INTERNEWS CENTRAL ASIA MEDIA PROGRAM USAID Cooperative Agreement Award No. 72011518-CA-00001

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT OCTOBER 1 – DECEMBER 31, 2019

Dmitri Surnin Dylan Gray Regional Director, Europe & Eurasia Senior Director of Grants and Contracts 1133 15th St. Ste. #350 PO Box 4448 Washington, D.C. 20005 Arcata, CA 95518 tel. +1 (202) 833-5740 tel. +1 (707) 826-2030 [email protected] in [email protected]

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Table of Contents Executive Summary ...... 3 Highlights/Impact ...... 3 Background/Context ...... 7 Project Activities ...... 10 Objective 1: Improve media capacity to provide balanced, informed and unbiased reporting on key policy and public interest issues ...... 10 1.1. Increase supply of fact-based, balanced information through local content ...... 10 1.1.1. Grants and technical support for quality content production Labs ...... 10 1.1.2. Inclusive Content Labs ...... 15 1.1.3. Recognizing outstanding journalism ...... 16 1.2. Strengthen professional development of media practitioners across traditional and “new” media platforms ...... 17 1.2.1. Thematic and skills-based training for media practitioners ...... 17 1.2.2. Annual Central Asia Festival “MediaCAMP Fest” ...... 22 1.3. Strengthen management and financial viability skills of independent media ...... 22 1.3.1. Professional development opportunities for media managers and sales teams ...... 22 1.3.2. Financial Future grants ...... 23 Objective 2: Increase media and information literacy among youth and adults to become critical consumers and producers of information ...... 23 2.1. Strengthen media literacy skills to improve citizens’ ability to evaluate information, critically and competently ...... 23 2.1.1. Develop online media literacy and analysis resource ...... 23 2.1.2. Support broad-based media literacy education ...... 25 2.1.3. Assess levels of media literacy, consumption, and trust ...... 30 2.2. Increase citizens’ ability to engage with and produce news and information ...... 34 2.2.1. Foster development of citizen reporting networks ...... 34 2.2.2. Build additional avenues for citizen engagement with local media ...... 37 Objective 3: Improved legal enabling environment for media ...... 42 3.1. Support efforts to improve legal and regulatory environment for media ...... 42 3.1.1. Support and improve legal monitoring, analysis, and advocacy ...... 42 3.1.2. Strengthen media industry associations for improved representation and self-regulation...... 43 3.1.3. Build the capacity of relevant government agencies and legislatures ...... 44 3.1.4. Nurturing partnerships and resource sharing ...... 45 3.2. Support independent broadcasters to advocate for and ensure their equities in the digital switchover process ...... 46 3.3 Access to public information is increased for all media and journalists ...... 47 Challenges/Lessons Learned ...... 50 Collaboration with Host Country Governments and Other Donor-Funded Projects (USG and International) ...... 52 Gender Analysis ...... 53 List of Attachments ...... 55 Annex 3. Press Clippings ...... 56 Annex 4. Public Communication Materials ...... 58 Annex 5. Key media law issues Kazakhstan during the quarter (Activity 3.1.1) ...... 62 Annex 6. Links to Asia Plus publications on labor migration under Activity 3.3 ...... 64

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Executive Summary

The Central Asia Media Program (MediaCAMP) aims to improve content quality and audience engagement, strengthen media outlet financial sustainability, increase media literacy, and strengthen the enabling environment in Central Asia. The overarching program goal is to develop a more balanced information environment in Central Asia to increase openness among youth and adults for differing ideas, opinions and perspectives and in turn increase their engagement in civic participation. The program will run from October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2023.

MediaCAMP’s activities are implemented toward meeting three objectives:

• Objective One: Improve media capacity to provide balanced, informed and unbiased reporting on key policy and public interest issues • Objective Two: Increase media and information literacy among youth and adults to become critical consumers and producers of information • Objective Three: Improved legal enabling environment for media

Highlights/Impact

Regional

• On November 28, 2019, MediaCAMP presented its Media Consumption and Media Literacy Survey to a wide range of media specialists at Media Kuryltai, one of the biggest annual media events in Almaty, generating great interest among the professional community. Preliminary analysis reveals that, as expected, TV was the main reported source of news in all three countries; surprisingly, over half of the survey participants reported they did not have access to a smartphone; and social media consumption patterns are diverse across the three countries, with WhatsApp leading in Kazakhstan, Viber in Tajikistan, and Telegram in Uzbekistan. The study results will bring rare data on local audience behavior and their media literacy levels, which will help MediaCAMP’s partners to better understand their audiences’ needs and expectations.

• Thirty media outlets in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan expressed interest in building formal cooperative links with local citizen journalists through a MediaCAMP grant program. The 10 selected partners represent a good mix in terms of their geographical representation. Each will build a network of citizen reporters, increasing local civic participation and the flow of local content and news reporting.

• For the first time since it’s re-design and re-launch in January 2019, the NewReporter.org website saw audience growth this quarter. The number of unique visitors to the site increased by 20% in October-December 2019, and the number of views grew by 26%. Additionally, New Reporter’s Facebook audience increased by 10%, also the first increase since the re- launch. The website was designed to become a popular media literacy and analysis resource for local media communities, students, and young people with an interest in media. The growing viewership and responses to its content from journalists signals progress towards achieving this goal.

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Kazakhstan

• A total of 83 young journalists and aspiring content producers completed MediaCAMP’s four-week course on reporting on social issues via YouTube and Instagram this quarter. AirAcademy, YouTube’s official partner in Kazakhstan, designed the course and conducted it for the first time in the previous quarter; from October-December 2019 the partner delivered the course to another three groups. The course has already introduced a handful of promising up-and-comers to the production market.

• 18+idea, MediaCAMP’s New Media Accelerator partner in Kazakhstan, reports success in building its audience. The outlet’s number of monthly unique visitors grew twenty times over October-December 2019, and the number of views of the website had a threefold increase over the 6-month grant period. The changes followed a series of regular consultations on building the audience with outside expert Yevgeny Kulakov, with support from MediaCAMP.

• MediaCAMP audience engagement partners report excellent results. Thanks to their MediaCAMP grant and webinars, Dara Public Foundation increased their Instagram following by nearly 70% in just 2.5 months. Petropavlovsk-based Petropavlovsk News increased their number of social media followers by 6.5% and formed a new offline community from amongst the low-income members of its audience. The group exchanges information and life hacks on saving money and low budget planning in a family. Both partners invited citizens to interact with media more, increasing their participation in civic life.

• MediaCAMP officially presented the Media Literacy Manual for university professors developed under the USAID-funded Access to Information (A2I) Program at three universities in Almaty, where the authors of the Manual teach and where they have introduced its modules into their teaching courses this fall. The meetings, which were scheduled around World Media Literacy Week (October 25 to 31), were planned in order to raise awareness among professors and students about the manual, encouraging more professors to use it and creating interest in it among students. The Kazakh- and Tajik- language versions of the manual are currently under review to be published next quarter.

• MediaCAMP subgrant partner CSO MediaNet finalized and printed 50 pilot copies of a Russian-language media literacy textbook for high school students developed by an international group of media literacy and media experts from Ukraine, Lithuania, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. MediaNet also translated the textbook into Kazakh, which is pending review by Kazakh-speaking specialists; and is currently fundraising for the next stage of the project, which would include piloting the Russian version at selected schools and updating the textbook based on feedback from the pilot schools.

• MediaCAMP in partnership with the Lithuanian Union of Journalists conducted a study tour for a delegation from Kazakhstan consisting of four journalists (3W; 1M) and four representatives of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan (2W; 2M) to Stockholm, Sweden, on the subject of courts’ communication with the media, and access to information on court activities for journalists, with the aim to build the professional capacity of Kazakhstani courts and media in interacting and building partnerships with each other. As a follow-up to the

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study tour, Internews developed a draft workplan for further collaboration with the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan to facilitate further openness of the judicial system of Kazakhstan. The Supreme Court is reviewing the proposed workplan, and its comments are pending.

• This quarter, MediaCAMP received the results of the survey of media practitioners in Kazakhstan about the key problems and challenges facing the media community, which was commissioned in Year 1. A total of 136 media professionals completed the questionnaire. MediaCAMP reviewed the report and started to prepare an adapted version to be published in the next quarter, as well as drafted a call for proposals to address some of the key issues identified by the study.

• Two subgrant projects, the finalists from the Year 1 Innovation {and Motivation} Data Lab in May 2019 continued to be implemented this quarter, yielding important results:

o CSO Transparency Kazakhstan completed their study entitled “Index of participation and influence on the legislative process.” The study analyzed the number of public comments made on open government portals in response to draft legislative bills published by various government agencies. One of the key findings of the study is that, while there are tens of thousands of draft regulatory acts being developed or reviewed by the government agencies in Kazakhstan each year (e.g. 44,880 in 2018), the influence of the public on lawmaking in Kazakhstan is limited. The study will inform future advocacy efforts under MediaCAMP. o CSO Echo completed the development of the website http://nedra.echo.kz/, which discloses information on social and infrastructure projects of subsoil resources extracting companies in the regions of Kazakhstan. This website will provide journalists and activists with a powerful tool to shed light on the social spending reports published by extracting companies, and will enable media and civil society to more effectively track this social spending, thereby holding them and the local governments accountable. This website is also a useful source for materials for local media, and will support the development of local investigative and data journalism.

Tajikistan

• Firuz Sabzaliev’s Tajik-language audiobook of fairy tales, produced under a MediaCAMP content production grant, received positive feedback, was reposted on Facebook hundreds of times, and was broadcast on Radio Vatan, which has national coverage. After seeing the demand for this type of content, Radio Vatan started producing their own Tajik-language fairy tales to continue the series—increasing the amount of locally-produced content and bringing in new audiences. Another content production grantee, Art Vision Production Studio, produced a short documentary about the ecological problems people face in the former industrial city of Shurob, which attracted a response from the local government.

• This quarter, Inclusive Content Lab grantees produced content to raise awareness about the issues faced by people with disabilities, and how they have overcome them. Some of the content, including a story about a young disabled woman who learned how to drive a car, play basketball, and sew for a living after being kept at home for 24 years due to the stigma within her community, was broadcast on local TV stations with a potential audience of up to 300,000. This type of content provides a humanized vision of people who are stigmatized 5

within their communities, helping people better understand their neighbors and encouraging them to engage in discussion of and action against wider public issues.

• CSO Khoma trained about 40 journalists at three trainings on television mastery and low- budget video production, representing a majority of the state and independent TV stations in Tajikistan. As a result, several participants from television stations, including TV Tojikiston, TV Safina, and TV Dushanbe, are producing or planning new TV programs, or made changes to existing programs, by applying knowledge acquired at the trainings. For example, a participant from TV Tojikistan is planning to launch a new TV program on consumers’ rights. Another participant produced a program on 2019’s major events in Tajikistan and the world that was broadcast in December 2019 on TV Dushanbe. One more participant improved his popular program on TV Tojikiston, “Bo Ishtiho” (Bon Appetite).

• Limu, a youth media startup that launched in April 2019 under MediaCAMP’s New Media Accelerator, actively built its social media audience this quarter with the help of online consultations from an expert in web analytics and audience analysis. The startup’s Instagram account almost doubled its followers from 845 to 1,608, and its number of Facebook followers increased by almost 30 percent, from 714 to 921.

• This quarter, project partner Vecherka (with 300-400 daily unique visitors) promoted its Alphabet of the Internet User media literacy resource, targeting mainly youth. Vecherka presented the resource at five high schools and universities in Dushanbe for a total of 1,670 students. Under another media literacy initiative, the Tajikistan Association of Critical Thinking conducted three trainings on media literacy for 60 faculty members of the National University of Tajikistan, who were encouraged to insert media literacy coursework into their classes.

Uzbekistan

• Internews prepared the first MediaCAMP activity specifically for Uzbek participants: a training on mobile journalism to be organized on January 8-11 in Almaty, Kazakhstan

• By the end of the quarter, MediaCAMP identified a small group of media literacy experts to adapt for Uzbekistan Internews’ Media Literacy Manual for university teachers produced in 2019 under the Access to Information project. Internews also contracted an independent media lawyer in Uzbekistan to monitor and analyze media developments in the country as of January 2020.

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Background/Context

Kazakhstan

• In December 2019, President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev announced that the government intends to introduce a number of reforms, including the decriminalization of libel and defamation. This is a long-awaited positive development, but local media freedom organizations consider it a half-measure. While libel and defamation would be considered administrative offences, which means that individual journalists would no longer be threatened by such charges, legal entities, including media outlets, would be vulnerable. Furthermore, slander, which is also used against journalists and media as a tool for restricting freedom of expression, remains criminalized. • The National Council of Public Trust, established in August 2019 to facilitate dialogue between the authorities and civil society of Kazakhstan, held its second session on December 20, 2019. The 44-member council, consisting of civil society representatives and only three representatives of the government, is chaired by the president, who proposed the abovementioned package of reforms at this December 20 meeting. • Harassment of journalists and obstruction of journalistic activities continued this quarter. On October 26, 2019, unknown persons held out opened umbrellas in Shymkent to prevent media representatives from taking photos and filming an individual protester. Although obstruction of journalistic activities is a criminal offense, the police failed to prosecute those responsible. • During MediaKuryltai-2019, a major media conference held in November 2019 in Almaty, the Executive Director of the National Association of TV and Radio Broadcasters of Kazakhstan, Ms. Sholpan Zhaksybaeva, stated that the Kazakhteleradio national TV and radio communications operator had embezzled public funds and violated the constitutional right of citizens of Kazakhstan to access information. According to Ms. Zhaksybaeva, private channels are being pushed off the air, while the government, through Kazakhteleradio, uses public funds to support duplicate broadcasting of state channels. As a result, TV viewers in Kazakhstan see two versions of the same state TV channels, in standard and HD formats. Thus, using public money, the government subsidizes state TV channels, which already enjoy state funding, during the digital transition process, while private TV stations are treated differently as they have to pay their way into national multiplexes using their own funds, and naturally opt to broadcast through local multiplexes instead where the entry costs are lower. Kazakhteleradio’s tariff-setting policy for entering digital multiplexes itself has also been subject to criticism for lack of transparency.

Tajikistan • On November 6, 2019, according to the National Security Committee of Tajikistan, a group of Islamic State (IS) extremists attacked a border post on the Tajik-Uzbek border, southwest of Dushanbe, resulting in 17 casualties among the attackers and Tajik border guards. Immediately after the attack, the Ministry of Internal Affairs released graphic images from the crime scene showing destroyed vehicles and dead bodies of the attackers. The images went viral on social media and triggered outrage and doubt about the integrity of the official statement. The Ministry removed the images, but bloggers and journalists were able to retrieve them and reveal more details, leading to more questions about official reports of the incident. The National Security Committee’s follow-up report, which claimed that not only 7

men but also women and children were involved in the attack, made the incident even more controversial. MediaCAMP published two articles on Newreporter.org about the use of graphic images in media publications and how local media reports on emergency situations, concluding that some local media unintentionally create more rumors in their coverage of emergency situations by providing unreliable or ambiguous information. • Asia Plus Media Holding, one of Tajikistan’s leading independent media outlets, was still blocked by an unidentified entity in the reporting quarter, though most experts believe that the government is responsible. Eurasianet.org states that the “censorship [of Asia Plus] has taken a more technological track.” In its extensive article about the blocking of the Asia Plus website in Tajikistan, the author explains how one of the few remaining independent media outlets in the country has been blocked on and off since 2018, but has persevered and developed new approaches through social media to keep its audience. • Following multiple calls from the international community, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan partially restored the accreditation of seven out of nine Radio Ozodi (RFE/RL) journalists whose work credentials were due to expire on November 1. Of the two whose accreditations were not renewed, one was the acting bureau chief. Tajik authorities often use accreditation to threaten or punish journalists by revoking already-granted accreditations from correspondents of foreign media, or refusing to grant accreditation to those that criticize, or have previously criticized, the Tajik government. • Amid the growing censorship of independent media, “Takhti Qubod” (The Throne of Qubod), a governmental newspaper in the south of Tajikistan, was released with a blank front page on December 20, 2019. This was an unexpected protest by the paper’s editor, Adolat Saifulloeva, who wanted to draw attention to the lack of access to objective information and state officials’ refusal to cooperate with journalists in her district, “Qubodiyon.” According to Ms. Saifulloeva, in one year not one local official had provided any information to the newspaper. This was the first time in Tajikistan that an official governmental newspaper was released with a blank front page as a protest. • In December, the National Bank of Trajikistan introduced a new mechanism for money wiring services like MoneyGram, Contact, Western Union, and Zolotaya Korona, effectively giving the government more control over the remittances sent by labor migrants to Tajikistan. According to a survey conducted by JICA Research Institute (“The Impact of Migration and Remittances on Labor Supply in Tajikistan”), remittances sent to Tajikistan constitute almost 40% of its GDP. The introduction of the new system, the National Processing Center, caused some panic and chaos in the market for several weeks, which hindered the money wiring process. The Russian company “Zolotaya Korona,” which controlled more than 80% of the market in Tajikistan, did not join the new National Processing Center and so is not currently working in the country. However, people have found other ways of transferring money – bank transfers, money wallets, etc. • Despite multiple meetings between state officials of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan—including meetings of high-ranking officials—clashes on the border of the two countries continue. Six Kyrgyz and three Tajik nationals were wounded in the most recent conflict on December 18, 2019. The armed clashes usually arise due to unresolved border demarcation issues.

