Kyrgyzstan’s Parliament Advances Restrictive Version of Media Law
Kyrgyzstan’s parliament has ignored more than two years of work by a special commission and adopted a new media law that preserves restrictions on the registration of media outlets. The version parliament passed in its second and third readings on June 25 requires the mandatory registration of all media outlets, including online publications. The Cabinet of Ministers is given exclusive powers to determine the procedure for registration, re-registration, and the termination of media activities. Back to Square One? There were strong objections from media freedom and rights groups to the mandatory registration of media outlets, including online sites, when the draft bill was introduced nearly three years ago. Since Sadyr Japarov was elected president in January 2021, pressure on independent media outlets has been building. The presidential administration said Kyrgyzstan’s current media law, which dates back to 1992, was outdated, and submitted a draft of a new media law in September 2022. International and domestic criticism was so strong that the bill was withdrawn, and eventually, a commission with representatives of the media community, including independent media outlets, the government, civil society, and legal experts, was formed. The draft just approved by parliament was the sixth version of the bill, and, until June 16, it stated that registration for media outlets would be voluntary. On June 16, however, when the Kyrgyz parliament’s Committee on Social Policy was reviewing the bill, four Members of Parliament, Aibek Matkerimov, Ilimbek Kubanychbekov, Ernis Aidaraliev, and Sovetbek Rustambek uulu, introduced amendments. One of these changes removed voluntary registration for media outlets and replaced that with a clause specifying that a media outlet could only disseminate information after its registration with the Justice Ministry had been confirmed. The Media Action Platform of Kyrgyzstan, a coalition of media outlets and journalists, complained that the changes introduced by the four deputies negated those that had already been reached after negotiations. The Media Action Platform of Kyrgyzstan also questioned why deputies “who did not participate in the working group, were not present at the parliamentary hearings, and have no professional relationship with the media sphere,” were allowed to propose those amendments. These objections were apparently ignored when deputies voted on June 25. The Fate of Foreign-Sponsored Media Another of the changes from the four deputies stated, “a foreign citizen, stateless person, or foreign legal entity, as well as companies with more than 35% foreign participation, cannot act as founders of media and television organizations.” That replaces an article in the earlier text that set foreign participation at 50% or more and said only that they “cannot be founders of television organizations.” There are some 2,740 media outlets registered in Kyrgyzstan, and only a handful receive more than 35% of their funding from foreign sources. One is Radio Azattyk, the Kyrgyz service of the U.S. congressionally-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL). Most of Kyrgyzstan’s presidents have expressed a dislike of Azattyk at one time or another, though the outlet continues to enjoy popularity in Kyrgyzstan according to various surveys. President Japarov has made his views...
