Kyrgyz Free Press Comes at a Price

Only a month after an independent printing press opened in Kyrgyzstan, it has come under attack. Not - as might have been feared - by conservative forces opposed to its free-speech agenda, but by the very newspapers it was set up to help.

The print house, part of the Media Support Centre, was set up by the United States-based Freedom House organisation, with funding from the State Department. It offered the first competition to the state monopoly printer Uchkun - and an alternative publishing channel for non-government newspapers.

These have frequently accused Uchkun of refusing print runs -effectively a form of censorship - when the material they carry is too critical of the government. US officials attending the November 14 opening ceremony voiced hope that access to printing services outside the government-controlled agency would facilitate bolder press coverage of controversial issues.

But a month on, some of these newspapers say the independent print house is charging far too much. Managers of the Delo No. title have announced they will not be using the new printer after they were presented with a large bill for its services.

Its December 3 issue - for which the management reverted to Uchkun - carried an editorial saying, "With a very mediocre quality of print and a low standard of management, the independent press Freedom House presented us with an astounding bill, higher than at the state-run Uchkun."

There is disappointment that the US-sponsored printer is not commercially competitive against the state monopolist. IWPR was told by Delo No newspaper that it was quoted a price of 480 US dollars for a print run of 29,000 for a 16-page edition.

This compares unfavourably with the 370 dollars normally quoted by Uchkun - and even more so with the reduced rate of 310 dollars the state printer has been charging since its rival appeared. The new firm also offers high-quality colour printing previously unavailable, but few can afford the extra amount this costs.

Jibek Jamankulova, the editor-in-chief of Limon newspaper, was critical of this pricing policy given the depressed market for newspapers, and plans to stay with Uchkun. "In a country where a person has to make a choice between bread and a newspaper, and an absolute majority prefers bread, a rise in the prices of free [independent] newspapers is unacceptable," she told IWPR.

Zamira Sydykova, the editor-in-chief of the Respublika newspaper, thinks the high prices result from the way Freedom House has hired staff. "The high fees and poor management at the new press are caused by unprofessional employees," she said. But she advises her colleagues in the independent sector to be patient, and not reject the independent press just yet.

The chief political editor of the MSN newspaper, Rina Prizhivoit, thinks the overriding aim of creating an avenue for free speech could be undermined, saying the high prices had "put in doubt the promising statements made by high-ranking US guests at the opening that this printing press would radically improve the free speech situation in Kyrgyzstan".

MSN's editor-in-chief Alexander Kim is more optimistic, and thinks the current problems are just the teething problems that are inevitable with any new venture. He pledged that his paper would continue using the Media Support Centre's printing house. "At least no one there will close us down or impound our print runs," said Kim.

MSN, formerly published as Moya Stolitsa Novosti, has had numerous problems with the authorities, and Uchkun refused to publish it for almost five months in 2002.

Managers at the Media Support Centre's publishing house say seven publications are currently using their services, and 20 others have expressed serious interest in doing so.

Director Mike Stone said the allegation that prices are too high is unwarranted, and that in any case his publishing house has other advantages over Uchkun. "I don't think our prices are excessively high - they are absolutely acceptable for all the local media," Stone told IWPR. He suggested that the complaints made by independent papers is a tactic to force a reduction in prices.

"The pricing policy is set with the costs of publishing a newspaper in mind. We cannot work to a loss."

However, the US ambassador in Kyrgyzstan, Steven Young, told the state agency Kabar on December 8 that he didn't rule out the possibility of a change in pricing policy in the near future. In his view, the aim of the printing house is to cover costs without making a large profit.

"It is already an achievement that Kyrgyzstan's media have a possibility of choice," he said.

Sultan Jumagulov is a BBC stringer in Bishkek.