Uzbekistan • On October 5, the Agency for Information and Mass Communications (AIMC) published a new draft law “On Broadcasting.” In a legal review of the document, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media recommended that the regulations regarding the 8

status of public broadcasting organizations should be specified, the switch from state to public service broadcasting should be completed, unnecessary restrictions imposed on foreign broadcasters should be eliminated, and the independence and functionality of the regulatory body should be ensured. This would be the country’s first Law on Broadcasting, as it has been regulated by the Law on Mass Media and other legislative documents. • On October 21, the AIMC published a draft government decree on amendments and additions to the 2018 Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers “On Measures to Improve Security on the Internet.” According to the document, media representatives, including bloggers and owners of social media accounts, will be required to remove posts or comments identified as hate speech or extremist within 24 hours of receiving a warning from the AIMC. In case of non-compliance, the AIMC would block the user’s access to the platform. Although there are similar regulations of extremism and hate speech content in many countries, there is always a risk that it could be used as a means of pressure and censorship. Uzbek media owners and bloggers have publicly expressed their concerns about being made responsible for comments published on their pages. • On November 27, the Prosecutor-General's Office decided not to prosecute Tashkent’s mayor, Jahongir Ortiqkhojaev, after he threatened to “destroy” journalists and “turn them into gays” in an audio recording of an August 2019 conversation with three journalists from Kun.uz online news portal, which was leaked anonymously on November 16. The Office stated that, while the mayor had violated moral and ethical rules, his threats and insults were of a general nature and not addressed to specific individuals. Despite the violence of the words and multiple reactions to them in the country, including from the AIMC, the editorial board of Kun.uz stated that it had no complaints against the mayor and had settled the matter peacefully with him. • On December 13, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a general decree on strengthening public control and improving legal culture in society, which included several media-related tasks for the Agency for Information and Mass Communications, including: o Amend the laws such that libel and insult are no longer punishable by imprisonment; o Prepare a draft decision of the Supreme Court on access of journalists and citizens to open trials and organization of effective work of courts’ press departments; o Draft a government decree aimed at improving and modernizing state print media; o Develop a draft law “On Broadcasting” and prepare amendments to the law “On Mass Media” in order to simplify the licensing process for television and radio broadcasting stations, as well as strengthen the system for protecting journalists from illegal actions or decisions by state bodies and officials; and o Develop additional measures to promote the openness of the activities of all state bodies and their interaction with the media. • On December 21, the AIMC made an official statement indicating that restrictions on foreign news sites and human rights web resources have been lifted in the country. Internews noted that, since that period, its websites internews.org, internews.kz, and newreporter.org, which used to be regularly blocked, have become accessible at all times and through all internet service providers. • On December 22, Uzbekistan held parliamentary elections to elect deputies to the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament) and deputies to the local Kengashes (Councils) of people's deputies. Preliminary conclusions from the OSCE International Election Observation Mission indicated that the elections took place under improved legislation and with greater tolerance of independent voices but did not yet demonstrate

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genuine competition and full respect of election day procedures. Below are some key elements from the report related to the role of media: o The sum set and provided by the Central Election Commission for candidates was overall insufficient for candidates to pay for additional visibility beyond their free coverage in the media; o On state TV and radio and in private media, the volume of campaign coverage in news and discussion programs was also low; o For the first time in Uzbekistan, a total of 51 debates were organized between the representatives of the five political parties (25 by state TV and 26 by the National Association of Electronic Mass Media), with more than half broadcast live; and o Gender equality was a marginal campaign topic and 99% of coverage on monitored media was concentrated on male candidates. • In addition, Internews noted very limited coverage of the election campaign in online and social media.

Project Activities

Objective 1: Improve media capacity to provide balanced, informed and unbiased reporting on key policy and public interest issues

To stimulate production of engaging local content that involves innovative formats, promotes inclusion, and encourages collaboration, MediaCAMP disbursed 17 Content Production Grants across Kazakhstan (9 grants) and Tajikistan (8 grants) in Year 1, and funded five projects on environmental issues and activism in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan following the Inclusive Content Lab. This quarter, the grantees continued their work, and most wrapped up their projects. MediaCAMP subgrantee partners conducted thematic and skills-based trainings this quarter including AirAcademy’s course on Video-Blogging on Social Issues in Kazakhtan and Khoma’s Television Mastery training and Small Budget Video Production trainings for TV and online platforms in Tajikistan. MediaCAMP has also started to prepare training activities for Uzbek media by identifying trainers, clarifying the needs of targeted outlets, and building its own capacity to organize seminars outside the country. The New Media Accelerator continued to support two new online media, 18+idea in Kazakhstan and Limu.tj in Tajikistan. Subgrantee Imkon Consulting in Tajikistan conducted training and consultations to help media managers build their management skills and assess the business needs of several media outlets.

1.1. Increase supply of fact-based, balanced information through local content

1.1.1. Grants and technical support for quality content production Labs

Kazakhstan

Two production grant projects from Year 1 continued this quarter: “Sources,” led by Iliya Barahovsky from the Semey branch (East Kazakhstan) of the Youth Information Service of Kazakhstan (YISK), and “Tihyi Svet” by documentary filmmaker Yekaterina Suvorova with her own production studio Tihy Svet (Almaty).

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Iliya Barahovsky produced six multimedia pieces with animation on local corruption schemes in areas such as privatization, police arrests, and state procurement, which have reached 13,700 views through Tilda alone. The project also produced and published 10 video tutorials on the principles of investigative journalism, reaching 5,726 people via YouTube and Facebook; seven face-to-face tutorials for 88 journalists, bloggers, and local civic activists to raise awareness about the project and investigative journalism; one Facebook livestream for a wider audience of 700 people from across Kazakhstan’s scattered regional centers; and five local journalists and bloggers who expressed serious interest in the production of similar content addressing local corruption issues engaged via a WhatsApp group. Yekaterina Suvorova, an award-winning local filmmaker from Almaty, commissioned a full production team, created a small production company Tihy Svet, and acquired an upgraded camera (through the MediaCAMP Innovation Fund). Yekaterina is producing a 75-minute documentary “One-year Chronicles” on a youth civic movement that promotes basic human rights and freedoms in post-Nazarbaev Kazakhstan. The filming began a year before the author applied for the MediaCAMP grant but was stuck for limited technical and human capacities. The production encountered many challenges, including being forbidden to film during protests and detained by police. MediaCAMP helped the crew apply for press cards to avoid detentions. In June, before filming began, the grantee applied for her film to show at the Baltic “Thanks to the grant, we were able to improve the Sea Forum for Documentaries. The work with sound and technology. Thanks to the grant, application was accepted, a great we now have a cameraman, sound engineer, recognition, meaning a guaranteed administrator, consulting scriptwriter. In general, there is an incredibly big difference between how I audience and platform for advertising tried my best to record events on my own, and how we and further distribution of the work. can sit and discuss in a team, argue, respond in time and be technically prepared for different situations.” - Shooting of the documentary is complete --Yekaterina Suvorova, documentary filmmaker, Year and a 20-minute draft version of the film 1 Content Production Grant recipient is available here. Video editing work will begin in January. The grant is set to end in February 2020.

Two more Year 1 projects, “QOS Live” by Nur-Sultan-based Ainur Koskina and “Inclusion” by Almaty-based Center for Social Inclusive Programs, completed in the reporting period with final results coming in. Highlights from “QOS Live” include over 1 million audience reach of the produced content via Facebook and over 80 thousand people via YouTube and 60 thousand via Instagram. In December 2019, Ainur received a thank you letter from the President of Kazakhstan Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev for “the role in local media development and raising awareness on the country’s reforms”. Final results will be reported in the next quarter.

Year 2 Content Production Grant activities started with the launch of the competition among local journalists and content producers on October 18. As in Year 1, the purpose of the competition is to support the production of high-quality Russian- or Kazakh-language television programs, special reports, documentaries, longreads, projects on social media, web docs, web series, multimedia stories, journalistic investigations, etc. Applicants were free to choose their own themes and the competition was open to television channels, online media, production studios, independent producers, authors and bloggers. Selection criteria include: the acuteness of the thematic focus, innovative and reasonable format, previous experience, dissemination

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strategy, and budget and timing feasibility. The details of the selection progress are provided in the following table:

Date Activity Comments October 18, 2019 Local Content Production Announcement published on internews.kz Grants announced November 15, 2019 (deadline) 264 applications received 195 in Russian and 69 in Kazakh November 20, 2019 Internews’ internal The Committee made a preliminary selection of selection committee applications that met basic application expectations: 44 formed from amongst the applicants in Russian and 24 in Kazakh made it to the organization’s in-house next round media experts November 23, 2019 Two in-country selection One in Russian: 5 jury members (one in-house expert) juries convened from One in Kazakh: 5 jury members amongst third-party media experts, CEOs, and editors November 25, 2019 Shortlist results announced Announcement published on internews.kz November 28, 2019 Pitching round in Russian The two-day round where shortlisted applicants pitched started their project ideas in person (Almaty) and online (Skype) November 29, 2019 Pitching round in Kazakh In Almaty, face-to-face and online via Skype January 16, 2019 Final selection by the juries UPCOMING

The total number of applications for the competition was about the same in Year 2 (264) as in Year 1 (268). Notably, the number of Kazakh language applications increased from 48 to 69. The project coordinators report improvement in quality of ideas and projects in both languages, and that the proposed formats were more diverse. For example, strong applications included a web series; podcasts and video podcasts; YouTube, Instagram, and Telegram channels; a data journalism project; explanatory journalism; and quiz format content. Additionally, many applications had strong audience engagement strategies.

The final selection will take place in January 2020.

Tajikistan

This period, Internews continued working with the eight sub-grantees from the first round of content production grants. Five of the partners completed their projects, and three more will complete production in the coming months.

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The decision to open calls not only to Internews’ traditional partners—media outlets—but also to production studios and independent specialists, brought in new ideas for content production and distribution. For example, Firuz Sabzaliev, a well-known Tajik filmmaker, recruited more than 20 actors to narrate 15 fairytales in five Tajik dialects. The release of the audiobook with fairytales received positive feedback, was reposted on Facebook hundreds of times, and was broadcast on Radio Vatan, which has national coverage. Filmmaker Firuz Sabzaliev with his After airing all of the MediaCAMP-supported fairytales, daughter listening to fairytales in Tajik. Radio Vatan started narrating new fairytales in Tajik Photo: Internews language and broadcasting them in the evening.

Another example is the team of Art Vision production “Producing this audiobook was an studio, led by Diloshub Orifzoda, a well-known local excellent idea. We aired all of the filmmaker. This team produced a 34-minute fairytales in the evenings and when documentary about the life of people in Shurob, a we finished, we realized that we can former industrial town in Sughd region that represents narrate our own fairytales, using the many other similar towns in Tajikistan with its collection of old Tajik fairytales.” – ecological problems, a legacy of the Soviet Union. This Program Director of Radio Vatan, town’s major problem is a lack of water. After the public Subhon Jalilov screening of the documentary in Khujand on December 18, the local government of Sughd region requested a copy of the film and set a meeting with Mr. Orifzoda, the film’s producer and director. After the meeting, the governor of Sughd region made a special trip to Shurob town to meet its residents, and promised to take measures to solve their problems.

Asia Plus’ project – a series of short videos for social media platforms about successful women in Tajikistan, called “What makes you strong, sister?” – released its first interview on the Asia Plus YouTube channel in November 2019 and widely distributed it through social media. This has become a new platform for Asia Plus to show the achievements of successful women in Tajikistan. The first four interviews were viewed on YouTube Screenshot of the first video interview within more than 13,000 times in total (the average, around the project “What makes you strong, sister?” – 3,200 views per video, is a good number for the conducted with Olga Tutubalina, a prominent outlet). journalist in Tajikistan.

For an overview of major production outputs and progress to date, see Figure 1 on the next page.

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15 audio recordings of Tajik fairy 2 public screenings for about 100 More than 16,000 tales on SoundCloud, 7 people in Dushanbe and Khujand, YouTube views Fairy YouTube, FB page about production 5,300 views of publications about the audiobook, ART articles Tales TASWIR Shurob – process, 3 publications in media, national broadcast of fairy tales by VISION Radio Vatan, posts on YoutuTube Audiobook documentary positive reaction of local government.

1 documentary film, FB, Instagram, 10 video series Documentary Video series More than YouTube, 1 long-read, 1 public TV 1,159 VECHER accompanied by trailers on 200,000 views screening, Film Festival Didor, 2 about vulnerable MAVJI about Roma YouTube views KA YouTube, broadcast on TV articles Vecherka and women OZOD people (Luli) Mavji Ozod with 350,000 YouTube views Newreporter.org, broadcast on potential viewers national TV Jahonnamo Video interviews Stories from Asia 4 interviews on Asia More than 12 stories about life of TV Diyor with successful Plus website, YouTube Up to 400 remote regions Plus 13,000 views people in remote regions women Channel, and Facebook YouTube views with a focus on women, per video Facebook page, publications Video series on Sugdnews.com Educational Content TV about new Usmon Qurghon about ethnic technolgoies ov teppa minorities 6 stories about ethnic minorities in Khatlon Region of 15 video lessons about new technologies in Tajik Tajikistan, Youtube, broadcast on regional TV Qurghonteppa language, 1 Youtube Channel Metro-TV, 1 story on with potential audience of 600,000 people Media.tj

Figure 1: Overview of major production outputs and progress to date in Tajikistan

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1.1.2. Inclusive Content Labs

Kazakhstan The Inclusive Content Lab is a three-day annual educational event for journalists, within the framework of which the participants must develop and then refine ideas for compelling media content or an awareness-raising campaign on a certain pressing issue related to a specific theme. Prior to each Lab, MediaCAMP conducts a survey among the local expert community to identify the focus. In November 2019, Internews released and disseminated a questionnaire among 30 local experts: heads of public organizations, sociologists, political scientists, chief editors of media, etc. The experts were asked to select the five most acute topics among the following preliminary list: women's rights, youth rights, rights of people with disabilities, rights of ethnic minorities, rights of religious minorities, rights of sexual minorities, social entrepreneurship, the environment, education, healthcare, affordable housing, unemployment. Seventeen experts completed the questionnaire. The environment emerged first yet again, the second time in a row (the Year 1 topic was the environment), thus MediaCAMP selected the second most mentioned topic, education.

On December 5, MediaCAMP released an announcement inviting partners with experience in conducting educational events to apply for a grant to host the 2020 Inclusive Content Lab in April. Four organizations submitted applications, two in Russian and two in Kazakh, all of good quality. MediaCAMP will select the winner in the next quarter, and under the MediaCAMP team’s guidance, the winner will develop a three-day event agenda; select the lab mentors and trainers; select and convene through an open competition 25 participants from across Kazakhstan; and conduct the Lab on education and a contest for the best media campaign among the participants. Finalists will be given the opportunity to receive a grant for the implementation of their campaign.

Content production under the Year 1 grants is ongoing. MediaCAMP is supporting five projects on environmental issues and activism which emerged as part of the Inclusive Content Lab held in June 2019. One grantee withdrew their application due to time constraints, and another has been postponed until January 2020. The other three projects are in progress and should be complete by March 2020.

Tajikistan In July 2019, more than 20 journalists, youth activists, civil society activists, and bloggers representing all regions of the country attended an Inclusive Content Lab on Youth Activism organized by MediaCAMP and sub-grantee CSO Fidokor. The participants grouped into nine teams and developed their media projects to address social issues among youth with support from five expert trainers. The four best projects from the Lab were selected for further funding: CSO “Savob,” CSO “Durnamo,” CSO “Uzbeklar Jamiyati,” and CSO “Marifatnoki.” During the reporting period the partners worked on raising awareness on issues faced by people with disabilities, posting stories on YouTube and Facebook.

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CSO “Uzbeklar Jamiyati” shared three stories on the Facebook page “A choice to be among people” and generated more than 10,000 views. The author of the project aimed to focus on people with special needs who achieved something in their life despite their physical condition and share the story of their success. One piece tells the story of a young disabled girl who was kept at home for 24 years

because of a stigma within her community. Mashkhura Hamroboeva shared her story with However, when she started socializing, she learned CSO Uzbeklar Jamiyati, which was posted on to drive a car, play basketball, and sew for a living. Facebook (screenshot) and aired on TV Tanin in The video story reached more than 1,000 views on Khujand. Facebook. It was also broadcast on TV Tanin in Khujand, Sughd Region, with a potential audience of 300,000.

