SEE THE #MomProject ABOUT MONGOLS MEDIA INDEPENDENCE
More than half of the defamation cases in Mongolia are brought against journalists and media outlets, pushing them to censor themselves. Mongolia’s TV channels replaced their normal programming with blank screens on 26 April 2017 in protest against plans to increase the penalties for defamation ahead of the 2017 presidential election. The overall environment for the media has improved in recent years, especially as a result of the state media’s transformation from government mouthpieces into public services. But media ownership is very concentrated and most media are affiliated to political parties, which curtails the emergence of independent media. Whether state or privately-owned, the media are under pressure from politicians and their ability to act as watchdogs is limited by the government’s lack of transparency and susceptibility to criticism, and by still very imperfect media legislation.
