The experts from four countries of the region discussed the polarisation of communities, low level of media literacy, the lack of critical thinking, and other issues during the expert meeting “How to Improve the Media Literacy of the Population of the Central Asian Countries?” held by the CABAR.asia analytical platform on March 18.
Bella Orynbetova, media literacy specialist, media expert, regional media literacy specialist at Internews in Kazakhstan, Asel Sooronbaeva, editor of Factcheck.kg in Kyrgyzstan, Elina Karakulova, Internews in Kyrgyzstan Country Director, Rustam Gulov, media trainer and consultant, one of the pioneers of the fact check in Tajikistan, and Saida Sulaymonova, Director of the Modern Journalism Development Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan NGO, took part in the expert meeting.
The war between Russia and Ukraine demonstrated that the world has entered a new phase of information warfare. The residents of Central Asian countries found themselves vulnerable to the unprecedented volume of false information, half-truth, manipulations, and fake news. As practice shows, even experienced journalists trained to use fact-checking tools find it difficult to immediately tell a fact from manipulation.
The experts discussed media literacy development in the countries of the region and offered recommendations for further work in this direction.
Kazakhstan: Activists Demand to Shut Down the Broadcasting of the Russian State TV Channels. The Authorities Remain Silent
The war between Russia and Ukraine became the most important topic in the Kazakh media. Even the most relevant local problems, including the January events and other unresolved issues, have receded into the background, said Bella Orynbetova, media literacy specialist from Kazakhstan.
Research conducted by Internews in the country showed that Russian TV channels are the main source of information for Kazakhstan residents. The main problem is that there are no independent tools to counter the propaganda from these channels, according to her.
The analysts discuss the economic and political consequences of this conflict for Kazakhstan. A more literate part of the population in Kazakhstan understands and can tell fake news from propaganda. Kazakhstan residents held protests and organised the collection of humanitarian aid. However, the authorities did not support these civil society initiatives.
“However, the most dangerous thing is that state TV channels still do not call it a war but a ‘special military operation’, despite the criticism from their colleagues, independent journalists, and experts. The most important issue the activists are now raising is the demand to shut down the broadcasting of the Russian state TV channels in Kazakhstan. However, there is no reaction from the official authorities,” she said.
The established cooperation with government officials and introduction of new projects in the field of media literacy does not solve the problem. “On the one hand, the authorities want the population to be media literate, but on the other hand, they tighten the screws themselves,” said Bella Orynbetova.
Kyrgyzstan: There Is No Systematic Work by the Government to Improve Media Literacy of the Population
The experts from Kyrgyzstan noted the low level of media literacy of the population of their country and the dangerous trend of polarisation of society into groups supporting one or another side of the conflict.
Asel Sooronbaeva, the editor of Factcheck.kg in Kyrgyzstan, noted the lack of systematic work by the state and the appearance of a huge number of fake news after the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The civil sector and media organisations are those mainly involved in improving media literacy within the framework of donor organisations’ projects.
“There were many fake news reports. For example, it was reported that Kyrgyzstan supported Russia, but later, this information was refuted. In any case, the channels with a large audience distributed such information. There are many fake news reports about migrants in Russia; supposedly, they are also recruited to fight. We are working to expose fake news and provide the audience with reliable information,” Sooronbaeva said.
Elina Karakulova, Internews in Kyrgyzstan Country Director, agrees with her and notes that the latest research confirms that people continue to trust information from TV news. Many people in Kyrgyzstan watch Russian TV channels and are influenced by them.
According to Karakulova, the strong polarisation of society observed in social media due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is of particular concern.
“Everything we now see on social media is that people, in general, do not hear each other, live in different information bubbles that do not overlap. This is a very dangerous situation because open conflict exists already. People choose sides. In every family, there were arguments about whether they did the right thing by sending the troops, etc.,” she said.
Elina Karakulova believes that the main task now is to strengthen the work to improve the media literacy skills of different segments of society and develop their critical thinking.
Tajikistan: “Propaganda Affects Everyone!”
In Tajikistan, as well as in neighbouring countries, the level of media literacy of the population was low even before the Russian-Ukrainian war. The current conflict demonstrated the weakness of the country’s information security and led to the polarisation of society, according to the Tajik media expert Rustam Gulov, co-founder of Tajikistan’s first fact-check platform Factcheck.tj.
In Tajikistan, most people also watch TV and Russian TV channels are quite popular. Recently, state censorship has greatly intensified in Russia. The state authorities of the Russian Federation provide people with one-sided information; there is no alternative information. Official sources of the Ministry of Defence are the subjects of this war and cannot serve as reliable sources for verifying data, Gulov stressed.
“Therefore, it is very difficult to verify and check the information. We can only use critical thinking and understand everything ourselves. … However, critical thinking suggests that there should be access to many types and forms of information on various topics and an understanding of them all,” Gulov said.
He noted that in today’s society, people can justify violence. Therefore, it is very important to develop not only critical and analytical thinking in people, not only media literacy but also work on a more basic level – to develop empathy, and to work with psychologists.
Uzbekistan: “The Legislation Does Not Include ‘Fake Information’ Concept but There Are Certain Preventive Measures”
Research conducted by Internews on the level of media literacy in Uzbekistan showed that the population of the country, especially in rural areas, is still influenced by Russian television, said Saida Sulaymonova, Director of the Modern Journalism Development Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan NGO.
“Society is strongly polarised in different camps; it starts with the most basic social unit – the family – and ends at the state level,” Sulaymonova said.
She reminded that Uzbekistan officially declared that it did not recognise the state independence and sovereignty of the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics and stood for the territorial integrity of Ukraine; it called on the parties to negotiate and resolve the conflict peacefully.
The blogosphere of Uzbekistan, which now has a great influence on public opinion, reacted to this statement immediately, she said.
“Speaking about fake news, we do not have a concept of ‘fake information’ in the legislation. However, there are certain preventive measures. They appeared in Uzbekistan during the quarantine period. We have a ‘false information’ concept, and administrative responsibility is provided for it; criminal liability is provided for the repeated dissemination of false information. The concept of ‘slander’, that is, the dissemination of false information, is also considered under this category,” said Saida Sulaymonova.
A Concept for further actions in the development of media literacy and online security for 2022-2024 is already created in the country. This gives some hope that the “Media Literacy” subject will gradually appear in the general education system in Uzbekistan, she said.
Recommendations:
The experts highlighted that in the context of global information warfare, when the population of the region is drawn into wars that do not threaten their lives, this can lead to tension within countries. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the level of media literacy, and this should be done at the government level.
“About three million Tajikistan citizens also have Russian citizenship. The reason for the Russian invasion of the territory of our countries can be the same as it was with Ukraine. This is the notorious protection of Russian citizens. This can lead to quite serious political problems,” Gulov said.
The experts proposed several measures to improve the situation with the level of media literacy, including:
- The governments of countries should work more thoroughly and fundamentally to improve media literacy and critical thinking of the population of their countries;
- To support initiatives and educate different segments of the population;
- To strengthen work to ensure own information security;
- Use a wide range of tools to increase empathy;
- Create zero tolerance for violence using all available tools and opportunities;
- To support local independent media so that they do not depend on grants and projects from foreign states.