CSO “Savob” worked with a regional state TV station, TV Badakhshon, and produced two stories about people with disabilities in a remote region of Tajikistan. One of the video reports, which was also posted on YouTube, told the story of a man who became disabled as a result of a car accident but didn’t lose hope and after years of rehabilitation launched his own business – a small barber shop in his village. The other report tells the story of a young woman who is making traditional jewelry and ornaments despite her physical disability. Both stories were aired on TV Badakhshon, which broadcasts nationally through a digital multiplex.

CSO “Durnamo” reached 27,000 views with its project launched on Facebook, “The World of Silence,” which shared four stories of people with impaired hearing. One story about a young man who likes sports and produces customized soap reached more than 10,000 views.

CSO Martifatnoki produced five video stories about successful women in Rasht Valley. The team posted them on YouTube, but was not successful in gaining views. This is probably related to the fact that the majority of people in Tajikistan access the internet through mobile phones: while mobile operators are trying to offer plans that have no limit on the use of social networks, including video, traffic for YouTube is limited and requires good internet. The MediaCAMP team is recommending that they post their videos on Facebook to get more audience traffic.

On December 10, MediaCAMP announced a call for applications to conduct the Year 2 Lab. Next quarter the project will launch an online survey among 40-50 local journalists and experts in different fields to select the theme.

1.1.3. Recognizing outstanding journalism

No work was conducted under this activity in the reporting period. The competition will begin in May 2020.

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1.2. Strengthen professional development of media practitioners across traditional and “new” media platforms

1.2.1. Thematic and skills-based training for media practitioners

Media Trainings

Kazakhstan

This quarter, MediaCAMP partner AirAcademy held three consecutive courses of video- blogging on social issues on YouTube and Instagram in Almaty. A total of 83 young journalists and aspiring content producers took part (one-third were under 25 years of age; 35M, 48W). Each course was a four-week, eight-module training on reporting on social issues through YouTube and Instagram, delivered in two parallel modes: face-to-face and online. Some participants attended in-person, while those located elsewhere in the country attended live online. The participants will be invited (at no fee) for a masterclass by Azamat Dulatov1 in January 2020, a Kazakh documentary maker and videographer after all four waves of the course are complete.

AirAcademy’s four courses (the first was conducted in the previous quarter) surfaced four young producers who have launched projects with excellent potential to attract audiences and continue in the long term: Aigerim Yermekbai’s legal consultations channel; MPS EDU’s channel on mucopolysaccharidosis; Kun.kz’s vlog on leading an environmentally friendly life; and Mr. Health’s healthy lifestyle channel.

In November, MediaCAMP released two announcements to launch the selection process for partners to conduct trainings in Year 2: interviewing skills and basic journalism skills for young journalists. The topics were selected following many meetings with professionals in the field. Both training programs will take place in Kazakh and Russian, in a full-time, in-person format. Media organizations with at least one year of experience in the field of media education were eligible to apply. The last day for applications was December 20, 2019. Three organizations applied to administer interviewing skills training and five – basic journalism skills. The organizations will be selected next quarter but initial analysis of the applications showed that interviewing skills applications are weak in terms of proposed agenda, choice of topics, and feasibility of practical work. However, the basic journalism skills applicants demonstrated good understanding of the goals of the training and professionally designed training programs.

Tajikistan

This quarter, MediaCAMP partner CSO Khoma conducted its second training on Television Mastery (the first was conducted in September) and two trainings on Small Budget Video Production for TV and online platforms. The training on television mastery was held in Khujand

1 Azamat Dulatov will replace Kanat Beisekeev, who was originally announced as the masterclass leader. Mr. Beisekeev has left the country for professional reasons. 17

(Sughd Region) from October 7-12 in the premises of the regional state television station TV Sughd for 12 journalists and cameramen (11M;1W).

Khoma selected eight participants through an open call, and TV Sughd (the event host) nominated four participants from among its staff. The participants represented six independent media – TV Diyor, TV Isfara, TV Mastchoh, TV Panjakent, TV Somon, and News Agency Sughd News – and one state television station – TV Sughd. During this hands-on training, the participants learned the basics of video shooting, recording, and editing video materials. The participants produced five Television mastery trainer Marham Kholov (center) video stories as part of the training exercise in demonstrates video editing software. Photo: CSO real conditions and gave each other feedback. Khoma.

Khoma organized two trainings on video production for TV and online platforms, one in Dushanbe from November 25 – 29 and one in Khujand from December 16-20 at TV Sughd. In total, 27 journalists (15M;12W) participated in the trainings, representing 22 media outlets, mostly private and state TV stations from all regions of Tajikistan. The aim of these trainings was to train media specialists in producing high-quality video products with limited resources. A trainer from Kyrgyzstan, Ibragim Khasan-Akhunov, and two local trainers, Izzatmand Salomov and Khudoyor Barkhonov, shared their knowledge on television genres, video content formats, interview techniques, shooting on professional cameras and smartphones, video editing, and data visualization.

Training participants produced mock talk-shows at practical sessions where they applied their new knowledge such as how to prepare the studio, conduct relevant interviews and polls, and involve experts. The three mock talk-shows discussed the following topics: protection of animals and conditions at the city zoo in Khujand; Tajik youth’s lack of interest in reading books; and the positive and negatives sides of new technologies.

According to questionnaires filled out by attendees of all Training participants conduct a mock talk- three trainings, the vast majority of the participants had show at a TV Sughd studio. Photo: CSO never attended professional trainings on video Khoma. production. More than 60% of the Video Production training participants indicated that they had never used the visualization and multimedia tools in their work that were demonstrated during the training sessions. Khoma identified that several participants from television stations, including TV Tojikiston, TV Safina, and TV Dushanbe produced new TV programs or made changes to existing programs by applying the acquired knowledge at the trainings, which had a positive impact on the quality of the content.

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Supplemental Webinar on Search Engine Optimization

On December 6, 2019, MediaCAMP conducted a webinar on search engine optimization (SEO) beyond the planned activities, led by Zebo Tadjibaeva, former Executive Director of Asia-Plus Media Holding and founder of the newly-launched website www.your.tj The webinar was attended by 25 people (11M;14W). Ms. Tadjibaeva demonstrated the principles and uses of SEO by reviewing Vecherka’s website. After the webinar, Ms. Tadjibaeva, along with MediaCAMP’s New Media Specialist Rustam Gulov, agreed to provide more recommendations on how to increase the audience of Vecherka through SEO.

Uzbekistan

This quarter, MediaCAMP started to prepare training activities for Uzbek media by identifying possible trainers, clarifying the specific needs of targeted outlets, and building its own capacity to organize seminars outside the country. In December the project launched preparations for the first practical seminar on mobile journalism for journalists and bloggers. MediaCAMP announced the event on its online platforms, selected 14 participants, including four from the regions of Uzbekistan, out of over 60 applications, and hired a trainer. The event is planned for January 8-11, 2020 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

At the request of the National Association of Electronic Mass Media (NAESMI), Internews started to prepare for a training on televised political debates in the context of the Uzbek parliamentary elections, but the activity was canceled at the last minute by the NAESMI, which indicated that the Association’s journalists were too busy.

New Media Accelerator On November 13, MediaCAMP announced the regional competition to identify the administrator for Year 2’s New Media Accelerator School. Four companies applied: two from Kazakhstan and two from Tajikistan. All applications are reported to be in line with the terms of the competition with enough detail for an independent jury to decide on the winner in the next quarter. The jury will be regional too, with external experts from both Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. On December 4, MediaCAMP announced the call for applications from new media start-ups and outlets to take part in the school planned for April 2020. The application deadline is January 20, 2020; selection will be completed in the next quarter.

Kazakhstan

In October-December 2019, the 18+idea team produced nearly 70% of the content planned under their grant and reached the 3,000 view mark per article on average compared to 1,400 views per article on average at the start of the grant period. The grantee also built new partnerships, with its network now including 10 civil society groups and NGOs. The partner has also formed a network of five correspondents based across the country for greater coverage of regional issues. The outlet reached 3,209 unique users per month in December (the end of the

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grant period), an increase of 2,039% from its 150 users at the beginning of the grant project in July 2019.

In November 2019, MediaCAMP organized a conference call for the team with the editor of the Belarus-based Citydog.by, Yasei Karalevich, who talked to the team about the stages of outlet development, challenges of finding and engaging audience, and the outlet’s current monetization model.

MediaCAMP also recommended a Russian expert in audience analytics, Evgeny Kulakov, to consult on the development of the project and its financial stability. The outlet held four consultation conference calls with Evgeny, which they paid for using funds from their grant. During the first two consultations, the expert conducted a business interview with the 18+idea founders to dig into the current state of affairs with the project, the key personnel’s competency levels, and the outlet’s vision and needs. He made a number of recommendations on improving the usability of the website and developing work for the target audience. As a result, the editors changed the names of the headings and the design of the front page, adding additional blocks to show the presentation of materials on the site. They also modified the online subscription model.

During the other two consultations, the team and the mentor analyzed the changes made and worked out the content plan, as well as packaged popular topics into project concepts that can later be used for commercialization to increase the outlet’s financial sustainability. They also reviewed a native advertising project proposal that the editors had recently submitted. In addition, the team increased the frequency of publications on the site and posts on social networks according to the mentor’s recommendations. Additionally, they are planning to launch a Kazakh-language edition.

Thanks to these consultations, the development of the editorial content cycle improved as reflected in the following outputs table:

Workplan targets Achieved Content Production 30 video 30 36 animation video 36 30 articles in Kazakh 30 30 infographics 30 Audience 10 bloggers 3 5,000 views per article 3,032 Finance 2 consultations on Business and Media 4 10 new partners 10 10 new local authors 5

The outlet reports some small-scale but visible impact: • Following the outlet’s article on the participatory budget that brought high engagement among the audience, changes were made to the state affordable housing program. While it is

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unclear if the changes were a direct result of the article, the outlet’s coverage of the issue heightened the pressure on officials. • Following the article about common public areas for youth in Zhambyl Public Library in Taraz, the outlet’s followers began using the library space as an urban youth networking and discussion platform.

After a series of articles on inclusion, one of the outlet’s readers, a young woman with special needs, learned to use social media marketing tools and launched a social media account on environmental issues. The editors provide her with advisory support.

Tajikistan

In Year 2, Internews continued working with Limu Media, led by Lailo Tagaeva, Director of “Purnur” Advertising Company. As of December 2019, Limu is contracting 14 young authors who contribute as freelancers writing articles on such issues as business development, technologies, celebrities, and entertainment. The number of unique visitors per day remains the same as or less than in September (about 300-400), due to irregular publications, which is related to the quality of articles by freelancers. However, Limu is actively building its audience through Facebook, “Today we have content only in Russian where their number of followers increased by 29% from but to increase the audience we will 714 to 921, and Instagram – by 90.3% from 845 to 1,608 develop content in Tajik language,” - Lailo followers during the reporting period. Tagaeva, Founder of Limu. Photo: Limu

Media. Internews continued developing the capacity of Limu and in October 2019 brought in Evgeny Kulakov, the founder of the analytics company Media Toolbox and expert in web analytics and audience analysis, to provide online consultations for the previous Editor-in-Chief of Limu, Temir Temirkhanov, and its new Editor-in-Chief, Shahzoda Ikromi. Mr. Kulakov focused his consultations on the development strategy of Limu and its content production.

The new competition for Year 2 was announced in December 2019. The selection of the future partner under this activity is planned for January 2020.

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1.2.2. Annual Central Asia Festival “MediaCAMP Fest”

No work was conducted under this activity in the reporting period.

1.3. Strengthen management and financial viability skills of independent media

1.3.1. Professional development opportunities for media managers and sales teams

Kazakhstan No work was conducted under this activity in Kazakhstan in the reporting period.

Tajikistan MediaCAMP continued its work with Imkon Consulting this quarter to help media managers become more business-oriented. The issue of sustainability for independent media is directly linked to inability of top and middle managers to run their businesses as real business people. Top and middle managers focus primarily on the editorial part of their work and do not pay enough attention to the management side. There are few media managers who focus on the profitability of their media and try to keep up with market trends.

From November 25-27, 2019, Imkon Consulting conducted a three-day training for 9 (4W;5M) top and middle media managers of Vecherka newspaper, Asia-Plus Media Group, Oila Media Company, TV Regar, Tamoshow Media Company, Information Agency Sughd News, Iron King (YouTube channel), Radio Diyor, and Your.tj online media. This was the second training of the series aiming at building the capacity of the participants in terms of management and leadership. Imkon Consulting introduced the participants to various leadership styles and resource management tools. The training included the following activities: lectures, group work, brainstorming, motivational exercises, and practical sessions. According to the post-training questionnaires, 7 out of 9 participants confirmed that the training was useful and they acquired practical skills that will be applied at their work.

As part of the project, Imkon Consulting conducted business diagnostics at four companies whose staff participated in MediaCAMP trainings: Vecherka newspaper, Asia-Plus Media Group, Oila Media Company, and Limu.tj. Each company has individual difficulties as well as some common ones related to the media industry. Among the major challenges for these companies are: lack of clear, measurable goals and objectives for the development of the company (vision and strategy); lack of qualified personnel; lack of content monetization skills; weak understanding of consumer needs; and low level of information flows within companies. Internews will take into consideration all the recommendations during future assistance to these media outlets.

Uzbekistan MediaCAMP started to prepare training activities for Uzbek media this quarter by identifying possible trainers, clarifying the specific needs of targeted outlets, and building its own capacity to organize seminars outside the country.

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1.3.2. Financial Future grants

No work was conducted under this activity in the reporting period.

Objective 2: Increase media and information literacy among youth and adults to become critical consumers and producers of information

MediaCAMP continues to build out Internews’ NewReporter.org website as a key resource for media literacy information in Russian, Kazakh, and Tajik, and this quarter experienced its first audience growth since its relaunch, signaling increased interest and investment in the new media literacy and media critique materials. MediaCAMP officially presented the Media Literacy Manual for university professors developed under the USAID-funded Access to Information (A2I) Program, and the first drafts of translations into Kazakh and Tajik are under editorial review; preparations are being made for an Uzbek adaptation as well. In Tajikistan MediaCAMP’s media literacy project grantees continued conducting trainings and designing educational and skill-building websites and applications, and in Kazakhstan the second round of grantees has been preliminarily selected. MediaCAMP is currently reviewing the full results and findings of the Media Consumption and Media Literacy Survey carried out in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in September 2019. The second round of citizen reporting network grantees has been selected to increase coverage from the regions and engage citizens in the news, and audience engagement initiatives launched by MediaCAMP subgrantees have aimed at expanding audiences online and via social media; raising awareness about relevant issues; holding in-person events to bring communities together; and involving youth and international experts in addressing common challenges.

2.1. Strengthen media literacy skills to improve citizens’ ability to evaluate information, critically and competently

2.1.1. Develop online media literacy and analysis resource

For the first time since its re-design and re-launch in January 2019, the NewReporter.org website, a key MediaCAMP resource for media analysis and media literacy, saw growth in its audience this reporting quarter. From July-September 2019 the site had 110,851 unique visitors, and in October-December there were 132,594 (+20%); the number of views grew from 169,762 to 214,165 (+26%). On Facebook the number of followers increased by 10% which is also the first ever quarterly growth since the re-launch. The audience growth follows the steady development of the website’s Media Critics content. From October-December, the Media Critics section published 36 analytical pieces examining TV and online news content in Russian, 26 in Kazakh, and 5 in Tajik, working to build the standards of journalism in the region and increase discussion about what makes quality, ethical journalism.

The most popular story of the quarter was an overview of the local media coverage of the annual international campaign 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which kicked off on November 25. The author, the outlet’s leading writer and critic Margarita Bocharova, made a detailed analysis of articles published by two prominent online outlets, tengrinews.kz and zakon.kz, which had reported on cases of sexual violence against women in Kazakhstan. Ms. Bocharova considered language, style, tone, the use of pictures, headlines, and quotes in her

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analysis to reveal sensationalism and numerous use of gender insensitive language. The article generated 4,500 views on the website and 32 comments on the outlet’s Facebook page. Journalist Polina Shimanskaya further shared the article to a closed Facebook platform for professional journalists with nearly 3,000 members, and MediaCAMP also shared the article on the local Rasonasozon Facebook group for Tajikistan-based journalists.

The most popular piece on the resource’s Facebook page was another media critic’s story, which reached 12,419 people. In terms of engagement the article also brought in good numbers: 218 reactions (likes, comments, shares), including 36 comments. In the article, Sergey Kim gave his editorial opinion on Tengri.tv’s video report from a remote village located on the border with China. The report was chosen for its wide reach, sociopolitical importance, and unique video news format. Mr. Kim criticized its lack of focus and the somewhat remote link between its headline and the actual content. The report generated a good discussion on Facebook with journalists acknowledging the superficial nature of the Tengri TV report.

