Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

each of 25 percent of the population.
Tajikistan. RFE/RL’s Tajik Service was the largest independent media outlet in Tajikistan and
the top international broadcaster in the country. The Tajik Service was repeatedly criticized by
the Tajik government for its coverage, and access to the Service's website was temporarily
blocked by the government in late December.
Uzbekistan. In June, the Uzbek Service launched "Liberty Online," an internet-based audio talk
show that used Skype and Facebook to involve interview subjects and listeners in a live
discussion. Between May 2011 and May 2012, the number of users of the Service’s YouTube
page rose from 35,000 to 537,000, while the Service’s mobile site saw a tenfold increase during
the same one-year period. VOA’s Uzbek TV program and daily 30-minute radio broadcast
featured interviews with U.S. and international sources on topics including terrorism, religious
extremism, and U.S.-Uzbek relations. The Service launched uzmobil.com, distributing VOA
news to mobile phone subscribers. <strong>Reports</strong> were also accessible on Twitter, YouTube, and
Facebook.
Turkmenistan. RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service is not allowed to have a bureau or accredited
journalists within the country, but despite these restrictions, the Turkmen Service increased its
online traffic through new-media techniques including blogging and social networking on
Facebook and Twitter. In June, after reporting that Turkmenistan's universities only had space
for 6,000 incoming students, the Service created a webpage that compiled information from
NGOs, embassies, and university officials in several countries with information for Turkmen
students on studying abroad.
EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC
China. VOA Chinese included daily Mandarin and Cantonese broadcasts via satellite television,
radio, online, and mobile channels. These broadcasts delivered news about the world and the
United States, including religious and legal issues affecting China’s estimated 22 million
Muslims.
Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) Uighur language service broadcast two hours daily, seven days a week,
and was the only international radio service providing news and information in the Uighur
language to the potential audience of more than 16 million Uighur Muslims in Western China
and Central Eurasia. Consistent with RFA's mandate, the Uighur service acted as a substitute for
indigenous media reporting on local events in the region. Its programs included breaking news,
analysis, interviews, commentary, a weekly news review, and feature stories.
Despite the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region’s (XUAR) continued media blackout enforced
by Chinese authorities, RFA broke news with local eyewitness and citizen journalist input.
RFA's Uighur service website updated news in all three writing systems used to convey the
Uighur language: Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic. The site streamed the daily RFA broadcast in
Uighur and offered ongoing coverage of events in the XUAR in text, image, and video. In a radio
and online multimedia series, RFA reported on Uighur men who have been missing since the
2009 unrest. The service won a top award at this year’s New York Festival for its breaking
coverage of the jailing of four Uighur youths in the aftermath of a deadly incident. RSS feeds
were available, making it possible for people to automatically update their newsreaders or web
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