In Central Asia, the pressure on journalists is increasing and freedom of speech is deteriorating, according to experts who participated in CABAR.asia expert meeting on the topic “Freedom of Speech in Central Asian Countries: Future Scenario”.
In the annual global rankings of press freedom, the Central Asian countries never had high positions. In the 2021 World Press Freedom Index published in April, Kyrgyzstan had the best position – 79th place. Kazakhstan ranked 155th, Uzbekistan – 157th, Tajikistan – 162nd, and Turkmenistan – 178th out of 180 countries included in this ranking.
Kyrgyzstan: Pressure on Journalists Increases
Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan earlier was perceived as the only country in the region where journalists felt comfortable; since the beginning of 2022, their situation has deteriorated significantly.
At the beginning of the year, the media community both in Kyrgyzstan and in neighbouring countries was shocked by the footage of the brutal detention of investigative journalist Bolot Temirov arrested by the Kyrgyz security forces; it happened immediately after he published an investigation into corruption and incomes of the relatives of the Head of the State Committee for National Security Kamchybek Tashiev from the supply and sale of fuel oil. Temirov talked about pressure and persecution, about a video camera installed in his house by unknown people, about threats to publish sex videos online, and about someone who planted hashish on him.
Media expert and chairman of the Independent Union of Journalists of Kyrgyzstan Azamat Kasybekov spoke about the difficulties in his colleagues’ work that began during the pandemic and continued with the new government coming to power.
Kasybekov noted that only the unity of the Kyrgyz colleagues helped to free Temirov.
“There were many journalists, not only from the independent but also from the state media. One thing united us – injustice. Thus, we freed Bolot from the clutches of the security forces,” Kasybekov said.
He also talked about the case against the Kaktus.media news website; the case was opened only because the media republished an article by the Tajik Asia Plus news agency about the situation on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.
According to Kasybekov, the authorities’ pressure on the media has significantly increased in the past six months.
The post-pandemic crisis, when many media close down and cut journalists’ salaries, is now combined with severe economic pressure from government agencies that are conducting various inspections in editorial offices.
This situation has a negative impact on media development.
“Many journalists started trolling. A ‘trolling journalism’ has appeared. Professional journalists are now on social media; it is easier for them to express their opinions anonymously. Such ‘trolling journalism’ is beneficial for the authorities since it is easier to control it,” said the media expert from Kyrgyzstan.
“Fully Adjustable Freedom of Speech” in Kazakhstan
The situation in Kazakhstan has slightly improved with the new president coming to power, according to Diana Okremova, a journalist, director and co-founder of the Legal Media Centre, a non-profit organisation that provides legal protection and aid to journalists, conducts media research, and promotes international principles for protecting freedom of speech and access to information.
The freedom of speech in Kazakhstan is a “fully adjustable freedom, which the authorities hold control of,” she believes.
“The main tool that defines the position of our media is the state-funded assignment for information production. In contrast to Kyrgyzstan, we are a rich country and we spend a lot of money to support our media. $150 mln annually. Primarily, it is the state media that receive the funding but the private do get their share as well. The total sum increases each year. The trend is that the state wants to “grease” and invest in practically all independent media. Now, many online media receive the state funds for information production,” she said.
The state funding deforms the media development and limits healthy competition.
“It is because the media know that they have certain funding and they can rest doing nothing. Additionally, this creates great opportunities for corruption; we continuously report it to our Ministry and President. Nevertheless, as far as I understand, for Kazakhstan, it is a great method of propaganda and media control,” Okremova added.
On the positive side, the media expert highlighted the relocation of the slander article from the Criminal Code to Administrative – the journalists and media advocates fought for it for the last ten years. However, unfortunately, the journalists can still be criminally liable for spreading deliberately falsified information discrediting the honour, dignity, and reputation.
Okremova noted that during the January events in Kazakhstan, many journalists were injured while performing their professional duties.
“According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 18 journalists were detained. However, in fact, many more journalists were detained, of which 6 were brought to administrative responsibility and 12 were released immediately after the facts were established. In addition, some journalists were injured,” said Diana Okremova.
Tajikistan: Consistently Bad Situation
In Tajikistan, the situation with freedom of speech has been consistently bad for many years, according to Marat Mamadshoev, journalist-analyst, CABAR.asia Chief Editor in Tajikistan. There are many problems and journalists do not even talk about many of them.
