day, two days before September 11 tragedy.

As
there are no private hotels, most of the Soviet-built hotels in Dushanbe were
full of guests. The center of the journalist community is undoubtedly the
Hotel Tajikistan.  In this
Soviet-style hotel where hot water runs only two hours a day early in the
morning, correspondents spent days and nights waiting for means of
transportation to their final destination to the South. The availability of
beer and other alcoholic beverages made the hotel more bearable for
journalists. Reporters were concentrated in one place and stuck together,
trusting no source of information except the BBC. However, another center soon
developed: the only Indian restaurant in the city, where foreigners tired of
Tajik meals rushed to eat something different.

The
city of Dushanbe had gone through slow but positive changes in the two years
prior to the arrival of its unexpected visitors. A large number of local bars,
karaoke and billiard places have opened and stay open late at night, giving
this city torn by civil war some kind of a night life. 
Many Tajiks take advantage of this by spending their money on games and
meals rather than on Kalashnikovs and pistols, as was the case a few years
ago.  However, these changes
passed unnoticed by the journalists, most of whom had no idea of the existence
of Tajikistan prior to September 11 attacks.

In
the short run, the journalist flood created jobs, especially for would-be
drivers and interpreters. These could be seen especially around the three most
important places in the city, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of
Afghanistan, and Hotel Tajikistan.  Operating
twelve hours a day without holidays, the press department of the MFA provided
all means for journalists to go to Afghanistan. 
One official noted that the flood of journalists provided MFA with
revenues unseen in its ten years of operation since the Soviet collapse. 
Like the MFA, the Afghan Embassy was very pleased by crowds of people
waiting outside and inside of the building. 
Around these places, crowds of drivers and interpreters were wandering
around waiting for the next short-term job opportunity.  

One
of the ways to get to Afghanistan was a convoy organized by the MFA twice a
week.  The convoy left Dushanbe in
the early morning and arrived at the Afghan border at Farkhor eight hours
later.  The MFA requested the
Ministry of Interior to provide assistance in delivering the convoy safely, as
the traffic police along the route hassled the drivers asking for bribes.
Having reached the border, the reporters crossed the river in order to reach
Khoja Bahauddin in Afghanistan.

Among
the population of Dushanbe, the reporters soon gained a reputation of
drunkenness and of being robbed by prostitutes. Several serious cases around
Hotel Tajikistan forced the local police to patrol the area. In a particularly
celebrated case, one half-naked journalist was seen climbing from one
third-floor balcony to another, accompanied by a prostitute. Complying with
Central Asian hospitality, the locals referred to the visitors as guests –
requiring the obligation to take the guest’s will as law, making it easier
to ignore their partying behavior. 

Unlike the foreign
press workers, the Tajik government and the United Front of Afghanistan
demonstrated both willingness and readiness to provide means and resources for
stories about the region’s problems and crises. 
Seeing an opportunity that could shed light on the country’s problems
and bring them to the attention of international readers, the government
welcomed and opened doors to the media.  However,
very few members of the news press took advantage of this opportunity. 
Having their eyes fixed on Afghanistan, reporters hardly tried to learn
much about Central Asia.  Leaving
potentially interesting stories behind, the correspondents were rushing into
nowadays-popular Afghanistan. This was clearest in October 2001, which 
was a quiet month as little fighting took place in northern
Afghanistan.  It was not uncommon
in Dushanbe to hear of instances where journalists had paid Northern Alliance
fighters to stage fake shootings for the cameras of journalists desperate for
shooting action.

Meanwhile,
there were many problems in Central Asia that deserved the attention of the
world media. yes">  The economic, political and social aspects of the Central
Asian countries are complex and interrelated with those of Afghanistan.
Poverty and the lack of economic opportunities are the main reasons for
religious extremism in the Fergana valley, which is noted by researchers as a
potential are of future conflict.  Four
years of drought has killed almost all crops in the region, putting an
estimated one million people at the danger of starvation. 
Furthermore, political problems are rising among the regional states,
as they refuse to enter into genuine cooperation. 
In the final analysis, the last few months have made the culture of
freelance media reporters, otherwise called “adrenalin junkies”, familiar
to the population of Dushanbe. Unfortunately, the reverse is not true. 

Lola
Gulomova