Coverage of Kyrgyz Turmoil Lauded

Experts said IWPR’s reporting on the change of government in Kyrgyzstan in April, preceded by mass protests against President Kurmanbek Bakiev, combined the standards of international journalism with an insider knowledge of local politics.

“IWPR has its own unique style, which differs from media in Kyrgyzstan in a good way by presenting [different] views without inserting its own opinions.”
Sheradil Baktygulov, a Bishkek-based expert on public administration

More than 80 people died when Bakiev’s forces opened fire on protesters attempting to take over the government building in Bishkek. IWPR covered the key developments from the protests to the departure of Bakiev and subsequent outbreaks of unrest.

Sheradil Baktygulov, a Bishkek-based expert on public administration, says IWPR’s reporting stood out from the crowd.

“IWPR has its own unique style, which differs from media in Kyrgyzstan in a good way by presenting [different] views without inserting its own opinions,” he said. “The weakness of local sources is their one-sided, emotional reporting, whereas IWPR reports contain a wide range of views and different angles on the same event.”

IWPR has the advantage of being embedded in the country, knowing the situation from the inside, and talking to local experts, said Baktygulov, who added that IWPR’s insights were used by analysts drafting briefing papers and reports for decision-makers in Kyrgyzstan.

Yelena Voronina, director of NGO network for protection of rights and promotion of interests of children, described IWPR reports as “a model of real journalism”.

Although there was a lot of information around at the time, it was difficult to make sense of it, and to judge how much of it was accurate and fair. She turned to IWPR as a source of “trustworthy and balanced information”.

Elsewhere, the in-depth report HIV Alarm in Central Asia published on May 21 was credited with providing information that will be used by international organisations, NGOs and experts working on HIV/AIDS prevention.

The report showed that while HIV is not nearly as prevalent among Central Asians who go abroad in search of work as it is among specific risk groups like drug users and commercial sex workers, the sheer number and mobility of migrants means that the virus can spread rapidly.

Vasily Esenamanov, HIV programme adviser with the Central Asia office of DanChurchAid and ICCO, quoted in the original article, said its publication raised awareness and helped make people more familiar with his organisation’s activities.

The Congress of Women of Kyrgyzstan, which is working on HIV prevention in the migrant community, plans to incorporate the report’s findings in a published research study.

The IWPR article “should be read by as many representatives of the government agencies responsible for national-level decision-making as possible”, said the group’s head Zamira Akbagysheva.

Akbagysheva said the report was objective, presented a diversity of views and was also useful to get a comparative view of how HIV is being handled in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the three countries from which most migrant labour comes.

Elina Karakulova, media coordinator for the HIV/AIDS programme run by the UN Development Programme in Bishkek, said the agency would use the report in its efforts to dispel popular myths about the virus.

“More than 70 per cent of young people in Kyrgyzstan have a mistaken understanding of HIV,” she said. “In other words, this level of awareness means the risk of infection exists as much at home as it does abroad.”

Experts in Uzbekistan, where the authorities have been reluctant to publish data on HIV, said honest disclosure of the facts is key to tackling the problem.

“We never get told that the situation is critical,” said a doctor in Tashkent. “It is good that there are independent internet news sources doing their own social research.”