A new critic also joined the team: Aliya Nagornyuk, who used to work with NewReporter.org on a freelance basis, has now been hired as a permanent author to specialize on issues of language and style in Russian-language media content. The team now includes 15 media critics (11 in Kazakhstan, three in Tajikistan, and one in Uzbekistan).

The website released the Media Literacy Manual produced by Internews under the Access to Information program. The post was viewed over 3,000 times and shared 32 times on Facebook, and there were an additional 2,300 views of some of the modules on the website.

Being a new phenomenon in Tajikistan, the Media Critics section on NewReporter.org enjoys great interest among the professional media community and wider audience, both positive and negative. Asia Plus media group periodically posts materials from the Media Critics column with a link to New Reporter on its website. One Media Critics article was re-published with the following comment in the lead paragraph: “Tajik online media talk about the problems of people with disabilities quite a lot - that's good. But journalists still call them disabled, sick people or even psychiatric - this is bad. Newreporter.org has prepared material that notes how to talk about such people correctly and what is inappropriate to say. Asia-Plus is on the list of media that sometimes get it wrong – WE WILL WORK ON IT.”

Local media outlet Asia-Plus reacts to a Media Critics publication on reporting on people with disabilities: “Asia-Plus is on the list of media that sometimes get it wrong – WE WILL WORK ON IT.”

The media critiques do not always cause positive reactions. After the article by a Tajik-speaking author about what journalists write in Tajik, in which he mentioned the fact that one of the private newspapers, Tojikiston, uses a compulsory subscription used by state-owned newspapers to maintain high circulation, Tojikiston published a large Tajik-language article lashing out at the author for an alleged lack of professionalism. In the article, which only appeared in the print edition, the editor claimed that it was precisely because of the author’s influence that his publication did not receive grants from international organizations. However, they did not publish a refutation of the fact that the paper relies on forced subscription.

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While some responses have been negative, the number and force of reactions is a sign that the region’s journalists are engaged and ready to have serious discussions about journalistic standards.

2.1.2. Support broad-based media literacy education

Media Literacy Curriculum

Kazakhstan

This quarter, MediaCAMP officially presented the Media Literacy Manual for university professors developed under the USAID-funded Access to Information (A2I) Program during specially-arranged meetings at three universities in Almaty, where the authors of the Manual teach and where they have introduced its modules into their teaching courses this fall. The meetings, which were scheduled around World Media Literacy Week (October 25 to 31), were planned in order to raise awareness among professors and students about the manual, encouraging more professors to use it and creating interest in it among students. The details of these meetings are provided below.

• Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages: October 23, 2019 Host: Ms. Baghilya Akhatova, co-author of the manual

Ms. Akhatova uses the modules she authored (on misinformation, ethics, and manipulations) in teaching various mass communication-related subjects for “A Media Literate Person” interactive undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree students. game at the Kazakh Ablai Khan The meeting was attended by 39 (28W; 11M) University of International Relations participants, including students of all levels as well as and World Languages. Photo: professors from different departments, and university Internews. library employees.

• KIMEP University: October 28, 2019 Host: Saltanat Kazhimuratova, author of module on intercultural communication and hate speech

At this university, media literacy is taught as an optional subject for all students, regardless of specialization. The meeting was attended by 17 (13W; 4M) participants, including students and a professor from the University’s Department of Public Administration. “A Media Literate Person” interactive game at KIMEP University. Photo: • International University of Information Technology Internews. (IITU): October 29, 2019 Host: Dmitry Shorokhov, Ph.D., associate professor, co-author of the manual, author of modules on photojournalism and gender stereotypes in media. 25

This meeting – the largest by far – was attended by 145 (98W; 47M) students of the Kazakh and Russian language departments. During and after the meeting, IITU students published more than 10 posts about the meeting on social media.

On all three occasions, Internews provided hardcopies of the Media Literacy Manual to the university libraries, and ran the “A Media Literate Person” interactive game during which students visualized their ideas about modern media literacy and analyzed popular concepts of post-truth, media, and fake news. Two professors who participated in the October meetings subsequently attended the December 25 workshop at KazNU (see “Practical Media Literacy Workshops” below).

In addition, during the World Media Literacy Week Internews put together a series of online media literacy quizzes (1, 2, 3, 4), the winners of which were awarded with hardcopy versions of the Media Literacy Manual.

The Kazakh-language draft version of the Media Literacy Manual is currently undergoing review and proofreading.

Tajikistan

The Media Literacy Manual has been translated into Tajik and is currently under the review of an editor. MediaCAMP plans to print 50 copies in Tajik in April 2020 and distribute them among the participants of the trainings conducted by the Tajikistan Association of Critical Thinking (see the Media Literacy Grants and Support section).

Uzbekistan

Internews identified a small group of media literacy experts and translators in Uzbekistan who are interested and ready to adapt and translate from Russian into Uzbek Internews’ Media Literacy Manual for university professors produced in 2019 under the A2I project. The work is expected to start in January 2020 and be completed by September 2020.

Regional Media Literacy Eduthon

The annual Eduthon is an innovative and valuable platform for sharing experiences; learning about new trends in media literacy; supporting the development of new projects aimed at spreading media and digital literacy among ordinary people, with the help of experienced mentors; as well as attracting new motivated enthusiasts to teach media literacy. Internews’ first two Central Asia Eduthons were conducted under an EU-funded project in 2018 and 2019, and in 2020 the annual event will continue under MediaCAMP. The MediaCAMP Year 2 Eduthon will bring together university, college, and school teachers, as well as media trainers and experts from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and will include a grant competition for media literacy projects.

This quarter, the MediaCAMP team selected the date and location of the event – February 21-23, 2020, in Almaty – and conducted preparatory work, including identification of experienced international trainers to lead, with the assistance of local media literacy trainers. 26

Practical Media Literacy Workshops

In agreement with USAID, in Year 2 the Regional Media Literacy Conference has been replaced by two practical workshops with the professors conducting media literacy courses in Kazakhstan (in Almaty and Nur-Sultan) and two in Tajikistan (in Dushanbe and Khudjand). Participants will share and discuss successes, lessons learned, and problems encountered in piloting the Media Literacy Manual in their respective institutions, as well as provide recommendations for further improvement of the manual. They also will learn about new trends in media literacy education from MediaCAMP’s Regional Media Literacy Advisor. In addition, MediaCAMP experts will introduce teachers to the most recent trends in media and media market development.

Kazakhstan

On December 25, 2019, in Almaty, in cooperation with the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU), Internews arranged the first of the two planned workshops in Kazakhstan to discuss and further refine the modules of the Media Literacy Manual. The meeting was attended by 19 participants (15W; 4M): authors of the Media Literacy Manual modules, including professors from several Kazakhstani universities, CSO representatives, and graduates of the A2I media literacy training of trainers in March 2019.

MediaCAMP’s Regional Media Literacy Advisor briefed the participants on the modern approaches of teaching media literacy at universities and its strategy for promoting media literacy under the MediaCAMP project; held a session on the use of digital tools in teaching media literacy; and conducted a fact-checking exercise based on Module 9 of the Media Literacy Manual, “News and opinion. Misguidance, misinformation and lies in the news. Fact-check.” The workshop then continued with discussion of the following modules: • Module 5: Advocacy, Manipulation Techniques and Information Wars • Module 7: Critical Thinking • Module 11: New Formats of Media Content • Module 12: Ethical Analysis of Media Content • Module 13: Gender Stereotypes in Media • Module 14: Media and Information Literacy (MIL) and Intercultural Communication. Hate speech.

The workshop participants provided valuable Rakhilya Karymsakova, Ph.D, Philological Sciences, comments and suggestions. For example, Ms. Associate Professor of the Department of Journalism Rakhilya Karymsakova, Ph.D., associate professor and Translation at the University of Turan, speaking of Turan University, proposed adding gesture during the meeting. Ms. Karymsakova teaches decoding into module 14 as part of assessing hate linguistic conflictology and speech manipulation – two subjects closely linked to hate speech. Photo: speech; and Y. Dudinova, Ph.D., KazNU, Internews. suggested avoiding using the real names of protagonists from cases included in the Manual.

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Overall, the workshop participants supported the opinion of Mr. Alexander Rozhkov2, Ph.D., Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of KazNU, who noted that the Media Literacy Manual is the first of its kind in Kazakhstan written in an engaging way, and containing up-to-date information and teaching tools.

MediaCAMP will use all recommendations and suggestions of the participants as the basis for the refining of the Media Literacy Manual. Given that some of the authors have already been using the Manual’s modules during their own training courses, their feedback on the practical application of the modules was of particular interest and will particularly be taken into account. MediaCAMP will conduct a survey in the spring of 2020 to receive student feedback which will then be discussed at the second workshop, scheduled to be held in Nur-Sultan in April 2020.

To date, the media literacy modules have been introduced into curriculums of five universities in Kazakhstan: KIMEP University, Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages, Kostanai State University, North Kazakhstan State University, and Suleiman Demirel University.

Tajikistan

No practical media literacy workshops were held in Tajikistan in the reporting period.

Media Literacy Grants and Support

Kazakhstan

On December 9, 2019, MediaCAMP issued a grant competition announcement in Kazakhstan for media literacy projects. From the 30 applicants, the grant evaluation committee selected six winners, which Internews will submit for USAID review and concurrence in the next quarter.

Meanwhile, during the reporting quarter, one of the two remaining media literacy projects awarded in Year 1 has been completed, and the other extended to the end of January 2020:

1) CSO MediaNet

CSO MediaNet International Center for Journalism finalized and printed 50 pilot copies of a Russian-language media literacy textbook for high school students. MediaNet’s Factcheck.kz Senior Editor Pavel Bannikov led the international group of authors in consultation with MediaCAMP’s Regional Media Literacy Advisor Gulnar Asanbayeva. The authors included Alexander Gorohovsky (Ukraine), Dainius Radzevicius (Lithuania), Tasha Sokolova (Russia), Dmitry Shishkin (Kazakhstan), and Aichurek Usupbaeva (Kyrgyzstan).

2 Mr. Rozhkov has been engaged in media literacy research since 2012, and is the author of several monographs on media literacy. 28

MediaNet also translated the Russian version of the textbook into Kazakh, which is pending review by Kazakh-speaking specialists. MediaNet is currently fundraising for the next stage of the project, which would include piloting the Russian version at selected schools and updating the textbook based on feedback from the pilot schools; arranging focus groups with methodologists and experts to upgrade and adapt the Kazakh version of the textbook; creating online multimedia content in Russian and Kazakh to supplement the textbook’s exercises; continuing introduction of MIL into curriculums of schools in other regions of Kazakhstan; printing final versions of the textbooks and disseminating them among schools in Kazakhstan; and offering partners in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to adapt the book for their schools. MediaNet is following multiple avenues to find support for these activities, including Hard cover of the pilot version of the Russian-language media applying to the MediaCAMP MIL grant competition in Year 2. literacy textbook for high school students 2) Individual entrepreneur Aisulu Shaikenova

Ms. Shaikenova, an experienced Mass Communication specialist from Petropavlovsk, North Kazakhstan, and a faculty member of the North Kazakhstan State University, has completed the draft of the first Kazakh-language textbook on Media Literacy for university students3. As more time was required to attract relevant Kazakh-speaking experts to review the textbook and refine it based on their feedback, this project has been extended until January 31, 2020.

Tajikistan

This quarter MediaCAMP continued working with its partners selected in Year 1: media outlets, civil society organizations, web designers, teachers, and students. This partnership with a wide range of individuals and institutions has allowed MediaCAMP to expand its media literacy activities through trainings, workshops, websites, and mobile applications. All Year 1 projects are now complete.

1) Colibri (mobile application Ruboh (Fox)):

The team of Colibri launched its mobile app Ruboh on media literacy in October 2019. It is available for Android on Google Play in both Russian and Tajik. So far it has had over 200 users. The application consists of reading materials on media literacy, FAQs about media literacy, and a gamified section where users can test their ability to identify fake news. The application also includes a newsfeed section with links to local and international media outlets.

2) Media Mushovir (mobile application Media Mushovir):

Media Mushovir developed a mobile application (available on Google Play and App Store) and a website on media literacy (www.media.mushovir.tj) in Tajik language that were presented in

3 MediaCAMP’s Media Literacy Manual, by contrast, is intended for university professors. 29

November 2019 at the office of CSO Civil Freedoms in Khujand. These platforms contain information on media literacy, critical thinking, fact-checking, propaganda, and cybersecurity. The team is also developing video lessons on the outlined topics that are available on the website in Tajik language.

3) Vecherka (Alphabet of the Internet User):

Vecherka developed the Alphabet of the Internet User project targeting mainly youth in cooperation with Internews’ EU-funded Contributing to Peace and Stability in Central Asia project. MediaCAMP’s support is for further promotion of the site as an important source of information on media literacy for youth. Vecherka presented Alphabet of the Internet User at five high schools and universities in Dushanbe for a total of 1,670 students (621W; 1,049M). Many students asked questions about online security, especially young women.

4) Tajikistan Association of Critical Thinking Pre and Post Test Results (Trainings): (Media Literacy Trainings) 100% During the reporting period, the partner organization 90% conducted three trainings on media literacy for 60 faculty 80% 70% members of the National University of Tajikistan (20W; 60% 40M), teaching journalism, Russian philology, Eurasian 50% languages, and Tajik philology. These trainings are used as an 40% entry point for promotion of media literacy at the country’s 30% 20% prominent university and it is expected that at least 10% of the 10% participants will insert media literacy coursework into their 0% classes. As shown in the bar graph to the right, while only October October November about 50% (or less) of the participants passed pre-tests on 11-12, 25-26, 8-9, 2019 media literacy knowledge, by the end of the trainings about 2019 2019 80-90% passed the post-tests. Pre Post

On December 11, 2019 Internews announced a new call for applications for digital and media literacy in Tajikistan. Internews is looking for applications that are supporting creation of online games on media literacy, training for trainers, youth forums and discussions.

2.1.3. Assess levels of media literacy, consumption, and trust

Shifts in media consumption behaviors across the globe, including the wide territories of Central Asia, have changed the way the news and other valuable information content is produced, and yet there has been little research into the scale and specifics of regional changes. In June 2019 MediaCAMP launched a Media Consumption and Media Literacy Survey in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan based on face-to-face field interviews covering 3,000 people. These were followed by 30 in-depth interviews of media experts for a separate, qualitative survey. This quarter, the sub-contractor which carried out the survey, the Institute of Public Opinion, based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, provided the full results and findings of the commissioned survey.

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Survey Details and Methodology The main goal of the survey was to identify the audience's media consumption preferences and expectations, as well as their media literacy level.

Dates of field work: Kazakhstan - 07/20/2019 - 08/15/2019 Tajikistan - 08/08/2019 - 08/26/2019 Uzbekistan - 07/18/2019 - 08/31/2019

Survey format: Personal interviews with respondents (face-to-face)

Respondent Selection Method: Cluster Sampling

The number of questions: 50 + 11 socio-demographic parameters. The questionnaires were prepared in Kazakh, Tajik, Uzbek, and Russian

Pre-test questionnaire: 20 interviews in each country

Average length of the interview: 40 minutes

Geography: Kazakhstan - 14 regions, the cities of Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Shymkent. Tajikistan - 3 regions, Dushanbe and Republican Subordination Regions Uzbekistan -12 regions, Tashkent and Karakalpakstan.

Survey Sample: The sample was developed based on national statistics for 2018. The sample is multistage, stratified by region and by type of settlement (city / village). The sample size was 1,000 respondents in each country, including citizens (permanently residing) of Kazakhstan / Tajikistan / Uzbekistan aged 14 - 65.

Media Consumption and Media Literacy Survey 2019 Key Findings:

• Television predominates as a news source across the three countries. Only in Kazakhstan younger audiences prefer websites and then social media for news. In Tajikistan, word of mouth plays a prominent role in news sharing: nearly half of respondents (45%) named “other people” such as relatives and colleagues as the main source of their daily news.

• Despite widespread availability of mobile phones (over 90%) and the growing spread of smartphones, the latter are accessible for only 39% of people surveyed. The lowest use of smartphones is in Tajikistan with 27% of respondents reporting they own the device.

• TV set remains the most accessible medium across the three countries, with satellite dishes covering nearly half (45%) of those surveyed. The highest satellite dish use is

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reported in Tajikistan (64%) due to the country’s predominantly mountainous terrain and low penetration of digital television.

• Broadband modems are owned by 18.5% of households; internet access is predominantly mobile. In Tajikistan, 90% of respondents think that broadband internet price is overcharged, and 60% responded similarly about mobile internet tariffs.

• Internet remains inaccessible for 9.2% of the survey participants in Kazakhstan, 33.2% in Tajikistan, and 42.2% in Uzbekistan. These respondents reported that they did not have access to internet at home, nor via a mobile phone.