“Concerning the situation with Tajik media, one cannot say that there is a global, dynamic shift. For the last several years, the situation has been consistently bad. There are many factors, and some of these factors are linked with society’s very poor economic conditions. The independent media struggle to survive, especially in the modern conditions requiring new technical solutions. We have bad Internet and, as a matter of fact, only one provider: all Internet traffic passes through the state provider, and it is the only provider that has a right to buy the traffic from abroad,” Mamadshoev said.
The media expert highlights that pandemic was very convenient for authorities to crack down on the independent media. In July last year, the amendments establishing the liability for spreading fakes about pandemic were introduced to the country’s legal framework.
“Each time the media are discussed, the human rights defenders underscore that the wording [of the introduced amendments – Tr.] is very ambiguous. They [amendments – Tr.] can be used against anyone,” Mamadshoev said.
Since the 2000s, access to official information has remained the key problem for journalists; it deteriorates each year.
The expert described how the authorities continuously limit the scope of journalists’ activities and create obstacles in their work.
“There was even a day with 13 scheduled press-conferenced the journalists had to attend. These were the concluding conferences and the only chance to speak with the top figure – or top figure’s deputy – controlling key spheres of state activity. However, the journalists were not given an opportunity to ask a question. The official was simply reading the report out loud and leaving the room. There were recorded facts of the heads of state bodies answering journalists in a rude manner and threatening them. Many journalists say that while there were at least some known rules of the game, there were some known taboos, nothing is clear now. There is no logic,” said the Tajik media expert.
He highlighted the negative trends for the media in Tajikistan and noted the gradual shift of the function of informing the population from traditional media to social networks.
“This is a very dangerous trend. For better or worse, journalists still have some principles of work and some responsibility for their information, which is not observed in social media,” he said.
He notes a significant reduction of print media, as well as the tightening of censorship and self-censorship among journalists in Tajikistan.
“The media try to avoid covering the most relevant issues. The media are forbidden to say and write certain things. If earlier they could oppose and fight it, now, they simply refuse to do it. Freedom of speech has deteriorated significantly. In general, the situation, unfortunately, is very bad,” said Marat Mamadshoev.
Uzbekistan: “We Envied Ourselves for a Long Time”
A complicated situation is also developing in the Uzbek media, according to Lola Islamova, a founder and editor-in-chief of Anhor.uz news agency and professional journalist with experience in coaching.
Uzbekistan dropped in the press freedom rating for the first time since 2018. Last year, Uzbekistan ranked 157th out of 180 countries, moving down one position in the Reporters Without Borders ranking.
Many experts continue to assess the situation with freedom of speech in the country as difficult, Islamova noted. “Since we have been in such a situation for a long time, everything happening after 2016 made us envy ourselves. To summarize, our situation is about the same as in neighbouring countries now. If we are talking about keeping a mouth shut, our mouth is also shut,” said Lola Islamova.She analysed the situation through the lens of economics and highlighted the difficult situation of the Uzbek media. The media receive income mainly from the sale of advertising space, and the advertising market in Uzbekistan, according to various sources, amounted to approximately $60 million last year. For comparison, in Kazakhstan, it was $150 million before the pandemic.
“Our media are very dependent; there are no funds. It means there is no way to hire qualified people, professional journalists. The new media close immediately after appearing,” she said.
Islamova considers poor management and lack of experience in media operation as other reasons for the difficult situation of the media.
“Our media must learn to earn money. The grants are good, grants should support start-ups or promising media companies. We also have a fund that provides grants. These grants are allocated mainly to the state media. Therefore, students do not want to become journalists and journalists themselves become bloggers because the ‘black market’ exists there: there are more possibilities and more money,” said Lola Islamova.
Recommendations
The media experts suggest the authorities to pay attention to the difficult situation of the media and change their attitude towards them.
“Free media and journalists are one of the founding blocks of democracy, on which the whole system is based. When no one pays attention to it, everything collapses,” said Azamat Kasybekov.
The experts offered their recommendations and concluded that the difficult situation of the media needs to be improved.
- The consolidation and unity of all media in the region is necessary to jointly protect their interests;
- It is necessary to teach the media to earn money and become financially independent;
- It is necessary to provide support to start-ups and promising media;
- It is necessary to study the experience of countries that achieved success after being in a similar situation.
Watch the full version of the expert meeting here: