The Independent Union of Journalists of Kyrgyzstan published an appeal addressed to President Sadyr Zhaparov, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Ulukbek Maripov, Minister of Economy and Finance Akylbek Zhaparov, and Minister of Justice Asel Chynnbayeva related to the ongoing inventory of laws regulating the activities of the media and the legal status of journalists.
The document notes that when assessing the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic “On the Mass Media”, “On the Protection of the Professional Activity of Journalists”, “On Television and Radio Broadcasting” and “On the Public Broadcasting Corporation”, the experts of the working subgroup on inventory indicated the possibility of introducing only minor improvements. “These conclusions were based on the compliance of the content of these laws with the Constitution, the principles of social justice and partnership, the requirements of necessity, expediency, efficiency, and sufficiency of regulation of the subject. As well as on the absence of internal contradictions, collisions and gaps in the law, ”the authors of the appeal note.
At the same time, the media community is concerned that out of 359 laws subject to inventory for the need for amendments, laws regulating the activities of media and journalists (“On the Mass Media”, “On the Protection of the Professional Activities of Journalists”) have begun to be considered as a matter of priority. It is indicated that for these purposes, in a hurry, on September 13, 2021, the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic held a round table, as a result of which the experts hired by the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic are already suggesting to make proposals on specific wording in a very short time.
“It should be noted that the legislation regulating the activities of the media and journalists considers a complex range of relations between citizens, the media, journalists, state and municipal bodies. Any changes, even the most insignificant ones, in this area require deep analysis, broad discussion with all interested parties, ”the appeal says.
The authors of the document emphasize that to make any changes to the law, it is necessary to develop a concept to regulate specific legal relations, for example, the right to access information for journalists and the media, harmonization with other regulatory legal acts, etc.
“The absence of the concept of the draft law will contradict the norms of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic“ On the Regulations of the Housing Committee ”(parts 6 of articles 51 and 56). The work carried out at present within the framework of the inventory of legislation in the field of mass media is carried out without defining the concept of the amendments to be introduced. Based on the above, the media community considers it premature to develop proposals for amending media legislation. In this connection, we ask you to leave the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic “On the Mass Media” and “On the Protection of the Professional Activity of a Journalist” without any changes, “the representatives of the Independent Union of Journalists note.
The chairman of the Independent Union of Journalists commented on the situation to the ACCA.
“New media laws are being developed with a“ cosmic ”speed, and we, as a society, risk getting a negative result not only for the media but also for all citizens. Therefore, the Independent Union of Journalists of the Kyrgyz Republic became one of the active parties that initiated public discussions of the laws. The majority of journalists and lawyers concluded that the current laws on the media do not contradict the new Constitution. Therefore, we propose to postpone the adoption of laws and not make additions, until the media community can discuss in detail and adopt each comma in the new legislation regulating the media, ”he said.
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