The mass media in Turkmenistan are among the world's most tightly controlled. The press is controlled by the government, which funds nearly all

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...

. Criticism of the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

is absolutely forbidden. State licensing policy effectively eliminates all outlets not reflecting official views. To avoid reprisal, domestic and foreign

journalists A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

engage in

self-censorship Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or insti ...

. The only domestic news agency is the State News Agency of Turkmenistan. The

Anadolu Agency Anadolu Agency ( tr, Anadolu Ajansı, ; abbreviated AA) is a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, Turkey. History The Anadolu Agency was founded in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence by the order of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. As ...

of Turkey maintains an office in

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

, and

TRT The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio i ...

has a representative there.

Agence France Press Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

, and

ITAR-TASS The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...

receive reports from stringers.

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

is under the full control of the "Turkmenistan" Television Broadcasting Center, which operates seven national television channels. Little recent information on

radio stations Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-b ...

is available.Turkmenistan country profile

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Federal Research Division The Federal Research Division (FRD) is the research and analysis unit of the United States Library of Congress. The Federal Research Division provides directed research and analysis on domestic and international subjects to agencies of the Unite ...

(February 2007). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

.''

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

' 2022

Press Freedom Index The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders since 2002 based upon the organisation's own assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year. It intends to ...

ranked Turkmenistan 177th out of 180 countries surveyed, ahead of Iran, Eritrea, and North Korea. It has consistently ranked at or near the bottom of most measures of press freedom since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Newspapers and magazines

Twenty-two newspapers (2 privately owned) and 14 magazines (none privately owned) are published in Turkmenistan. Content of the state-owned newspapers differs little to not at all, consisting of republishing of copy from the state-owned news agency. They are very expensive by Turkmen standards, with the most expensive newspaper costing $0.50. A one-year subscription equals one month minimum wage. Some domestic online newspapers have been founded, notably Arzuw and Infoabad. Russian magazines and Uzbek newspapers are sold in some kiosks.

National Newspapers

Electronic copies of most state-published newspapers may be downloaded fro
the website of the State Printing Office
*''

Neytralny Turkmenistan ''Neytralny Turkmenistan'' (russian: Нейтральный Туркменистан) is the daily official Russian-language newspaper in Turkmenistan. The daily newspaper serves as the official government gazette of the Cabinet of Ministers of ...

'' (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Neutral Turkmenistan - published six days per week in

, the main Russian-medium newspaper of Turkmenistan. Founded in 1924, during the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

period called ''Turkmenskaya Iskra'' (russian: Turkmen Spark) *''Turkmenistan'' - the main Turkmen-medium newspaper of Turkmenistan, published in

Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

six times per week since 1920. *''Watan'' (

: Homeland) - Published three times per week, during the Soviet period called ''Yash Kommunistler'' ( tk, Young Communists). *''Nesil'' (

: Generation) - Owned and published by

Magtymguly Youth Organization Magtymguly Pyragy ( fa, ''Makhdumqoli Farāghi''; tk, Magtymguly Pyragy; ; tr, Mahtumkulu Firaki; , born Magtymguly, was a Turkmen spiritual leader, philosophical poet, Sufi and traveller who is considered to be the most famous figure in ...

three times per week. *''Adalat'' (

: Justice) - Owned and published by

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

weekly. *''Rysgal'' (

: Welfare) - Owned and published weekly by the

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Turkmenistan ( tk, Türkmenistanyň Söwda-senagat edarasy) is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit public organization that operates under the 2015 Law of Turkmenistan on "The Chamber of Commerce and Indus ...

; the country's first and only private newspaper. *''Türkmen Sporty'' (

: Turkmen Sports) - Owned and published weekly by the State Sports and Youth Committee of Turkmenistan. *''Nebit-Gaz'' (

: Oil and Gas) - Owned and published by

Türkmengaz Türkmengaz is the national gas company of Turkmenistan. From January to November 2020, Türkmengaz had US$4.13bn in revenue. It is the largest gas company in Central Asia. The chairman of the company, with rank of minister of state, is Batyr Ama ...

state concern, now an electronic newspaper. Previously published, starting in 2011, by the now-defunct Ministry of Oil and Gas. *''Mugallymlar Gazeti'' (

