Caucasus and Central Asia: Armenia has Most Favorable Media Environment in 2011
It’s no secret that the Caucasus and Central Asia are inhospitable places for free speech and independent journalism. But a recent survey by IREX, an international organization that promotes civil society, found even countries that experienced so-called “color” revolutions have been unable to produce lasting, positive changes in their respective media environments.
In examining regional trends, experts said during a recent roundtable discussion that freedom of speech, mass media independence and related issues tended to improve immediately in Georgia after the 2003 Rose Revolution, as well as in Kyrgyzstan following the 2005 Tulip Revolution. But the gains proved fleeting, as the Georgian and Kyrgyz media environments over time have reverted to close to the point where they were before those revolutions, panelists said.
The roundtable coincided with the release of IREX’s 10th annual Media Sustainability Index (MSI) for Europe and Eurasia. The survey represents an effort by the NGO “to measure the strength and viability of any country’s media sector.” Although known mainly for promoting educational exchanges, IREX is involved in a wide variety of civil-society related activities, including media development.
The 2011 findings confirmed that Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are among the most repressive states on earth. On a scale of 0 to 4, with 4 representing a free media environment, the IREX survey gave Turkmenistan a 0.35 and Uzbekistan a 0.56 rating. IREX deemed Armenia, with a 2.09 rating, to have the most favorable media climate in the Caucasus and Central Asia in 2011.
Given political developments in both countries, roundtable panelists portrayed Georgia and Kyrgyzstan as disappointing performers in terms of media freedom. Over the past decade, Georgia's MSI rating has remained basically flat, going from 1.82 in 2001 to 1.85 in 2011. Kyrgyzstan's has risen slightly over the same period, going from 1.29 to 1.66. Both of those rankings qualified the countries' media environments as “unsustainable mixed systems,” according to IREX. Serbia and Ukraine, which also experienced “color revolutions,” also saw only modest gains.
Some countries which did not have color revolutions have outpaced, or at least kept up with their “color revolution” neighbors, according to the IREX survey. Over the last decade, for example, Tajikistan's media environment has improved more than Kyrgyzstan's, and Kazakhstan's has improved nearly as much, according to survey. Armenia's ranking has likewise improved more over that timeframe than Georgia’s.
“There can be a spike” immediately after the revolutions, said Leon Morse, managing editor of the MSI. “So far none of these [revolutions] have had lasting impacts.” Frequently, post-transition countries have strong legal protection for the media in theory, but in practice the laws are ignored, he added.
A positive media environment depends heavily on a strong, independent judiciary, civil servants who are dedicated to implementing laws related to access to information, and “simply having leaders who are committed to following these laws,” Morse said.
Georgia and Kyrgyzstan do not meet those criteria, participants in the roundtable said.
“The Georgian constitution and the legal environment in Georgia offer quite strong protection for freedom of press and freedom of speech,” said Anastasia Mirzoyants, a project manager at InterMedia. “However, the problem with the media environment is that the rules and regulations are quite frequently violated by the government, and the government uses legal, extralegal and financial means to make sure it is able to control the content … of the news.”
Josh Machleder, vice president for Europe and Eurasia programs at Internews, said Kyrgyzstan’s media environment had given back almost all of the gains made since the downfall of Askar Akayev’s regime in Bishkek. “Now, we're back where we were in 2005,” he told the roundtable.
While there have been some positive steps, such as the recent decriminalization of libel, the rise of hate speech since last summer’s violence in southern Kyrgyzstan last year has led to questions about how to reconcile that with freedom of expression, he said. “Media development happens in waves,” he said. “There are advances and retreats.”
The roundtable discussion, titled “Lessons from Other Transitions: Challenges for Independent Media in Europe and Eurasia,” was hosted by the National Endowment for Democracy.
Joshua Kucera is a Washington, DC,-based freelance writer who specializes in security issues in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East. He is the editor of EurasiaNet's Bug Pit blog.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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