Uzbekistan to formalize bloggers' rights

AKIPRESS.COM - The Information and Mass Communications Agency of Uzbekistan has published the draft of amendments to certain legislative acts on the portal for public discussion, CA-News reports. Thus, the amendments suggest a broader definition of a term ‘blogger' in the law on informatization as a person collecting, analyzing, editing, preparing and spreading messages and materials and posting them on a website and and Internet page, including for discussion by users of this information.
Now blogger is defined in Uzbekistan as a person posting socio-political, socio-economic information on a website or a page for public, including for discussion by users.
The amendments suggest to precisely define rights of bloggers, which are same as those of journalists under effective legislation.
The Code of Administrative Liability will be added with the article suggesting sanctions for obstruction to lawful professional activities of journalists, including failure to provide, late provision or provision of knowingly false or inaccurate information in response to inquiry, as well as exerting pressure on journalists, interference into journalists' professional activities. Those impeding to work of journalists will be fined from 1 to 10 minimum salaries. The minimum salary in Uzbekistan makes $26.