: Pedagogical Newspaper) - Owned and published three times per week by

Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

. *''Habarlar'' (

: News) - Owned and published by the

Economic Editorial Association An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the p ...

three times per week, mainly economic and commercial news, classified advertising, since 1975. *''Zaman Turkmenistan'' - Owned and published by Turkish newspaper Zaman. It was published weekly in Turkmen. It was closed by the government after a coup attempt in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. *''Edebiyat we Sungat'' (

: Literature and Art) - Owned and published weekly since 1958 by the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) *Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

. *''Bereketli Toprak'' (

: Fertile Soil) - Owned and published weekly since 2008 Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Turkmenistan. *''Türkmen Dünýäsi'' (

: Turkmen World.) - Owned and published twice monthly since 1991 by the

Humanitarian Association of World Turkmens The Humanitarian Association of World Turkmens () or GATM is the organization meant to bring together Turkmen people in Turkmenistan and other parts of the world.

. *''Türkmeniň Ýüpek Ýoly'' (

: Turkmen Silk Road) - Owned and published weekly by the Railways Agency of Turkmenistan. Published since 1936. *''Esger'' (

: Soldier) - Owned and published weekly since 1993 by the Ministry of Defence of Turkmenistan. *''Biznes Reklama'' (

: Business Advertising) - Owned and published by the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations. *''Galkynysh'' (

: Renaissance) - Owned and published weekly since 1997 by the

Democratic Party of Turkmenistan ) , colours = Green Gold , seats1_title = Seats in the Assembly of Turkmenistan , seats1 = , colors = Green Gold , website tdp.gov.tm The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan ( tk, Türkmenistanyň Demokratik Partiýasy; ; TDP) has been the ...

Regional Newspapers

*''Ashgabat'' *''Maru-Şahu-Jahan'' - Mary Velayat, published since 1931, in Turkmen, three times per week. *''Ahal Durmuşy'' (Ahal Life) - Ahal Velayat, published in Turkmen three times in a week. *''Daşoguz Habarlary'' (Dashoguz News) - Dashoguz Velayat, published in Turkmen three times in a week. *''Türkmen Gündogary'' (Turkmen Orient) - Lebap Velayat, published in Turkmen three times in a week. * ''Balkan'' - Balkan Velayat, published in Turkmen three times in a week.

Online Newspapers

Arzuw News
- independent, private news agency.
Azatlyk Radiosy
- (

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

Turkmen Service).
Biz barde
- independent, private outlet social network.
Business Turkmenistan
- independent, business news and information service.
Chronicles of Turkmenistan
- foreign-based independent media outlet.
Gundogar News
- state-controlled, of unknown ownership.
Gundogar.org
- foreign-based independent media outlet.
InAshgabat
- independent, private news outlet and internet portal focused on Ashgabat local news.
Infoabad
- independent, private news outlet and internet portal.
Orient
- independent, private information agency owned by «Media Turkmen», founded in 2017.
Parahat Info
- news aggregator. *Türkiýe-Türkmenistan
Türkmen Habar

Turkmen News
- foreign-based independent media outlet, formerly known as "Alternative News of Turkmenistan".
Turkmen Yurt TV
- foreign-based independent media *Türkmen Inform
Turkmenistan Today
- ( TDH official website) - state-owned.
Turkmenistan: Golden Age
- service of

, state-owned.
Turkmenistan.ru
- foreign-based independent media outlet.
Turkmenportal
- news aggregator and internet portal.

Magazines

*Altyn Asyr Ykdysadyýeti (Turkmen: The Golden Age Economy) - Owned and published monthly since 2000 by Ministry of Economy and Development of Turkmenistan.
Diýar
(Turkmen: The Land) - Owned and published monthly since 1992 by

Cabinet of Ministers (Turkmenistan) The Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan ( tk, Türkmenistanyň Ministrler Kabineti) is the chief executive body in Turkmenistan. The Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan is appointed by the President of Turkmenistan who is both the chief of stat ...

