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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 001565 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND SCA/PPD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPAO KG
SUBJECT: MEDIA COVERAGE OF KYRGYZ PROTESTS PREDICTABLE, 
WITH ONE SURPRISE 
 
REF: BISHKEK 1554 
 
BISHKEK 00001565  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.  Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: The majority of media outlets in Kyrgyzstan 
are either government-owned or pro-government in content. 
News coverage of the protests have largely painted the 
protesters in a negative light.  However, one new, small 
independent TV station has sided with the opposition and is 
providing unbiased coverage of events in its news coverage. 
End Summary. 
 
-------------------------- 
Media Coverage Predictable 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Media coverage of the protests has been largely 
predictable.  Most Kyrgyz get their news from television, 
since with one exception (the daily, pro-government 
Vecherniye Bishkek) all other newspapers are published on a 
weekly schedule.  State owned KTR, the channel with the 
largest viewership, and the only station that reaches the 
whole country, has done its best to play down the protests. 
While a discussion between pro-government and pro-opposition 
supporters was taped late last week and has been shown on 
occasion over the weekend, coverage during news shows has 
been limited and biased.  Even though protestors have marched 
to the KTR Studio building at least three times, the only 
time the channel has provided "breaking news" type coverage 
was during a protest at the studio when the channel,s Deputy 
Director Beyshenbek Bekeshov was purportedly in a scuffle 
after addressing the protestors. 
 
¶3. (C) KOORT, a television channel rumored to be owned by the 
President's son Maxim Bakiyev, has been similarly slanted in 
its coverage of the protests.  The station has provided a 
large amount of time to government officials, in particular 
the Prosecutor General.  Rather than dismiss the protests, 
the channel,s news coverage has focused on the negative 
externalities of the protests ) trash in the main square and 
traffic disruptions.  It has largely avoided the larger 
political issues being debated. 
 
¶4. (C) Many of the main internet news sites in Kyrgyzstan 
remain blocked to the outside world.  Independent wire 
service AKIPress and generally anti-US wire service 24.kg 
have been inaccessible since November 2.  AKIPress has 
temporarily opened a blog to publish their information 
outside of Kyrgyzstan.  Elcat, the primary internet provider 
in Kyrgyzstan, and the wire services report that the denial 
of service attacks have continued since November 2, with 
attackers actively working to overcome any new defenses the 
companies may put in place. 
 
--------------------------------- 
NTS Throws In With the Opposition 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) The only surprise in the media coverage has been the 
new NTS channel.  The station started airing the day after 
the March 24, 2005 events, and is owned by an Opposition MP 
with large investments from Russian companies and is run by a 
president with no media experience (Baktygul Jeenbaeva is a 
former banker and government economist), the channel has been 
a plucky independent voice.  The channel has been using a 
system of couriering tapes of the protest back to the main 
studio and airing them without comment on what amounts to a 
thirty minute to one hour delay (Comment: KTR is the only 
channel in Kyrgyzstan with live to air capability, but their 
Soviet-era equipment is unwieldy, and unsurprisingly, has so 
far been unused during the protests).  NTS,s taped coverage 
focuses almost exclusively on opposition speakers, with 
 
BISHKEK 00001565  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
pro-government voices receiving very little airtime on the 
"without comment" segments. 
 
¶6. (C) During regular newscasts, the day,s events are 
provided in a very evenhanded manner with regular live 
telephone interviews with reporters on the scene of the 
protests.  The channel has also been running public 
service-style announcements on behalf of the opposition, 
urging people to come to the main square to protest and 
linking President Bakiyev with corruption. 
 
¶7. (C) NTS,s potential audience is limited to Bishkek and 
its environs, and its reporting and investigative staff are 
small.  The channel is making a name for itself during these 
protests, however.  PAS staff visiting the White House on 
November 6 noticed that many of the televisions in the 
offices were tuned to NTS for its "almost live" coverage of 
events throughout the day. 
YOVANOVITCH