The former Soviet Republic has consistently fallen within the worst three countries worldwide for press freedom.
According to the BBC, "the Turkmen government has an absolute monopoly of the media. The authorities monitor media outlets, control printing presses, block websites, monitor internet use and lay down editorial policies."
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting says "there are no independent media in Turkmenistan. The late president Saparmurat Niazov enforced strict censorship and rigorous control over the state media sector and all who work in it."
Fear of retribution is so great as to hamper the Institute's ability to even train future reporters in the central Asian nation. During a rare journalist training session there in April 2009, for example, "when one of the trainers asked them to put together a fictitious press release on government plans to hold a World Cup football event in Turkmenistan, [the attendees] refused to do so."