.
Dünya Edebiýaty
(Turkmen: World Literature) - Owned and published monthly by Turkmen State Publishing Service.
Garagum
(Turkmen: Karakum) - Owned and published monthly by Turkmen State Publishing Service.
Güneş
(Turkmen: Sun) - Owned and published monthly by

.
Saglyk
(Turkmen: Health) - Owned and published semimonthly since 1990 by Ministry of Health of Turkmenistan. * Türkmenistan Sport *Türkmenistanda Ylym we Tehnika (Turkmen: Science and Technology in Turkmenistan) - Published semimonthly.
Türkmenistanyň lukmançylygy
(Turkmen: Turkmenistan's Medicine) *Täze Oba (Turkmen: New Village) - Owned and published monthly since 1929 by Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Turkmenistan. *Возрождение (Vozrozhdeniye, ''Renaissance'' in Russian) - Owned and published monthly by the

. Published since 1937, previously by the Turkmen Communist Party.
Zenan Kalby
(Turkmen: Woman's Heart) - Owned and published monthly by

Women's Union of Turkmenistan The Women's Union of Turkmenistan (TZB; ) is a mass women's organisation in Turkmenistan. For a long time, Women's Union was the only women organization permitted in the country. Advocating for women's rights, this organization appeared as a non- ...

. Published since 1931.

Television

In Turkmenistan,

satellite TV Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

is popular. Viewers subscribe to

Cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...

and

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...

, which are generally available for a monthly fee of 10 manat per month. Turkmenistan broadcasts 7 public television channels (6 of them on the territory of the whole country, and 1 only in

). All of them are broadcast in the

Turkmen language Turkmen (, , , or , , , ), sometimes referred to as "Turkmen Turkic" or "Turkmen Turkish", is a Turkic language spoken by the Turkmens of Central Asia, mainly of Turkmenistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. It has an estimated 5 million native speakers ...

with the exception of the Turkmenistan news channel, which broadcasts in 7 languages. They do not differ from each other in news content. These sources of information are an ideological mouthpiece of the ruling regime in the country. Any opinion or idea that differs from the President of Turkmenistan cannot be broadcast (except if the criticism is made by the president himself). They also present informative and entertaining programs and movies produced nationally, sports events with the participation of Turkmen sportsmen. Sometimes ''Altyn Asyr'' broadcasts popular movies with Turkmen dubbing in the evenings. ''Turkmenistan Sport'' regularly broadcasts

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, football matches of

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

and another sports thanks to an agreement with an Irish company

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

. Any television broadcast 24 hour. Only state companies and institutions advertising to Turkmen televisions.

TV Channels

* Altyn Asyr (formerly TMT-1; English: Golden Age) - The main channel of the country. *Yaşlyk (formerly TMT-2; English: Youth) - Channel catering to the youth of Turkmenistan. *

Miras Miras is a village and a former municipality in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Devoll. The population at the 2011 census was 6,577.

(formerly TMT-3; English: Heritage) - TV channel about the culture and heritage of the Turkmen people *

Türkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south ...

(formerly TMT-4) - international channel broadcast in seven different languages. * Türkmen Owazy (English: Turkmen Voice) - Turkmen music channel. *Aşgabat - TV channel broadcasting programs about Ashgabat. * Türkmenistan Sport - sports channel.

IPTV

* AŞTU (''Aşgabat şäher telefon ulgamy'',

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: Ashgabat City Telephone System) - the company announced that they have 104,062 subscribers in 2018.

Cable television

The

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...

enterprise Turkmen Telekom operates cable TV activities in the country. The service is not a brand.

Radio

There are four radio stations in Turkmenistan: * TR
Radio Watan
(279 kHz & 102.7 MHz) * TR
Radio Çar-Tarapdan
(69.68 MHz) * TR
Radio Miras
(103.9 MHz) * TR
Radio Owazy
(101.3 & 104.4 MHz) TR1 broadcasts on

longwave In radio, longwave, long wave or long-wave, and commonly abbreviated LW, refers to parts of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave broadcasting band. The term is historic, dating from the e ...

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

, OIRT FM, and CCIR FM; TR2 and TR3 broadcast on medium wave and OIRT & CCIR FM; and TR4 broadcasts on CCIR FM. All four stations also broadcast on

DAB+ DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dąb, ...

in Ashgabat and can be heard online globally via

Radio Garden Radio Garden is a non-profit Dutch radio and digital research project developed from 2013 to 2016, by the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (under the supervision of Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg's Golo Föllmer), by the Tra ...

. There are no local or regional radio stations in the country.

References

Links

Newspapers in PDF

Online TV and radio
{{Asia topic, Media of

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...