New Papers to Fight Media Bias

Despite the vast number of media outlets in Kyrgyzstan, people are still struggling to find impartial information, media experts say.



Two new newspapers with a mission to print objective current affairs stories and analytical pieces hit the newsstands in Kyrgyzstan last week.



The Bishkek-based De-Facto, printed in Russian and Kyrgyz had its first run on March 1, while Siyosat in Uzbek launched in Osh on February 26.



“Our reporting will be unbiased. We will try to avoid one-sided coverage of all kinds of events,” said Beishe Bulan, editor-in-chief of De-Facto.



Bulan said his newspaper’s main goal is to provide readers with objective information about current events, giving pro-government as well as opposition representatives the space to air their views.



Alisher Saipov, the publisher of Siyosat, has the same goal, saying it will differ from other local papers in providing balanced information and analysis.



“We will mainly re-publish articles from international media like Radio Liberty, Voice of America, BBC, IWPR and others,” he said.



According to justice ministry estimates, around 900 media outlets were registered in Kyrgyzstan last year, with newspapers and journals accounting for around 820 of them.



But Marat Tokoev, head of Kyrgyzstan’s Union of Journalists, says there is still a shortage of media outlets that provide objective coverage and are not backed by political forces.



This is especially noticeable in the provinces, especially in southern Kyrgyzstan, where there are so few independent local papers that people are poorly informed about current events, according to Igor Shestakov, a media expert.



“In Kyrgyzstan, all the national newspapers, and all the pro-opposition papers that are fairly well regarded by the public – and there aren’t that many of them are situated in the capital [Bishkek] or the nearby] Chui region. So there is a great need for new print outlets in other regions,” said Shestakov.



The only sources of information for people who live in the south are state television, plus one-sided state-run newspapers, he added.



Tokoev points to a tradition of biased reporting that has left Kyrgyzstan with a lack of trained journalists unable to write balanced analytical pieces. “We have to fill the vacuum created by the lack objective information,” he said.



Member of parliament Bolot Maripov sees a particular need for objective information given the “current unstable political situation”.



There has been a recent surge in new papers emerging in the Bishkek area, but political scientist Nur Omarov sees this as a reflection of the ongoing confrontation between the authorities and the opposition, and he does not believe they seek to be impartial.



He suspects that newspapers operate as political mouthpieces for opposition figures, and are unlikely to achieve independence through foreign funding or other means.



Saipov wants to break the mould and says his paper is neither backed by politicians, nor has any political leanings.



“Siyosat is funded by independent journalists themselves. We hope to win readers by providing objective information and developing our marketing,” he said.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)