Blank screens and red text warning about threats to press freedom late on Wednesday interrupted Mongolian television to protest legal changes media groups say could harshly punish journalists accused of defamation ahead of elections.
With just 3 million people, Mongolia has long stood as an oasis of democracy, sandwiched between autocratic giant neighbors China and Russia.
Mongolia’s political transformation since a peaceful revolution in 1990 has been a big plus for foreign investors eyeing its rich mineral resources.
However, with presidential elections in June, rights groups and journalists have expressed concern that the government is using increasingly heavy-handed tactics to suppress media and stifle dissent, including jailing reporters.
The government denies seeking to muzzle the press, saying the nation is a democracy that values freedom of the media.
Yet this week, parliament is due to debate amendments that could impose large fines on reporters accused of defamation, in what media groups say amounts to a threat to make them stop reporting on such issues as rampant corruption.
More than a dozen Mongolian television stations went dark for about one hour, some carrying only the text: “Your right to know is under threat.”
Yesterday, one of the nation’s largest newspapers, Unuudur, carried the same message on its front page.
Media outlets could face penalties of up to 200 million tugrik (US$82,704) for violations under the amendments, while individual journalists and social media users could be fined 2 million tugrik each, said Hashhuu Naranjargal, president of the civil-society group Globe International in Mongolia.
The fines were a form of “economic censorship” that politicians might abuse to protect themselves, she added.
“The general political atmosphere is very negative about the protection of journalists,” Naranjargal said. “They just want to prevent negative information about themselves.”
Batbold Chimgee, a journalist for the Web site GoGo.mn, said the government had abused the libel law in the past to censor reporters.
She said the 2 million tugrik fine was equivalent to three months’ salary for many journalists.
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