Paper abstract

There have been nonviolent presidential transfers of power between 2016 and 2021 in three Central Asian republics – Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan – all of which Freedom House classifies as “consolidated authoritarian regimes.” The three governments continued to constrain freedom of expression after the transitions, despite constitutional provisions nominally guaranteeing that right. Thus, a hoped-for liberalization of individual rights, in particular press freedom, failed to materialize, a situation that is consistent with anti-press policies and practices in Central Asia since these five republics gaining independence in 1991. This study provides an overview of the media environment in the three countries. It draws on documentary sources such as reports, correspondence, public statements, and petitions from international press and human rights defender groups, to compile governmental violations of press freedom since the most recent transfers of presidential power in Uzbekistan (14 December 2016), Kazakhstan (10 March 2019), and Kyrgyzstan (28 January 2021). Other data comes from interviews with experts such as human rights and press rights, activists, and journalists. The findings strongly suggest that even with a peaceful transition of power and some form of election, mere regime change in authoritarian and semi-authoritarian post-Soviet countries is unlikely to generate increased protection for press freedom. Based on that record, it is also likely to prove true in the case of repressitarian Turkmenistan, where a peaceful transition in presidential power occurred in March 2022.

Paper abstract

This study compares the general orientation of news reports about the January 2022 conflicts in Kazakhstan. In this paper, the features of coverage of the riots in Kazakhstan by Kazakh and Russian media were analyzed using the framing study method. The purpose of the study is a comparative analysis of news materials in Kazakh and Russian languages, by authoritative Kazakhstan and Russia media about the January conflict in Kazakhstan. The object of the study was materials on the topic "riots in Kazakhstan" with the tag "riots" "protests" in the media resources "Khabar 24", "Azattyq.org" (Kazakhstan), "RIA Novosti", "Gazeta.ru" (Russia), was supposed to reveal: sources of news information and their style of broadcasting; features and differences in media coverage, the key characteristics and structure of news materials published from 4 January to 4 April 2022. These media were chosen due to the large number of informational materials coverages of the January riots in Kazakhstan. The research questions are: What are the differences in the news frames covered by Kazakh and Russian media to explain the causes of conflicts in Kazakhstan? What are the differences in the solutions offered by Kazakh and Russian electronic media for ending the identified the conflicts? What are the differences in source attributions for stories published by Kazakhstani and Russian electronic media regarding conflicts in Kazakhstan? What are the differences in the reporting style (evocative or diagnostic) employed in news stories analyzed in this study?

The study highlights an important area for scholars interested in studying the critical role of the media in conflict situations. The results show that Kazakhstani and Russian news outlets differed in their causal and solutions, content, news frames, general reporting styles source attribution