• Bilingual consumption of news is the most widespread in Kazakhstan: 33% of respondents said they don’t have preference in languages and consume news in whatever language it is served to them. 29% said they use Russian only when reading news. “Kazakh only” is in demand among only 10% of the survey participants. In Tajikistan the local Tajik language leads in preferences to consume traditional media content such as television, radio, and print news, but bilingual consumption comes first when people get online. In contrast, in Uzbekistan the local language dominates all platforms and Russian is the preferred language of news consumption for only 6% of the respondents.

• Television is the most trusted media across all three countries. The second most trusted sources are online news websites, while social media scored the least in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and print lowest in Kazakhstan. 15% in Kazakhstan, 7% in Tajikistan, and 8% in Uzbekistan said that they trust none of the media (See Chart 1 below).

Which Do You Trust the Most

70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Television News web- Relatives and Forums, blogs Print None sites friends and social media Kazakhstan Tajikistan Uzbekistan

Chart 1

• When choosing between local and foreign television channels, people across all three countries prefer local television: 65% vs 40% in Kazakhstan; 77% vs 58% in Tajikistan and 93% vs 25% in Uzbekistan (some respondents chose both). At the same time, as seen from the numbers above, the share of people watching foreign news and television

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broadcasting is notably large, with the biggest audience in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Russian broadcasters dominate among foreign media content in all three countries.

• The spread of social media and messaging services across the region is heterogeneous. The leading service in Kazakhstan is WhatsApp, while Viber is the most popular app in Tajikistan. In Uzbekistan, Telegram leads the charts. Facebook, thought to be widespread in Kazakhstan for its growing visible impact in the country’s social and public life, is surprisingly used by only 20% of the respondents. In Tajikistan, 33% of respondents report actively using the platform, while in Uzbekistan only 11% of the survey participants mentioned it in their answers. (See Chart 2 below.)

Use of Social Media

100,0%

80,0%

60,0%

40,0%

20,0%

0,0% Kazakhstan Tajikistan Uzbekistan

Telеgram IMO Instagram Facebook Odnoklassniki Google+ WhatsApp V Kontakte Мой мир Viber Twitter

Chart 2

• With the digital broadcasting shift nearly complete in Uzbekistan, 83.3% of the respondents are confidently aware of the switch. In Kazakhstan, where the shift is in full swing, 79% of respondents are aware of the change. In Tajikistan, where the digital switchover process has been delayed, nearly half of respondents haven’t heard of any plans. • Most of the respondents in all three countries are not ready to pay for legal content (ie. non- pirated content) on the internet.

A portion of the survey was dedicated to measuring the media literacy level in the three countries. The questions aimed to assess the respondents’: • Ability to critically evaluate the objectivity of information provided; • Ability to work with information flows (search, evaluate quality, reveal hidden information); • Ability to find and use alternative sources; • Ability to adequately perceive information (in the form of two mutually exclusive judgments, from which it was necessary to choose the correct answer); and • Awareness of internet security and privacy.

Answers to all questions and judgments in the media literacy section were evaluated by points with a maximum of 35. A low level of media literacy was defined as 0 to 11 points; average level of 33

media literacy from 12 to 23 points; and high level of media literacy from 24 to 35 points. The percentage of respondents with a high level of media literacy was 5.7% in Kazakhstan, 2.5% in Uzbekistan, and 1.4% Tajikistan. The average values: 14.6 points in KZ (average level), 11.9 in Tajikistan (low level), and 11.3 in Uzbekistan (low level).

Internews will use the research findings in several ways under MediaCAMP: 1. Internews will be monitoring the content of the media outlets identified as the most popular in each country by survey participants. The new media monitoring system is in development and will be introduced to USAID by the end of Y2; 2. Internews will also continue sharing and presenting the research data at professional media conferences and events so local media can better understand their audience and communication channels with them; 3. Internews has started to publish articles based on the results at Newreporter.org and Internews’ country websites; we will provide updates about these articles in the next QR; 4. Internews is using the media literacy results to improve design of MediaCAMP’s media literacy projects; 5. Internews will use the results also when developing the new WP for the MediaCAMP in Y3; 6. Finally, Internews will use the results to help identify the most accessed and popular media to consider for our support in each country, as well as some topics to focus training activities on.

During the quarter MediaCAMP presented the survey results at one of the biggest media sector events of the year in Kazakhstan, Media Kuryltai in Almaty, on November 28, 2019, reaching its 150 participants. The study aroused great interest among the audience, due to a general lack of research in the sector. TNS media research reports are available to commercial subscribers only.

Incidentally, the MediaCAMP survey release coincided with a survey conducted in all five countries of Central Asia by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), backed by the UK Embassy in Kazakhstan. The findings, however, do not necessarily align. The main difference is that IWPR focused on measuring audience consumption of online news in all five countries in Central Asia, whereas MediaCAMP’s survey studied media consumption of traditional (TV, radio, etc.) and online media, in addition to media literacy, in MediaCAMP’s three target countries. Another difference is that IWPR’s research was conducted via online interviews, while MediaCAMP’s research was done through face-to-face field interviews.

2.2. Increase citizens’ ability to engage with and produce news and information

2.2.1. Foster development of citizen reporting networks

On November 6, 2019, MediaCAMP announced a grant competition for local media outlets to build new teams of citizen reporters/stringers or (for returning grantees) to take existing collaborations with individual citizen reporters to the next level. As in Year 1, the new cohort of partners will be guided by Newtimes.kz, the outlet which has been consistently developing its own network of stringers with support from MediaCAMP and the Access to Information project since 2018.

MediaCAMP has selected 10 partner outlets, six in Kazakhstan and four in Tajikistan, representing a mix of geographic locations. Half are returning partners from Year 1 under this

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component, as planned. The grant agreements are expected to be complete and work under them will start in the next quarter. The table below gives an overview of the selection process.

Date Activity Comments November 6, 2019 Citizen Reporting Grants Announcement published on internews.kz and media.tj Announced December 8, 2019 (deadline) 30 applications received: 22 19 of the 30 complied with the terms and objectives and in KZ and 8 in TJ were submitted for the jury to review December 13, 2019 Regional selection jury 5 jury members: 2 from KZ; 2 from TJ; 1 from convened; 10 partners Internews: all practicing journalists and media experts selected representing media outlets, universities, and media support organizations December 13, 2019 Results announced to Selection criteria: winners and publicly online ❖ media sustainability ❖ experience in dealing with citizen reporters ❖ clear justification for the need ❖ training experience ❖ sustainability prospects ❖ resilience ❖ ability to attract and sustain citizen reporters December 20 and 27, 2019 Regional online induction Two Skype sessions with the group of finalists by a) sessions with the winners Internews managers; b) by Dmitri Kim, newtimes.kz, the program coordinator January 2020 (upcoming) Preparation and signing of Expected to be complete by the end of January 2020. grant agreements

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Year 2 Citizen Reporter Partner Outlets

Year 2 Citizen Reporter NewTimes.kz (Nur-Sultan) - the leading partner that will provide online mentorship to other Partner Outlets in grantees across the two countries on practical steps to create a successful citizen reporter Kazakhstan network based on the outlet's own previous experience within MediaCAMP's Year 1 activities. National online Russian-language news outlet.

The Court Reporters League (sotreport.kz, Nur-Sultan) - also a Year 1 partner, the outlet will continue providing support to the four reporters it has established permanent working relationships with, and expects to bring on two new citizen reporters. They will specialize in legal reporting and covering the courts.

Tilshi.kz (Aktobe) - new partner: a small independent local online news outlet that was long led and sustained by a single person, well-known local journalist Askar Aktileu. The outlet has been expanding lately, launching a new fact-checking initiative. Under MediaCAMP, the team will attract 6-7 more reporters located across Aktobe region.

Petropavlovsk News (Petropavlovsk) - new partner: this regional local online news outlet in Northern Kazakhstan has an active editorial team. They will seek to build a network of 4-5 journalists across North Kazakhstan with a view of making local voices heard. The team reprots high interest in sharing video content amongst local active citizens scattered around villages.

Nasha Gazeta (Kostanai) - new partner: a local Russian-language online and print outlet that targets a regional audience. Its main content is local and national news with local commentary and local characters. Prior to the grant, in an effort to diversify its content with local reporting, the team established cooperation with 2-3 citizen reporters based across the region and plans to bring in 3-4 more under this grant. Semey Ainasy and partners (Semey) - new partner: a group of activists and media with a current regional (East Kazakhstan) network of anti-corruption journalists and bloggers. The aim is to attract more members from amongst local citizen journalists across Kazakhstan's six largest cities. The project will support training, mentoring, and honoraria for citizen journalist.

Year 2 Citizen Reporter Investigative Journalism Center & Sugdnews - also a Year 1 partner: the organization conducts Partner Outlets in journalistic investigations, various educational events (seminars, trainings) to improve the Tajikistan professional level of journalists. In June 2017, the center launched a news agency website, SugdNews (sugdnews.com). In Year 2 Sugdnews would like to add five more citizen reporters to its current network of three. All will be scattered around the mountainous and yet most populous region of Sugd. Asia Plus (Dushanbe) - also a Year 1 partner: the country's first independent news agency with predominately Russian-language audience. The outlet also has a Tajik version and is paying special attention to growing its Tajik-language audience. Despite being blocked by authorities for about two years, Asia Plus is one of the most active outlets in news journalism. In Year 2, Asia Plus will add eight local citizen journalists to its current network of two. Radio Payvand (Khudjand) - also a Year 1 partner: an established broadcaster which released over 80 radio materials under this component in Year 1. The station reports fruitful cooperation with three citizen journalists who the station trained and mentored heavily. In year 2, the station will recruit reporters from Istaravshan, Isfara, Asht, Bobdjon Gafurov, and Devashti. Oila Media (Dushanbe) - new partner: an established print outlet with vast audiences among the most poor and disadvantaged. The outlet has 9 journalists on staff. Due to the downturn in print advertising revenues, they successfully turned to social media, and their YouTube channel now has more than 40,000 subscribers. Under the grant they aim to bring in three citizen reporters in Sugd and Khatlon. This outlet will require extra attention for training and mentoring regarding professional ethical standards.

To address Year 1 challenges such as low level of understating of professional standards and working habits among citizen reporters, MediaCAMP has devised a special online training

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schedule by Dmitri Kim (Newtimes.kz) and Internews in-house experts. This and other challenges and recommendations were discussed during the Skype sessions with the finalists.

“I was mentored by Yekaterina Mostovaya from NewTimes.kz. She edited my articles with an immense sense of tact. Whenever Katya pointed to mistakes, I could tell she sincerely wanted me to learn. And I was adamant to meet expectations. Together we tried different formats: reports, guides, interviews, articles. I keep writing for newtimes.kz although I am now pursuing my own journalism career in a different outlet”.

Fariza Ospan (right), a citizen reporter from Almaty, Photo by Internews

2.2.2. Build additional avenues for citizen engagement with local media

MediaCAMP encourages media participating in the project to apply new models for engaging the communities they serve (and not only their existing audiences). Despite the fact that the creation of communities (a group of people united by a common idea, goal, interest or problem) around media companies has been a trend over recent years, media in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan have been working on creating such communities intuitively, not realizing the full potential and opportunities, including monetary benefits that provide sustainability. Under MediaCAMP, subgrantees have launched audience engagement initiatives including: expanding audiences online and social media networks, raising awareness about relevant issues, holding in-person events to bring the community together, and involving youth and international experts in addressing common issues.

Kazakhstan

Two projects out of the five which were awarded in the last quarter to launch audience engagement initiatives wrapped up this quarter. Dara Public Foundation from Nur-Sultan reported an increase in the number of people who applied to provide mentorship to orphan teenagers following a social media campaign supported by the grant. Over the grant period of three months, from September to December 2019, the number of applications reached 781, compared to a total of 1,105 collected over the four preceding years. The partner’s social media following grew by nearly 70%. Petropavlovsk-based Petropavlovsk News increased its social media following by 6.5% and supported the formation of a new community among its audience members.

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MENTORS PROJECT, DARA FOUNDATION - AT A GLANCE Objectives To increase engagement of members of the general public in one-on-one mentoring for nearly 5,000 children and adolescents raised in the country’s 137 orphanages through awareness-raising video campaign on social media.

Outputs: Planned vs Progress Planned: Progress Status: Achieved 12 one-minute promo • 12 high-calibre celebrities featured in 12 videos feat. local videos celebrities and media • 255,796 people reached via Facebook personas and Instagram • The project’s visual design look on social media improved (logo, use of multimedia tools, etc.) Other Achievements Press coverage 11 articles reaching via Tengri Mix, GN News, Kazakhstanskaya Pravda, out to 32,338 people Hola News, the Steppe, Open Asia Online and lada.kz. These outlets independently decided to cover the initiative. Growth in social media following 3,661 NEW Instagram From 5,336 to 8,897 in 2.5 months, 68% increase followers Higher engagement of the target group 781 mentor Compared to a cumulative 1,105 applications applications received in the past two years Impact New partnerships formed 4 partnership links Keruen Shopping Center in Nur-Sultan, Shymkent City Akimat, and two orphanages in the south. Project coverage area expanded 9 KZ regions covered Increase from 8 to 9 Replication effect Inspired by the campaign, Pavlodar-based bloggers produced one similar joint promo video in support of the project. This resulted in a 300% increase in mentor applications from the city’s general public Challenges Forming a longer-term collaborative mechanism with media is challenging as media (especially large outlets) lacks understanding of the benefits of long-term collaboration

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Petropavlovsk News reaches and engages audiences to form a community

North Kazakhstan-based local online news outlet Petropavlovsk News used their grant to engage their audiences through the IGTV reality show Surviving on a Thousand Tenge ($3 US) a Day. The outlet selected three families from its audience who agreed to take part in an experiment to spend the agreed amount of $3 a day (about $90 per month). The outlet provided the money for the families. The amount was chosen to coincide with the government-set subsistence level that is widely taken as a baseline for setting salaries in the state sector. “Petropavlovsk is the northernmost city in Kazakhstan with the lowest salaries, but not the lowest prices. Many of our audience complain about the difficulties of living here, the inability to save up for housing. People barely make ends meet. Many leave the place for good. News about minimum and average salaries, official data on the subsistence level always cause a storm of commentary in our social media: people get angry, complain that salaries are too low and it is all in all a survival game for the most,” explains Yekaterina Nazarenko, the Editor-In-Chief of Petropavlovsk News. The IGTV reality show demonstrated various survival strategies that low-income families adopt while trying to make ends meet: how people live, what they eat, how they save and spend their leisure time on a tight budget, what they dream about, what they undertake to lift their status up and try to earn extra money, etc. Within a few days the promo article on the website had 8,000 views and nearly 200 likes and 90 comments. “Incredibly positive news! It is projects like this that bring people together! And it is something that we lack here in the region in life and online,” an audience member wrote on Facebook. The IGTV livestreams of each family were broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays for five weeks, with promo trailers on weekdays. The first program brought the biggest viewership for the outlet to date: 10,000 views on the day of program release/stream with over 100 comments, and the following programs continued to reach higher viewership, hitting 20,000 in a day. The final longread article produced to mark the completion of the series hit the top of the newsfeed on Google and reached a national audience of more than 7,000 people. The IGTV show was only part of Petropavlovsk News’ new engagement strategy; the outlet also created a WhatsApp chat for its audience members who wanted to discuss the “survival strategies” – low-cost recipes, tips on cheap bargains and deals in supermarkets, small business opportunities in the food and service sector, etc. The number of chat followers averaged 95 over the course of the project. The chat participants meet offline, organize events together, and are turning into a standalone community centered around Petropavlovsk News. The Chief Editor sometimes consults the group members about her story and project ideas, and some come and help as volunteers. Petropavlovsk News’ social media audience increased by over 4,300 people over the course of the project: on Instagram from 35,000 to 38,500; on VK from 14,600 to 14,761; on FB from 11,234 to 11,706, and on OK from 4,864 to 5,054. The amount of advertising revenue from Instagram increased by 30% and the profit from contextual advertising (Google ads and Yandex.Direct) by 20%. Four new customers appeared thanks to brand recognition, reaching out via Instagram Direct and WhatsApp.

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Tajikistan MediaCAMP encourages media participating in the project to apply new models for engaging the communities they serve (and not only their existing audiences). Despite the fact that the creation of communities (a group of people united by a common idea, goal, interest or problem) around media companies has been a trend over recent years, media in Tajikistan have been working on creating such communities intuitively, not realizing the full potential and opportunities, including monetary benefits that provide sustainability. Under MediaCAMP, subgrantees have launched audience engagement initiatives including: expanding audiences online and social media networks, raising awareness about relevant issues, holding in-person events to bring the community together, and involving youth and international experts in addressing common issues.

In the end of Year 1, MediaCAMP selected six partners under this activity in Tajikistan: CSO “School of Volunteers” of Khatlon, CSO “Consumers Union of Tajikistan,” TV/ Radio Company “SM - 1,” LLC “Vecherni Dushanbe” (Vecherka), CSO “Iroda,” and LLC TV/ Radio Company “TV 5.” The selected partners have been paired up in CSO-media outlet teams to work together on the development of content related to the CSOs’ areas of specialization.

