Kyrgyzstan

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In the time of Soviet control, all the different regions, like counties in America, had their own weekly newspapers, printed and distributed under the supervision and financial support of the local authorities. Such newspapers printed information that mostly reflected the opinions of the government authorities and were heavily censored by officials. That was the way all Soviet newspapers had to work, but since Kyrgyzstan’s independence, all Kyrgyz print media gained comparative freedom. There is no censorship anymore, or at least it is not as restrictive as it was.

But the region’s smaller newspapers rarely receive financial support from the authorities. When they do, the amount they receive is too small to maintain quality. Consequently, their

influence on the local community decreased, and in some regions, has completely failed. Government interest and financial support in newspapers comes now only on the occasion of big political events, like elections or referendums, when politicians need support from local voters.

Also, the poorer economy in the countryside means that there are too few advertisers, and newspaper circulation is too small to make it worthwhile for advertisers.

Also, there are fewer people interested in working on local newspapers’ editorial staffs, and current staff members have no experience working in the new free-market economy because they have not been educated on how to work in such conditions. There are fewer occasions for them to go outside and get new skills and knowledge.

The print media in Kyrgyzstan often face these problems; therefore, people in rural and remote areas have limited access to objective and balanced information, as well as to fresher and independent sources of information. Many of the international organizations working in Kyrgyzstan understand these problems and give some support to local media representatives to avoid greater deterioration of the press. Some of them, like United Nations Development Program, United States Agency for International Development, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and others, continue to try to mitigate the problem. In all of Kyrgyzstan’s provincial hubs, information resource centers have been created with support from these organizations. At these hubs, ordinary people, as well as journalists, can get any information they want — including access to the Internet. These organizations conduct special seminars for local media representatives and teach them how to get the information they are missing and prepare qualified material for newspapers and Web sites.

Unfortunately, not even journalists go regularly to these areas. Also, people from villages, even those who are aware of these centers and know their advantages, can go to them only occasionally. Therefore, access to the news is not improving and people remain less informed than they could be.

One of the reasons why people of non-urban areas have less interest in the media could be that people can’t buy the newspapers they want because of the papers’ limited circulations. Also, the high level of politicization in Kyrgyz society during the past two years is a reason for little interest in the local print media. Recent events in Kyrgyzstan demonstrate that people who live in the south are more political than anywhere else within the country, and many of them have been involved in complicated political affairs. They like to get information, but without the press they cannot separate the real and objective information from rumors.