Radio Liberty Cuts Leave Few Alternative Voices
Thursday, 8 February, 2007
Radio Liberty Cuts Leave Few Alternative Voices
Thursday, 8 February, 2007
United States government funding for Azattyk, the Kazak language service, will be reduced significantly in 2008, leading to possible job losses and service reductions.
RFE/RL is a US organisation that provides media in countries that do not have a high level of freedom of speech.
Seitkazy Mataev, head of Kazakstan’s Union of Journalists, believes the US govt was unable to justify its spending on the Kazak-language service given that Kazakstan is a largely Russian-speaking country. Azattyk only appeals to a small fraction of the population, with an audience share of just 1.5 per cent.
Mataev also thinks the funding may have been cut because Kazakstan does not need to promote freedom of speech as much as some other countries. In his view, alternative views can be expressed through a multitude of media outlets in Kazakstan.
The US government has probably decided to direct taxpayers’ money “to countries where the shoots of democracy have only just started to grow”, he said.
Tamara Kaleeva, president of Adil Soz, a Kazakstan-based free speech group, said that despite its comparatively small audience, Radio Azattyk plays an important role in providing an alternative to the mainstream domestic media.
“Mainstream media do not offer a great deal of alternatives. Azattyk radio occupies a niche which would otherwise be difficult to fill. [Its staff] are very professional and quick with getting the news out, and they don’t censor themselves like other media do,” she said.
Media legislation was tightened last summer, and international human rights groups have reported that freedom of expression is being curtailed.
Political scientist Dosym Satpaev is surprised Azattyk’s funding has been cut at this time. He is certain that it will have a detrimental effect on the availability of information about political and social developments in Kazakstan and the wider region.
“It will have a negative impact on the extent to which the international community is aware of the situation in Central Asia and Kazakstan,” he said. “Of course it will be a loss.”
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
