Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan ranked 82 out of 180 in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index (WPFI). The small Central Asian country has been notably improving in the Index, being ranked 106 in 2013.
Steadily climbing up the ranks since then, the country drastically dropped to 98 place (from 89 the previous year) in the 2018 rankings. This is likely due to government crackdown on freedom of expression, including media and individuals, following the newly elected president in 2017, reports Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international non-governmental organization (NGO) seeking out abuses of all kinds around the world.
Kyrgyzstan once again made gains in 2019, moving up all the way to 83 place, and then to 82 in 2020. Today, media landscape is relatively diverse and is generally considered freer than Kyrgyzstan’s other Central Asian neighbors. So, it is safe to say that there have been many improvements, but there are still many ways in which the situation can improve.
According to US-based think tank Freedom House reports, there were several government crackdowns on journalism in 2019 alone. In one instance, following the arrest of former president Almazbek Atambayek on corruption charges in August, the Kyrgyz government seized the assets of an outlet owned by the former president — Aprel TV.
Novastan, a Europe-based media focused solely on the region of Central Asia, reported that online news sites were targeted by DDoS attacks after investigating a former high-ranking customs official and revealing his part in a large money laundering operation. The same official sued a Radio Free Europe-affiliated media in Kyrgyzstan, which investigated the operation, and won. A court later seized all that media’s assets.
Media in Kyrgyzstan is mostly made up of state-run networks, with several private newspapers, agencies, and radios. According to Kyrgyzstan’s media profile in BBC, most of Kyrgyz media, namely those which are state-run, is broadcast in Kyrgyz and/or Russian, and a few of the outlets broadcast in English.
A lot of Kyrgyz media is divided along ethnic lines. The US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook states that there are over 80 ethnicities among Kyrgyzstan’s 6.4 million people, but the main ones are Kyrgyz (73.5 percent), Uzbek, and Russian. Ethnic relations are sometimes tense with the rest of the minority ethnicities and, occasionally, the Kyrgyz government would prosecute them for inciting ethnic hatred through media, despite Kyrgyz-dominated media frequently publishing anti-Semitic and racist articles without facing consequences.
The WPFI is an annual ranking of the level of freedom of press and expression in select countries around the world. It is made by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and international NGO aiming to defend globally the freedoms of expression, press, and speech. The Index seeks to expose countries that practice abuse on journalists and their work, as well as to raise awareness to the issue of media freedom in different parts of the world.
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Pavel Nestorov is a fourth-year student at the American University in Bulgaria, majoring in Political Science and International Relations and minoring in Psychology. He believes that freedom of press should be upheld worldwide.
