Ethics of Conflict Reporting in Kyrgyzstan

In the wake of violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks which rocked southern Kyrgyzstan in June, IWPR held a round table on ethical issues facing journalists in situations of conflict.

Addressing the July 16 event, media expert Alexander Kulinsky said that in times of crisis, impartiality, objectivity, and a willingness to solicit a diversity of views became more important than ever. He criticised media in Kyrgyzstan and especially abroad for not showing both sides of the picture and depicting only the Uzbeks as victims.

Kulinsky said it would take at least a decade before an accurate picture of what happened in Osh and Jalalabad emerged.

But he added, “Although we are now being told that this was provocation, let’s just think about it. How successful would such provocations have been if there really hadn’t been any ethnic tensions? Provocation could only result in consequences like these if there were real foundations for it . These foundations have existed since [ethnic clashes in] 1990. The problem of ethnic relations in southern Kyrgyzstan has not been resolved since that time.”

The other report in this radio package was about children who have been sent to resorts on Lake Issykkul to recover from their traumatic experiences in the recent violence.

Around 800 children from Osh and Jalalabad are at the lakeside now, and the same number again are expected to come before the end of the school holidays.

One of them, Daniyar, was standing to one side as the others played a game. He told IWPR he still had nightmares in which he relived how the family home was burned down.

The audio programme, in Russian and Kyrgyz, went out on national radio stations in Kyrgyzstan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.