Politician Wants End to Internet Free-for-All
Politician Wants End to Internet Free-for-All
The opposition and the authorities in Kyrgyzstan are in the middle of an online information war, fuelled by provocative comments from anonymous sources. Online news outlets have been asked to moderate the comments they publish, but media-watchers say hosts should honour the reader’s right to post opinions anonymously.
On April 16, parliamentary speaker Marat Sultanov expressed his discontent with comments made by anonymous sources in Kyrgyz online media. He said it was necessary to “set a limit on” comments that incited inter-regional, ethnic and religious animosities, or that called for the government to be violently overthrown.
Sultanov suggested that online news editors moderate the kind of comments which appear on their website.
The following day, AKIpress news agency announced that it was introducing tougher moderation of comments on its news reports, “in view of the tense social and political situation”.
In the build-up to the continuing opposition demonstration to demand President Kurmanbek Bakiev’s resignation, and in the period since it began on April 11, the number of readers searching for fast accessible information online has grown exponentially.
NBCentralAsia experts say there are enough internet users in Kyrgyzstan to turn the medium into a powerful political tool. According to information published this week by Internetworldstats.com, Kyrgyzstan has the highest percentage of internet users in Central Asia, with 5.2 per cent of a population of five million going online regularly.
According to Abdumalik Sharipov, a journalist and human rights activist, internet users include politicians, journalists, non-government groups, students and other opinion-shapers with clear political views.
Marat Tokoev, head of the Public Association of Journalists, says both the opposition and the authorities make actively use of anonymous comments as a weapon against their opponents. He said he had it on reliable authority that the government forces officials to post comments about online articles to promote a positive image.
Almaz Ismanov, regional coordinator of the Osh Media Resource Centre, says the legal status of online media outlets is poorly defined, which makes them an ideal medium for information wars. Under current legislation, internet outlets are not classified as media and are therefore not subject to regulation.
Political scientist Alexander Knyazev believes comments published online should be regulated by responsible media outlets, and a method should be found for identifying those who make extremist remarks so that they can be punished.
“There is no freedom without responsibility. If the owner of a website or its editor is responsible only for the [editorial] content, who is answerable for the comments?” he said.
Ismanov warned that Sultanov’s demand for website to censor their own content should not become the precursor to a broader government effort to tighten control over the internet.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
On April 16, parliamentary speaker Marat Sultanov expressed his discontent with comments made by anonymous sources in Kyrgyz online media. He said it was necessary to “set a limit on” comments that incited inter-regional, ethnic and religious animosities, or that called for the government to be violently overthrown.
Sultanov suggested that online news editors moderate the kind of comments which appear on their website.
The following day, AKIpress news agency announced that it was introducing tougher moderation of comments on its news reports, “in view of the tense social and political situation”.
In the build-up to the continuing opposition demonstration to demand President Kurmanbek Bakiev’s resignation, and in the period since it began on April 11, the number of readers searching for fast accessible information online has grown exponentially.
NBCentralAsia experts say there are enough internet users in Kyrgyzstan to turn the medium into a powerful political tool. According to information published this week by Internetworldstats.com, Kyrgyzstan has the highest percentage of internet users in Central Asia, with 5.2 per cent of a population of five million going online regularly.
According to Abdumalik Sharipov, a journalist and human rights activist, internet users include politicians, journalists, non-government groups, students and other opinion-shapers with clear political views.
Marat Tokoev, head of the Public Association of Journalists, says both the opposition and the authorities make actively use of anonymous comments as a weapon against their opponents. He said he had it on reliable authority that the government forces officials to post comments about online articles to promote a positive image.
Almaz Ismanov, regional coordinator of the Osh Media Resource Centre, says the legal status of online media outlets is poorly defined, which makes them an ideal medium for information wars. Under current legislation, internet outlets are not classified as media and are therefore not subject to regulation.
Political scientist Alexander Knyazev believes comments published online should be regulated by responsible media outlets, and a method should be found for identifying those who make extremist remarks so that they can be punished.
“There is no freedom without responsibility. If the owner of a website or its editor is responsible only for the [editorial] content, who is answerable for the comments?” he said.
Ismanov warned that Sultanov’s demand for website to censor their own content should not become the precursor to a broader government effort to tighten control over the internet.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