Two projects under this activity achieved interesting results in a short period and raised awareness about social problems that had not been widely discussed in Tajikistan before.

Vecherka and Public Organization Dast ba Dast (hand in hand) launched a project about the relations of teenagers and their parents. The main goal of this project is to make parents look Dast ba Dast worked with a group of at their children from a different angle and try to understand them. In fact, today’s teenagers think like teenagers and gave them an opportunity to adults, they are very advanced, and we, the parents, tell their own stories and the stories of their are still trying to control them, put pressure on them peers through media. The teenagers and make them live the way we want, as we like. conducted a survey about the relations of Thereby we ignite a protest in them, which leads to parents and children, participated in trainings bad consequences; we break them and suppress their on podcast and video production, and personality. developed six podcasts, two video stories, -Gulnora Amirshoeva, Director, Vecherka newspaper and one longread.

The teenagers were led by popular Tajik teenage blogger, Lola Kasymova, who runs her blog TheLola on YouTube. Vecherka also published eight articles about the problems of teenagers in Tajikistan, involving local experts and parents, and launched a Facebook campaign called “#УслышьМеня” (#HearMe), which helped parents and teenagers to tell their own stories. Lola Kasymova from TheLola YouTube blog, leads teenagers in a project to help parents understand their children. Radio Asia Plus and Public Organization Photo: Internews. Iroda’s project on children’s mental health in 40

Tajikistan, “Early Start,” built a community of parents whose children need special care (see details below). The project will continue through March 2020.

EARLY START PROJECT, PUBLIC ORGANIZATION IRODA AND RADIO ASIA PLUS - AT A GLANCE

Objectives To raise awareness about mental health of children in Tajikistan

Outputs: Planned vs Progress Planned: Progress Status: Achieved So Far 10 thematic video • 3 thematic video conferences with conferences for international experts from Australia, Ukraine, parents and Scotland 10 radio programs • 3 radio programs with local experts with experts • 7 podcasts on Asia Plus website 10 podcasts • 1 movie screening 10 movie screenings • Special project page on Asia Plus website about mental health

Other Achievements Stats Comments Press coverage 4 articles in press Asia Plus website 1 article on Internews ww.media.tj, Asia Plus FB Page, Public website Organization Iroda FB Page, Internews FB page, 14 posts on FB Newreporter FB group “Rasonasozon” reaching about 15,000 people

Impact Stats Comments New partnerships formed 4 partnership links Tcell Mobile Operator, Open Society Institute, Khujand Star Hotel, Ismaili Center of Dushanbe

Project coverage area expanded 3 TJ cities covered Increase from 2 to 3 (Dushanbe, Khujand, Khorog)

Other Several families reached out to PO IRODA after radio programs, 2 children diagnosed and now receive treatment from specialists.

Challenges Lack of understanding of the benefits in partnerships between civil society organization (CSO) and media in terms of audience engagement. In case of Iroda and Asia Plus, there was an increase in the CSO’s audience but it is difficult to measure any potential audience growth for Asia Plus due to the project.

CSO “Consumers Union of Tajikistan” worked with Information Agency Asia Plus and launched a project on homeowners’ associations in Tajikistan “Кто в доме хозяин?” (Who’s the boss?) The project produced five articles, two infographics, and one video about housing and communal services and how to improve it through forming homeowners’ associations and leaving the traditional ineffective communal services companies. The articles were viewed more than 7,000 times on Asia Plus’ website and were widely distributed through Asia Plus’ Facebook page with 63,000 followers and the Consumers Union of Tajikistan Facebook page with 2,000 followers.

TV/ Radio Company “SM - 1” worked with Public Organization “Nazari Digar” (Another View) and produced one talk-show, one radio program, and one TV report about children with Down syndrome. The other subgrantees, CSO “School of Volunteers” of Khatlon and LLC TV/ Radio

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Company “TV 5” are at different stages of project implementation and have not yet produced any content under this activity.

Objective 3: Improved legal enabling environment for media

MediaCAMP conducted a study tour for journalists and representatives of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan to Stockholm, Sweden, exposing them to best practices of interacting and building partnerships with each other. In Tajikistan, MediaCAMP subgrant partner CSO Khoma continued advocating for independent broadcasters in the government-controlled digital switchover process and developed a website to conduct an information campaign on digital broadcasting. Subgrant projects that were awarded at the Year 1 Innovation {and Motivation} Data Lab yielded important results during the quarter, including a study about the level of public participation in governance by Transparency Kazakhstan and an information campaign dedicated to labor migration by Asia-Plus in Tajikistan. In Uzbekistan, Internews identified an experienced independent media lawyer to provide monitoring and analysis of media developments in the country beginning in January 2020.

3.1. Support efforts to improve legal and regulatory environment for media

3.1.1. Support and improve legal monitoring, analysis, and advocacy

Kazakhstan

CSO Legal Media Center, MediaCAMP’s partner under this component for Year 1, has extended its subgrant in order to complete its final planned activity: the development of an interactive map of media owners. More time was required to verify the data received from the Ministry of Information of Kazakhstan and regional akimats (local governments), and to enter the data into the map. The launch of the interactive map of media owners is expected in February 2020.

Meanwhile, on November 4, 2019, Internews launched a new subgrant competition under this component, and received two applications by the deadline of November 25. The evaluation committee met on November 27 and again selected Legal Media Center. Internews is preparing the package of relevant documents to be submitted to USAID for review and concurrence.

The media legal environment developments and issues Internews and its partner continued to monitor and act on during the quarter are summarized in Annex 5.

Tajikistan

MediaCAMP’s partner in Tajikistan under this component in Year 1, Independent Center for Human Rights Protection (CHRP) completed its activities this quarter. CHRP worked to improve the legal environment for media in Tajikistan by engaging with media lawyers, journalists, and government officials, participating in the lawmaking process, and promoting progressive laws and regulations. CHRP conducted an analysis of Tajik legislation in terms of access to information and provided recommendations to five laws: “Law on Information” (4 amendments), “Law on Requests by Legal Bodies and Individuals” (2 amendments), “Law on State Secret” (2

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amendments), and “Law on Access to Information” (2 amendments), organized a media law workshop, and provided legal consultations to local media. During the reporting period, CHRP continued its work with the State Agency for Financial Control and Combating Corruption (AFCC) and Parliament of Tajikistan (Lower Chamber) to promote the proposed amendments. The proposed amendments have not yet been adopted and work on improvement of the legislation will be resumed under MediaCAMP after selecting a partner through an open call released in December.

Uzbekistan

Internews identified an experienced independent media lawyer in Uzbekistan who is ready to be contracted to provide monitoring and analysis of media developments in the country, including changes to media legislation and attacks on journalists, bloggers, and media in general. He is expected to start his work in January 2020.

As part of Internews’ 2019 research on media consumption preferences and expectations of mass audiences in the project’s three target countries, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, over 83% of respondents in Uzbekistan indicated that they were aware of the fact that the country switched to digital broadcasting in 2018. No major issues related to the switchover have been reported in the media since then but Internews is planning to ask its lawyer to assess whether all international norms and standards are respected in terms of access to the infrastructure and licenses, as well as access of the low income population to digital channels.

3.1.2. Strengthen media industry associations for improved representation and self- regulation

Kazakhstan

During the quarter, the Court Reporters League implemented its final activities under their Year 1 grant: two master classes on court journalism for university students in Almaty. The master classes covered how journalists should cover court trials; how Kazakhstan’s court system works; and the do’s and don’ts for journalists attending court hearings. The League of Court Reporters also took this opportunity to introduce the students to the League, its activities, and its SotReport.kz website. Details below: • November 14, 2019: a master class for 20 (13W; 7M) students in the journalism departments of KIMEP university and the Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages. Court Reporters League Chairman Serikzhan Mauletbai, and MediaCAMP Regional Legal Advisor Olga Didenko conducted the master class. • November 22, 2019: a master class for 15 (15W; 0M) students of the journalism department of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) The master class was conducted by MediaCAMP’s Regional Legal Advisor, Olga Didenko, and Dinara Zharkeyeva, a journalist representing the Court Reporters League.

In addition, during the quarter, Internews introduced the Court Reporters League to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), facilitating cooperation between the two organizations on issues of common interest.

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On November 1, Internews issued a new call to media associations in Kazakhstan to apply for capacity building assistance, receiving two applications. The grant selection committee met in December 2019 and again identified the Court Reporters League as the most qualified applicant. Internews is currently preparing the relevant package of documents to be submitted to USAID for review and concurrence.

Tajikistan

Internews’ partner National Association of Independent Media (NANSMIT) worked to improve communication between its member organizations this quarter by conducting two capacity building trainings for members: one in Khujand from November 15-16, 2019 and one in Dushanbe from December 6-7, 2019, for a total of 33 participants (21M; 12W) representing 27 media outlets and organizations from across the country. The training was designed based on the results of the NANSMIT member surveys in Year 1. One of the major findings of the assessment was that there was poor communication between the members and the secretariat. In addition to improving the communication between the participating members through theoretical and practical sessions, NANSMIT helped the participating members conduct a SWOT analysis to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, in order to build their own development strategies. NANSMIT’s grant period will end in February 2020.

3.1.3. Build the capacity of relevant government agencies and legislatures

Kazakhstan

From October 8-11, 2019, Internews in partnership with the Lithuanian Union of Journalists conducted a study tour for a delegation from Kazakhstan consisting of four journalists (3W; 1M) and four representatives of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan (2W; 2M) to Stockholm, Sweden, on the subject of courts’ communication with the media, and access to information on court activities

for journalists, with the aim to build the Participants of the study tour after meeting with the Swedish Union professional capacity of Kazakhstani of Journalists, Stockholm, October 10, 2019. Photo: Internews. courts and media in interacting and building partnerships with each other. The Lithuanian Union of Journalists organized informative meetings with various stakeholders, including judges, governmental officials, journalists, and members of associations, in particular: the office of the Press Ombudsman and the Press Council of Sweden; the Ministry of Culture of Sweden; Swedish national public television broadcaster, SVT; Solna District Court in Stockholm; and the Swedish Union of Journalists.

The study tour was an excellent opportunity for the participants to learn about the cooperation between the courts and media in Sweden. As a follow-up to the study tour, Internews developed a draft workplan for further collaboration with the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan to facilitate

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further openness of the judicial system of Kazakhstan. The Supreme Court is reviewing the proposed workplan, and its comments are pending.

The study tour was the logical concluding event of the Year 1 MediaCAMP efforts aimed at improving communications between the media and the judicial system of Kazakhstan. Other events under this component included joint trainings with the participation of judges and journalists; development of an online course for court spokespeople; creation of media packages on the main reforms of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan; and master classes for students of journalism departments of Kazakhstani universities on court reporting implemented by the subgrantee CSO Kazakhstan League of Court Reporters (see Activity 3.1.2).

These activities have already brought tangible impact, as noted in publications and in conversations with media partners: • Journalists in the courtroom are no longer perceived as a problem; rather, they are seen by courts as an ally facilitating the openness and accountability of the judicial system. With an increase in the number of high-profile court cases, the courts are now working to designate special overflow rooms for journalists with television sets airing the courtroom footage live in case there is not enough space in the courtroom itself; • Judges now grant permission or impose a ban on taking pictures or filming in or online broadcasting from courtrooms based on the public interest with regard to a particular court case, and take into account the role of the media in ensuring transparency of the proceedings and increasing public confidence in court activities.

MediaCAMP will announce a call for applications for the Year 2 partner under this component in Kazakhstan in the next quarter.

Tajikistan

No work was conducted under this activity in Tajikistan in the reporting period.

3.1.4. Nurturing partnerships and resource sharing

Kazakhstan

This quarter, MediaCAMP received the results of the survey of members of the media community in Kazakhstan about the key problems and challenges they face, which was commissioned in Year 1. A total of 136 media professionals completed the questionnaire. MediaCAMP reviewed the report and started to prepare an adapted version to be published in the next quarter, as well as drafted a call for proposals to address some of the key issues identified by the study, which include the following:

1. Restrictive regulatory framework that erodes the essence of journalism, causing censorship and persecution. Nearly 60% of respondents said that they feel unsecure while carrying out their professional duties. Journalists also noted that frequent and unforeseen changes to the media law build further anxiety and weaken the profession. To overcome this difficulty, the respondents suggest advocacy measures aimed at eliminating Criminal Code articles on defamation (Article 130), dissemination of false information (Article 274), and incitement of

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social and other hatred (Article 174). These three clauses cause the most concern among journalistic and media communities, leading to fear, uncertainty, and self-censorship. 2. Weak financial sustainability of media, constrained by heavy state interference with the advertising market (which the respondents believe discriminates against private media), but most importantly the so-called “state order,” the state commissioning system to create content of public importance and in the public’s interest. The state order has been long criticized by Internews and a MediaCAMP local partner as well as many media sector stakeholders. The survey made it clear that many media professionals think that the state order is harmful for media development, as it paves the way for government interference in outlets’ editorial policies, demotivates outlets to search for market-driven means of survival, and is overall non-transparent, with a result of giving more power to state and state-loyal media rather than serving the public interest. 3. Low level of professionalism in journalism, a consequence of inadequate university-level journalism education in the country and the outflow of professional personnel due to low wages, unpaid overtime, long working hours, and low self-esteem.

Tajikistan

MediaCAMP also commissioned an external media specialist to conduct an assessment of challenges facing the media community in Tajikistan in Year 1. An independent media consultant, in cooperation with a sociologist, a professional journalist, and an IT specialist, conducted an assessment through three stages: questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews. Work on the survey was delayed but MediaCAMP has now received the draft report and is currently reviewing it. The final report is anticipated in February 2020.

3.2. Support independent broadcasters to advocate for and ensure their equities in the digital switchover process

Kazakhstan

The call for proposals under this component issued in Kazakhstan during the reporting quarter yielded no applications, a likelihood that was foreseen in the Year 2 Workplan due to the low interest in this activity in Year 1 and the fact that most of Internews’ partners across Kazakhstan have been included into the digital multiplexes. As planned, MediaCAMP therefore intends to re-orient this component and use these funds to support journalists through subgrantees; specifically, the implementation of the School of Anticorruption Investigations (SAI) for journalists in Kazakhstan planned under ER 3.3. Access to public information is increased for all media and journalists below

Tajikistan

In Tajikistan, CSO Khoma continued advocating for independent broadcasters in the government-controlled digital switchover process. During the reporting period, under this activity, Khoma worked on the improvement of the legal environment and the development of a website for conducting an information campaign on digital broadcasting.

Following the meeting with the Ministry of Justice in August 2019 and a meeting with the Committee on International Affairs, Public Associations, and Information of the Parliament of 46

Tajikistan in September 2019 to discuss the amendments to the Law “On Television and Radio,” Khoma proposed to organize a joint meeting with all the major stakeholders. This meeting is now planned for January 2020. At the meeting, Khoma aims to bring to the attention of the government all the recommendations related to independent broadcasters in the digital switchover process to be considered in the relevant legislation.

In order to run a targeted information campaign on the importance of the digital switchover and for its further dissemination among the wider public, Khoma has developed and continues updating the content of the first website dedicated to digital broadcasting in Tajikistan. The website, www.sifra.tj, is available in Russian and Tajik languages. Through this website, Khoma aims to: 1) provide residents of Tajikistan with information on legal acts related to the transition to digital broadcasting, 2) provide website visitors with an understanding of the need to switch to a modern Screenshot of Khoma’s website on the digital television broadcasting format, and 3) provide citizens switchover in Tajikistan in Russian and Tajik with information about how to procure and install languages, www.sifra.tj equipment for receiving digital signals in their homes.

Khoma’s grant ends in January 2020; the new call for applications for Year 2 was announced in December 2019.

3.3 Access to public information is increased for all media and journalists

Kazakhstan

Two subgrant projects, the finalists from the Year 1 Innovation {and Motivation} Data Lab in May 2019 continued to be implemented this quarter:

1) CSO Transparency Kazakhstan (extended through January 31, 2020)

The purpose of Transparency Kazakhstan’s project is to assess the level of accessibility of draft regulatory acts of Kazakhstan and the level of public participation in their discussion. At the end of November 2019, Transparency Kazakhstan completed their study entitled “Index of participation and influence on the legislative process” – the first of its kind in Kazakhstan. The study analyzed the number of public comments made on open government portals in response to draft legislative bills published by various government agencies. One of the key findings of the study is that, while there are tens of thousands of draft regulatory acts being developed or reviewed by the government agencies in Kazakhstan each year (e.g. 44,880 in 2018), the influence of the public on lawmaking in Kazakhstan is below average according to the methodology.

