PressEthic

Uzbekistan and its government hit the world's front pages in May, when a particularly unclearly reported event in the town of Andijan led to the death of over 150 Uzbeks, who may or may not (according to whom you ask) have been protesting against the government.

One of the major security threats in Central Asia, in the view of many Washington policy makers, is the rise of militant Islam, though some scholars such as Svante E. Cornell of Johns Hopkins University, argue against this. Fear of this rising tide of Taliban-esque Muslim values was apparently the driving force behind the Uzbek goverment supposed, "crackdown" on those in Andijan they claimed were, "militants."

However, since May, there has been significant unrest in the country, according to various sources, and the BBC has reported that a number of its local workers were, "subjected to a campaign of harassment and intimidation," while its World Service reporter in the country, Monica Whitlock, was forced to leave the country due to problems with the Uzbek government.

They doutbless disapproved of her attempts at covering events as truthfully and with as much balance as possible, something which local journalists are discouraged from doing too much, as a recent Press Freedom survey shows, with Uzbekistan ranking 184 out of 194 countries surveyed.

While journalists do sometimes risk their lives to cover important stories, the BBC here did not seemingly have the resources or will to continue its valuable World Service local broadcasting in this hostile environment.