This project demonstrated the importance of open data projects in modern journalism, as it drew the attention of the media and the public to the topic of possible corruption in lawmaking with inarguable numbers. Its thorough analysis based on open data revealed that thousands of laws and regulations are being developed and adopted in the country every year, yet society has only a 47

very modest influence on the process. No more than one-third of draft laws are discussed with the public, and of all comments received on the one-third of draft laws concerned, about half are ignored, while those that are accepted are technical edits, not related to actual content adjustments. The study also confirms that the legislative process is in fact closed from the society it intends to regulate, despite the seemingly many opportunities and forms of civic participation available.

On December 10 and 13, 2019, the team presented the results of the study in Nur-Sultan and Almaty. Various media outlets published a number of articles based on the study and the presentations made, including informburo.kz; today.kz; two from forbes.kz; ratel.kz; two from dailynews.kz; Fergana.ru; inbusiness.kz; and platon.asia. In addition, Transparency Kazakhstan itself also developed a longread based on the study.

The study will inform Internews’ future advocacy efforts under MediaCAMP.

2) CSO Echo

The subgrantee completed its three-month Nedra.echo.kz snapshot project in November 2019 as planned, Similar to the open data web platform to be developing the website developed under this component (see “Web http://nedra.echo.kz/. The website discloses platform to monitor and analyze public data” information on social and infrastructure below), CSO Echo’s website will provide projects of subsoil resources extracting journalists and activists with a powerful tool to companies in the regions of Kazakhstan. shed light on the social spending reports According to contractual obligations, published by extracting companies, and will extracting companies must allocate money enable media and civil society to more for social and infrastructure development in effectively track this social spending, thereby the regions holding them and the local governments where they accountable. This website is also a useful conduct source for materials for local media, and will mining support the development of local investigative operations. and data journalism. Companies can transfer money to the local budget, build a social facility themselves, or transfer money to a local organization for social needs.

The new website allows the user to see how the money is spent by the extracting companies with a breakdown by region (if available), by extracting company, and direction of expenditure (construction of health facilities, sports events, etc.). The user is also able to see a description of each object with an indication of Screenshot of the home page the amount, compare costs for different areas, and evaluate a of the website developed by CSO Echo particular project.

Following the website launch, around 100 people visited the site in the first week, and information about the website is being disseminated and reposted by users

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via social media. In addition, a number of media outlets contacted the subgrantee to learn more about the resource.

Web platform to monitor and analyze public data On November 11, 2019, Internews published a call for proposals to develop a web platform to monitor and analyze public data in Kazakhstan. From the three proposals received (all three from Ukraine-based private entrepreneurs), the MediaCAMP selection committee consisting of project staff chose private entrepreneur Denis Bigus based on the applicant’s experience, technical proposal, and the requested budget. Mr. Bigus and his team work in the field of open data and have been involved in the development of such open data web platforms as Declarations.com.ua (over 1 million visitors per month) and Ring.org.ua (about .5 million visitors per month), both widely used by journalists and public activists of Ukraine. Mr. Bigus is currently updating his proposal and budget in line with the selection committee’s recommendations.

School of Anticorruption Investigations (SAI) for journalists in Kazakhstan The call for proposals to identify a partner for this activity will be launched in the next quarter.

Tajikistan

Information Agency Asia Plus

The Asia Plus project aims to show the role of migrants’ remittances in Tajikistan’s economy, as these funds constitute 30% of Tajikistan’s GDP. The Asia Plus team, led by Executive Director Zebo Tadjibaeva, developed 10 infographics demonstrating the impact of labor migrants on Tajikistan’s economy and published them through Asia Plus’ two key online platforms, the https://asiaplustj.info/ news website, and a website dedicated to labor migration, https://migrantnews.info/, reaching more than 55,000 views. The same articles with infographics were disseminated through Facebook (95 shares), Telegram (20,000 views), and Instagram. Links to all Asia Plus publications under this component are available in Annex 6.

U Design and Kumushoi Murtazakulova (extended One of the 10 infographics about remittances developed by Asia Plus to February 29, 2020) Together with the production studio U Design (Tajikistan), Ms. Murtazakulova is developing an interactive timeline reflecting the lifetime experience of an average woman in Tajikistan. The team has already developed an online test with questions beginning from the birth of an imaginary girl, representing all Tajik women, and going all the way through to her last day. Data collected from different sources will be converted into graphics, diagrams, animations, and video clips showing the life of a Tajik womаn with all its challenges and opportunities. The team also plans to produce a series of video clips with the slogan “Every job is a woman’s job,” with

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interviews of women working in a range of positions usually considered to be “male jobs.” The newly-launched website your.tj has agreed to publish all the materials.

Challenges/Lessons Learned

Kazakhstan

• Stimulating Kazakh-language content still presents a challenge due to the lack of potential applicants for grants. Local content production grants are an exception thanks to MediaCAMP efforts to build-up Kazakh language staff and resources to improve outreach to Kazakh-speaking community. In other program areas such as training administration there aren't that many Kazakh-language organizations that may apply. The project team is actively spreading the word among the media community that new organizations are welcome to apply, especially if their staff have experience working with Kazakh media • The Media Accelerator partner reports difficulties with staff turnover. The outlet’s PR manager and SMM specialist left the country for short-term internships and stayed abroad for longer than originally planned. Additionally, collaboration with bloggers turned out to be difficult. Many require payment, and some declare interest, but subsequently disappear. There were also difficulties with finding speakers for video interviews in Kazakh. Yet these are operational-level challenges that the partner is addressing with the help of the grant- supported mentor through consultations on leadership, recruitment and personnel management. • As expected, some of the audience engagement grant holders from the country’s civil society sector have weak connections to media and were unable to develop longer-term links and cooperation with media. In Year 2, Internews started planning explanatory webinars before the actual selection of projects in order to better communicate the logic of the grants and attract more media to apply. The webinars will be launched in the next quarter. • The key challenge for the promotion of media and information literacy (MIL) is the poor knowledge of the MIL basics among students and even teachers and professors. The inertia of the Soviet way of thinking and teaching means that even those who have been exposed to MIL trainings in the past still cannot move away from the Soviet tradition of providing “the right knowledge” in textbooks. For example, one teacher suggested that certain “ethical standards” should be included in the Media Literacy Manual’s module on ethical analysis, which contradicts the Manual authors’ concept of promoting critical thinking. Another challenge is the fact that a significant portion of university professors and schoolteachers are still poorly acquainted with the Media Literacy Manual and new approaches to MIL education. However, there are also positive signs, such as Natalya Tagviashvili, Head of the Journalism Department of the Kazakh-American University, who not only familiarized herself with the module on gender stereotypes, but also discussed it with her students. Internews is addressing these challenges in the following ways: (1) applicants of the Year 2 subgrant competition under the MediaCAMP’s MIL promotion component are now strongly encouraged to propose training projects for university professors and teachers of colleges based in the regions of Kazakhstan outside of Almaty and Nur-Sultan; (2) These challenges will also be partially addressed through participation of university professors and school and college teachers in the upcoming MediaCAMP Eduthon, scheduled for February 21-23, 2020, in Almaty. • The number of high-quality applications for participation in the MediaCAMP grant competitions under Objective 3 is low. Internews will address this issue through webinars aimed at attracting more potential applicants and answering their questions, as well as through 50

cooperation with civil society development CSOs, such as International Center for Not-for- Profit Law (ICNL) and Civil Society Development Association (ARGO).

Tajikistan

• MediaCAMP’s efforts in building new avenues for citizen engagement with local media faced a challenge linked to the previous experience of the partners in working with each other in the format of CSO – Media. While the idea was to build communities around media, its partner CSOs and media outlets continued working through old models of cooperation, where CSOs provided media outlets with information and they published it in turn. MediaCAMP encourages new modes of cooperation such as interaction with shared audiences, forming thematic groups and building a loyal audience that will support both CSOs and media. • The editor-in-chief of Limu, the New Media Accelerator partner in Tajikistan, left his position this quarter. As he had been the main beneficiary of consultations under MediaCAMP, much of that knowledge was lost at the outlet and the project repeated consultations for his successor. • Several sub-grantees under different project components did not complete their activities on time and their grant agreements had to be extended. The reason cited for most of the delays was the lack of specialists to implement their activities. Many people who were supposed to work with partners become unavailable during the implementation of their project, which varies between 3 and 9 months, and the whole project suffers because finding a replacement takes time, at least a month or two. • Some activities have also been delayed due to extensive government regulations. For example, in September 2019, Internews submitted a letter to the Supreme Court for cooperation in Year 2 on access to information within the judiciary system through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has not yet received a response. In another case, the Tajikistan Association of Critical Thinking, MediaCAMP’s partner on the promotion of media literacy in Tajikistan, had to wait for more than a month to receive permission to conduct trainings at universities. • There are issues with the value added tax (VAT) refund on grants in Tajikistan, which is affecting some Internews partners. Several years ago, the Government of Tajikistan stopped refunding value added tax (VAT) on international grants for for-profit organizations (limited liability companies (LLCs)). LLCs are obliged to pay VAT in the amount of 18% that is neither exempt nor refunded. If a company is a VAT-payer, it must pay the tax on the whole amount of a grant, which negatively affects the overall budget, forcing the partners to spend less on activities. Content posted on YouTube usually does not receive as much views as on Facebook in Tajikistan. This is probably related to the fact that the majority of people in Tajikistan access the internet through mobile phones: while mobile operators are trying to offer plans that have no limit on the use of social networks, including video, traffic for YouTube is limited and requires good internet. MediaCAMP has recommended that partners place videos on Facebook as well as YouTube to expand their audience in case they experience this issue. • A number of Tajik-speaking authors which MediaCAMP approached about potential cooperation with the New Reporter resource refused, citing the fact that critical articles about colleagues are a violation of professional solidarity

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STAFF UPDATE

On November 1, 2019, Internews hired Nicolas Ebnother as interim Country Manager for Uzbekistan. He is sharing his time between MediaCAMP and the DRL-funded Strengthening Online News and Information (SONI) projects.

Internews launched the process of hiring a Training Coordinator based in the Almaty office to support the training activities targeting Uzbekistan. The decision on the selected candidate is expected to be made in January 2020 with a start date during that month as well.

Internews launched the process of hiring a Project Coordinator for the 1st component under MediaCAMP for activities in Tajikistan. The decision on the selected candidate is expected to be made in February 2020 with a start date in March 2020.

Collaboration with Host Country Governments and Other Donor-Funded Projects (USG and International)

Kazakhstan

• MediaCAMP’s Media Literacy Advisor took part as a speaker and a regional consultant on media literacy during a major Central Asian event dedicated to the exchange of experience and promotion of the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in Central Asia – the First Central Asian Media and Information Literacy Conference held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The conference was organized by CSO Media Support Center, Kyrgyzstan, with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Deutsche Welle Academy in the framework of a memorandum with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic, and the Kyrgyz Academy of Education for the promotion of MIL among the general public, and was attended by over 150 participants, including representatives of international, state, and public organizations, teachers and schoolchildren from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, as well as MIL and education experts from Finland, Mongolia, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Germany. During the conference, MediaCAMP’s Media Literacy Advisor shared with the audience the lessons learned and challenges of promoting MIL in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and learned about experiences and best practices of MIL promotion in the countries of the conference’s participants. Internews will use the information and insights gained during the conference to identify priorities for MediaCAMP MIL activities in Year 3 onwards. This information will also inform the design of the Media Literacy Conference planned in Year 3.

Tajikistan

• The Supreme Court of Tajikistan has expressed interest in cooperating with Internews under MediaCAMP. Earlier, Internews had sent a letter to the Supreme Court, proposing to collaborate on the activities that were outlined in a roadmap developed in Year 1. In November 2019, Internews met with representatives of the Supreme Court, where the latter showed their interest in further cooperation. It was agreed that once Internews receives an official response to its letter from the Supreme Court through the Ministry of Foreign

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Affairs, the two sides will sign a memorandum of understanding to create a mechanism for cooperation. Internews and the Supreme Court will determine the final list of activities based on the availability of funds and commitment of the government officials that will be involved in implementation of the roadmap. • A representative from the Ministry of Education and Sciences of Tajikistan visited Internews’ office in early December 2019 and expressed interest in cooperation in terms of media literacy promotion at schools. The representative was mostly interested in Media Literacy Manual developed by Internews, which the representative had learned about while attending the first media literacy conference in Central Asia in November 2019 (#CamilCAN2019), at which MediaCAMP’s Media Literacy Advisor presented the handbook. The representative expressed interest in introducing the Media Literacy Manual in Tajikistan’s secondary schools and discussed how to promote the idea. Internews will follow these recommendations after publication of the https://media.tj/zhurnalistam-v- tadzhikistane-ne-xvataet-informacii/ in Tajik language. • UNICEF has expressed interest in continuing the project about the relationships between teenagers and their parents, which was launched by Vecherka and Public Organization Dast ba Dast (hand in hand) with the support of MediaCAMP.

Gender Analysis

MediaCAMP promotes gender issues and supports “Да нет и не будет у нас в республике women in media. To ensure that this commitment правового государства пока клановое carries through to all activities, Internews has selected управление и неграмотные управленцы, projects and women-led organizations as key project которые за счёт родственников приходят к власти, и любой рядовой полицейский partners. This quarter: ведёт себя так, что он может все, потому • MediaCAMP subgrantee Transparency Kazakhstan что он знает, что родственники «наверху» (Almaty), a woman-led CSO headed by Executive защитят…” Director Olga Shiyan, completed an important (“We will never have the country following study of public participation in the discussion of the rule of law as we have clan management draft laws developed by government agencies in and illiterate managers come to power with the help of their relatives, and the ordinary Kazakhstan. The study will inform Internews’ policeman can do what he wants as he is sure future advocacy efforts under MediaCAMP. that relatives at the “top” will protect him…”) • MediaCAMP subgrantee Legal Media Center (Nur- Feedback on YouTube on a video interview by Sultan), another woman-led CSO headed by Asia Plus. Executive Director Diana Medvednikova and supported by staff lawyer Gulmira Birzhanova, is finalizing an interactive map of media owners of Kazakhstan which is expected to communicate transparency to the media field of Kazakhstan and support open data and investigative journalism. • Asia Plus, a local content production partner, implemented the project “В чем сила, сестра?” (What makes you strong, sister?),” producing five video interviews about successful women posted not only on the Asia Plus website, but also broadcast on its YouTube channel and podcast channel and widely distributed through social media, generating more than 20,000 views. The project has become a new platform for Asia Plus not only to show the achievements of successful women in Tajikistan but gather a lot of feedback criticizing the government.

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• A winner of the Inclusive Content Lab grant contest, CSO “Marifatnoki” in Rasht valley, produced five video stories about successful women broadcast on YouTube; the number of views has remained low due to slow internet speeds. • CSO Khoma, a woman-led organization headed by Shahlo Akobirova, a TV journalist, media expert and trainer, and Deputy Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan conducted a training on Television Mastery and video production for TV and online media in Dushanbe on November 25 – 29 and in Khujand on December 16-20. • Shoira Davlatova, the head of The Independent Center for Human Rights Protection, is actively involved in combating torture and impunity, providing legal support to media, and defending journalists at court. The Independent Center for Human Rights Protection was selected to monitor and analyze legislation and implementation of existing media laws in Tajikistan. • MediaCAMP continued to work to develop Limu Media, led by Lailo Tagaeva, under the New Media Accelerator initiative. Evgeny Kulakov, the founder of Analytical Company Media Toolbox, provided online consultations for two Limu staff (Viktoriya Petrova, SMM specialist and Shahzoda Ikromi, journalist, editor) with a focus on strategy and content development. • MediaCAMP also continued its work with Imkon Consulting, led by Zamira Samadova, Director, to help media managers become more business-oriented in the ever-changing environment. The top managers as well as middle managers focus primarily on the editorial part of their work and do not pay enough attention to the management side. There are few media managers who focus on the profitability of their media and try to keep up with market trends. Zamira “We are enthusiasts, not media Samadova and Anna Viktorova (Project Manager and professionals yet, but we want to business trainer) have extensive experience in understand how to organize the work of consulting local companies in various sectors our online media, where to find ideas, including banking, gas and oil, telecommunications, how to develop social networks.” insurance, trade, non-governmental sector, tourism, Lailo Tagaeva, Director of “Purnur” and health and medicine. On November 25-27, Ms. Advertising Company, founder, Limu Samadova and Ms. Viktorova conducted a three-day Media. Photo: Limu Media. training for nine (4W; 5M) top and middle media managers of Vecherka newspaper, Asia-Plus Media Group, Oila Media Company, TV Regar, Tamoshow Media Company, Information Agency Sughd News, Iron King (YouTube channel), Radio Diyor, and Your.tj online media

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• Another active member of the media community in Tajikistan is Zebo Tadjibaeva. At the end of 2019 she opened her own project, online media Your.tj, thanks to inspiration from the MediaCamp Program. Zebo Tadjibaeva is planning to apply for grants under the project. She also participated in a training for top and middle media managers organized by Internews in partnership with Imkon Consulting. Your.tj team - Zebo Tadzhibaeva, journalist and founder (center); Farhod Kholmatov, Internews follows its global strategy on Gender commercial director (right); Iskandar Equality and Women`s Empowerment and works to Mirzoganiev, producer (left). ensure that 50% of all beneficiaries of MediaCAMP activities are women. This quarter, nearly 38% of journalists who participated in trainings and events were women.

List of Attachments • Annex 1. Performance Indicator Tracking Table (attached separately) • Annex 2. Public Events Taking Place Next Quarter • Annex 3. Press Clippings • Annex 4. Public Communication Materials • Annex 5. Key media law issues Kazakhstan during the quarter (Activity 3.1.1) • Annex 6. Annex 6. Links to Asia Plus publications on labor migration under Activity 3.3

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Annex 3. Press Clippings

Kazakhstan

1. Tengri News https://tengrinews.kz/article/nepravilnyie-telezameryi-meshayut-razvitiyu- kazahstanskih-1344/ 2. Business FM Kazakhstan https://businessfm.kz/society/akorda-ili-socseti-zhurnalisty-i- vladelcy-smi-obsudili-kto-opredelyaet-informacionnuyu-politiku-v-kazahstane 3. Factcheck.kz https://factcheck.kz/slajder/antifejk-v-kazaxstane-poyavilsya-shkolnyj- uchebnik-po-mediagramotnosti/ 4. Baribar.kz https://baribar.kz/114833/medianet-ortalyghy-zhurnalistika-bojynsha-tegin- bilim-beredi/ 5. Factum.kz https://factum.kz/2019/93224/ 6. Novoetv.kz http://novoetv.kz/2019/11/raznye-no-ravnye-v-karagande-proshel-pokaz- filma-kalejdoskop/ 7. Mix.tn.kz https://mix.tn.kz/mixnews/znamenityie-kazahstantsyi-podderjali-proekt- nastavniki-383192/ 8. Informburo.kz https://informburo.kz/kaz/aza-auyldaryny-oyr-trshlg-fotograf- obektivnde.html 9. Otyrar.kz https://otyrar.kz/2019/12/fejki-2019-goda-kak-obmanyvali-v-sotssetyah- kazahstana/ 10. Azh.kz https://azh.kz/ru/news/view/62847 11. Zanmedia.kz https://zanmedia.kz/16531/nariman-beknazarov-nұr-sұltan-қalalyқ-tergeu- sotynyң-tөraғasy-shvetsiya-soty-adaldyқtyң-әdilettiliktiң-ajnasy/

Tajikistan

1. Journalists in Khujand trained on video reporting http://www.khoma.tj/khoma/2019/10/07/%d0%b4%d0%b0%d1%80- %d1%85%d1%83%d2%b7%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b4- %d0%bc%d0%b0%d2%b3%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%b8- %d0%bd%d0%b0%d0%b2%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b1%d0%b0%d1%80%d0%b4%d0% be%d1%80%d3%a3-%d0%b2%d0%b0-%d1%82/ 2. Journalists in Khujand learn to create low-cost online content and TV http://www.khoma.tj/khoma/2019/12/17/%d0%b6%d1%83%d1%80%d0%bd%d0%b0% d0%bb%d0%b8%d1%81%d1%82%d0%be%d0%bd%d0%b8- %d1%85%d1%83%d2%b7%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b4- %d1%81%d0%be%d1%85%d1%82%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b8- %d0%bc%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%be%d0%bb%d0%b8%d0%b1/ 3. CSO KHOMA conducts training on cameraman art and professional video editing https://www.khoma.tj/khoma/2019/09/20/%d0%be%d0%be- %d1%85%d0%be%d0%bc%d0%b0- %d0%be%d0%b1%d1%83%d1%87%d0%b0%d0%b5%d1%82- %d0%be%d0%bf%d0%b5%d1%80%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%be%d1%80%d1%81%d0%b a%d0%be%d0%bc%d1%83-%d0%b8%d1%81%d0%ba/ 4. Vecherka launches a media literacy project for young people. Audience of the project: young people from 15 to 22 years old.

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https://vecherka.tj/spets-proekti/mediagramotnost 5. Vecherka completed the presentation of the ABC for the Internet user at the secondary schools and Technological University in Dushanbe. https://vecherka.tj/archives/40988 6. Unconditional love. It is not customary in Tajikistan to talk about the relationship of children with adults. https://vecherka.tj/archives/41346 7. 11 stories of Tajik mothers about love for their children. https://vecherka.tj/archives/41282 8. Why Tajik teens break the law. https://vecherka.tj/archives/41482 9. Bullying: Tajik parents started talking about the problems of their children https://vecherka.tj/archives/41397 10. Do you know what is the Internet? https://vecherka.tj/archives/40789 11. Education or entertainment: what are Tajik young people interested in on the Internet? https://vecherka.tj/archives/39213 12. Tajik teens in the media are not silent any longer. “Vecherka” together with the public organization “Dast ba give” will implement a media project for children and parents. https://media.tj/podrostki-tadzhikistana-v-media-novyj-proekt-pri-podderzhke- internews/?fbclid=IwAR3EQDqxdiBqFGlsYXFYeSyNrsDOioh_Q678iER4WmteEJNhn Y4DxmJ8AuY 13. The first talk show dedicated to children with Down syndrome was filmed in Khujand https://media.tj/v-xudzhande-snyali-pervoe-tok-shou-posvyashhennoe-detyam-s- sindromom- dauna/?fbclid=IwAR3AMHkjvxFZdXRSThaaBbL4SKbi3WmGz7q0p1Gt51ttbqVZ- erj9lTgekk 14. Project # Early start: how media in Tajikistan help parents https://media.tj/proekt-rannijstart-kak-media-v-tadzhikistane-pomogayut- roditelyam/?fbclid=IwAR1sWtUdQyExhU8i4n2RnDqpID3a-oqsULx- oOBRDuqYZPrAoofHoVRKp_0 15. How to receive grant from Internews on Media and Digital Literacy Projects https://newreporter.org/2019/12/31/kak-poluchit-granty-internews-na-proekty-po-media- i-cifrovoj-gramotnosti/ 16. Teens of Tajikistan in the media. New project supported by Internews https://media.tj/podrostki-tadzhikistana-v-media-novyj-proekt-pri-podderzhke- internews/?fbclid=IwAR3EQDqxdiBqFGlsYXFYeSyNrsDOioh_Q678iER4WmteEJNhn Y4DxmJ8AuY 17. The most unfortunate people in the media of Tajikistan are middle managers https://media.tj/samye-neschastnye-lyudi-v-media-tadzhikistana-eto-menedzhery- srednego-zvena/ 18. How to double the audience of your site https://newreporter.org/2020/01/08/kak-uvelichit-auditoriyu-svoego-sajta-v-dva- raza/?fbclid=IwAR2CI6jfqxq8_UwB74Khdt16rl5D8ylNqJwV2qpmQyt- 65bv07tmhqZFkC8

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Annex 4. Public Communication Materials

Kazakhstan # Subject Internews.kz Newreporter.org Calls & grants 1.2.1. Thematic Call for applications https://newreporter.org/2019/ and skills-based 12/30/stipendialnaya- training for media programma-na-poezdki/ practitioners 1.2.1. Thematic Call for applications https://ru.internews.kz/2019/1 and skills-based 1/konkurs-organizatsiya- training for media treninga-po-bazovym- practitioners navykam-zhurnalistiki-dlya- molodyh-zhurnalistov/ 3.1.1. Support and Call for applications https://ru.internews.kz/2019/1 improve legal 1/grantovyj-konkurs- monitoring, postroenie-effektivnyh- analysis, and kommunikatsij-media-i- advocacy gosorganov/

1.2.1. Thematic Call for applications https://ru.internews.kz/2019/1 and skills-based 1/konkurs-organizatsiya- training for media akseleratora-dlya-media/ practitioners

3.3. Access to Call for applications https://ru.internews.kz/2019/1 public 1/konkurs-na-sozdanie-i- information is podderzhku-platformy- increased for all otkrytyh-dannyh-dlya- media and zhurnalistov-v-kazahstane-i- journalists tadzhikistane-2/ 3.2. Support Call for applications https://ru.internews.kz/2019/1 independent 1/grantovyj-konkurs- broadcasters to podderzhka-veshhatelej-pri- advocate for and perehode-na-tsifrovoe- ensure their veshhanie-v-kazahstane/ equities in the digital switchover process

2.2.1. Foster Call for applications https://ru.internews.kz/2019/1 https://newreporter.org/2019/ development of 1/konkurs-na-uchastie-v- 11/07/konkurs-na-uchastie-v- citizen reporting proekte-grazhdanskie- proekte-grazhdanskie- networks zhurnalisty-dlya-media- zhurnalisty-dlya-media- kazahstana-i-tadzhikistana/ kazaxstana-i-tadzhikistana/

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3.1.1. Support and Call for applications https://ru.internews.kz/2019/1 improve legal 1/konkurs-grantov-dlya- monitoring, uluchsheniya-pravovoj- analysis, and mediasredy/ advocacy 3.1.2. Strengthen Call for applications https://ru.internews.kz/2019/1 media industry 1/grantovyj-konkurs- associations for podderzhka- improved mediaassotsiatsij-kazahstana/ representation and self-regulation 1.1.1. Grants and Call for applications https://ru.internews.kz/2019/1 technical support 0/konkurs-idej-po- for quality proizvodstvu- content otechestvennogo-kontenta/ production

Tajikistan

# of Activities Subject Internews website Newreporter.org Calls & grants 1.1.1. Grants and Call for applications: https://media.tj/internews-v- technical support competition for ideas tadzhikistane-obyavlyaet- for quality on local content konkurs-idej-na- content production proizvodstvo- production Labs otechestvennogo-kontenta/

ER 1.2. Call for applications: https://media.tj/konkurs- Strengthen search for partners to organizaciya-media- professional organize an akseleratora/ development of accelerator for media media practitioners across traditional and “new” media platforms (New Media Accelerator) ER 1.2. Call for competition https://media.tj/konkurs- Strengthen for participation in akselerator-dlya-novyx-i- professional media accelerator. molodyozhnyx-media/ development of media practitioners

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across traditional and “new” media platforms (New Media Accelerator) 1.1.2. Inclusive Call for conduction https://media.tj/v- Content Labs Inclusive content tadzhikistane-obyavlen- laboratories under konkurs-na-provedenie- the title Challenges kontent-laboratorii-na-temu- of Education System obrazovaniya/ in Tajikistan

2.2.1. Foster Call for Competition https://newreporter.org/2019/ development of to participate in the 11/07/konkurs-na-uchastie-v- citizen reporting project "Citizen proekte-grazhdanskie- networks Journalists" for the zhurnalisty-dlya-media- media of Kazakhstan kazaxstana-i-tadzhikistana/ and Tajikistan 2.2.2. Build Call for applications https://media.tj/internews-v- additional for grants on tadzhikistane-obyavlyaet- avenues for audience konkurs-grantov-dlya-media- citizen engagement na-proekty-po-vovlecheniyu- engagement with auditorii/?fbclid=IwAR0bkRl local media 4KqBXGd98YMApbNJnh6k qIPNWmxsmZhdOPbVFA3 QwHOQuhsei-Bo 2.1.2. Support Call for grants https://media.tj/konkurs- broad-based application on Media grantov-na-razvitie-media-i- media literacy and Digital Literacy cifrovoj-gramotnosti-v- education Development in tadzhikistane/ Tajikistan 3.1.1. Support Call for Grant https://media.tj/konkurs- and improve legal Competition: uluchshenie-pravovoj-sredy- monitoring, Improving the Legal dlya-media-v-tadzhikistane-2/ analysis, and Environment for advocacy Media in Tajikistan 3.2. Support Call for Grant https://media.tj/grantovyj- independent Competition: konkurs-podderzhka- broadcasters to Support veshhatelej-pri-perexode-na- advocate for and Broadcasters in cifrovoe-veshhanie-v- ensure their Switching to Digital tadzhikistane/ equities in the Broadcast in digital switchover Tajikistan process Events 1.1.1. Grants and The first round of https://media.tj/proshyol- technical support the competition of pervyj-tur-konkursa-idej-na-

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for quality ideas for local proizvodstvo- content content production otechestvennogo-kontenta/ production Labs took place

2.2.1. Foster Project # Early start: https://media.tj/proekt- development of how media in rannijstart-kak-media-v- citizen reporting Tajikistan help tadzhikistane-pomogayut- networks parents roditelyam/?fbclid=IwAR3Tj FQwSsGP8uq0ouuXz475685 4KkRCPFeO3IhCU3PtHp6F bJ5d1da9Daw 2.2.2. Build Teens from https://media.tj/podrostki- additional Tajikistan in the tadzhikistana-v-media-novyj- avenues for media. New project proekt-pri-podderzhke- citizen supported by internews/ engagement with Internews local media

2.1.2. Support A webinar on how to https://media.tj/v- broad-based get grants for media tadzhikistane-projdet- media literacy and digital literacy vebinar-o-tom-kak-poluchit- education projects will be held granty-na-proekty-po-media- in Tajikistan i-cifrovoj-gramotnosti/ 2.2.1. Media outlets https://media.tj/otobrany- Foster selected to develop pobediteli-konkursa-grantov- development of citizen reporting na-sozdanie-setej- citizen reporting networks in grazhdanskix-zhurnalistov/ networks Tajikistan

Uzbekistan 1.2.1 Thematic and skills- Seminar on video reporting https://newreporter.org/2019/ based training for media and editing on mobile devices 12/03/konkurs-na-uchastie-v- practitioners for journalists, bloggers and treninge-mobilnoe-video- citizen journalists dlya-media-iz-uzbekistana/

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Annex 5. Key media law issues Kazakhstan during the quarter (Activity 3.1.1)

# Item Description 1. Draft law “On The draft law is still being reviewed by government agencies as Amendments and part of a standard lawmaking procedure and is yet to be submitted Additions to Certain to the Mazhilis (Lower Chamber) of the Parliament of Kazakhstan. Legislative Acts of This law would be very helpful for the media, as it removes some the Republic of restrictions on advertising (e.g. advertising of low-alcohol drinks Kazakhstan on in the media will be allowed) and introduces tax incentives for Information Issues” media entities. However, any further improvements are in doubt, as of over 50 amendments to existing laws (On Media, On Access to Information, On Advertising, On Broadcasting) proposed by Internews, only three have been supported by the draft law author, the Ministry of Information and Social Development of Kazakhstan.

2. Draft new The draft new regulations have been under development since regulations for the March 2019, and the interim version of the draft indicates that not accreditation of all Internews proposals have been accepted. Internews proposals journalists wishing aimed at clarifying the duties and responsibilities of the to attend press accrediting organization toward journalists; promoted greater conferences of state freedom of creativity and access to information for accredited bodies journalists; and sought to simplify the procedure for requesting and obtaining accreditation as well as to reduce the number of acceptable grounds for accreditation withdrawal.

3. Draft Code “On The draft Code is currently under review of the Parliament of Public Health and Kazakhstan, and contains a chapter that deals with the advertising Health Care System” of medication, medical services, equipment, treatment methods, etc., as well as certain requirements to reduce the harm from smoking and alcohol consumption. The initial draft included provisions to restrict advertising of food products harmful to the health (e.g. high level fat, salt or sugar containing food products) in the media, and a ban on the demonstration of smoking scenes in the media, especially on TV. Following discussion with the draft Code developer, the Ministry of Health Care, these provisions were excluded from the draft. The provisions on the advertising of medication, medical equipment, and dietary supplements in the media remained unchanged, i.e. no prior permission from an authorized state agency for advertising these items is required. Internews submitted proposals regarding this topic and MediaCAMP’s Regional Media Law Advisor spoke during several related roundtables attended by government officials.

4. Other media • Amendments to elections legislation on issues of media legislation issues participation in election campaigns;

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• Changes to the regulatory decisions of the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan on the consideration of defamation cases (“On judicial practice of considering cases of protection of honor and dignity,” “On compensation for moral damages;”). • Proposals to amend the codes of conduct of public servants with regard to their interaction with the media.

5. Assistance to the In addition, during the quarter, MediaCAMP subgrantee Legal legal defense of Media Center facilitated an effective partnership of media lawyers media in courts from various media outlets to address common problems and challenges through establishing contact between media lawyers and creating a Facebook group where they could coordinate and exchange information: 1) A lawsuit involving the protection of honor, dignity, and business reputation initiated by a former head of the police department of Semey against the editors of the NewTimes.kz and TV station Channel One Eurasia. The court upheld two of the three charges of the plaintiff and the lawyers of the media outlets are now preparing to appeal the decision of the court of first instance; 2) A lawsuit against several media (Informburo.kz, Channel One Eurasia, TV and Radio Company Kazakhstan, Radio Azattyk) from former senior officials of the Ministry of Education and Science to protect honor, dignity, and business reputation. The plaintiffs finally withdrew the lawsuit apparently due to the weak case they have presented. 3) Media lawyers also jointly advocated against amendments to the draft Code on Public Health and the Health Care System, which could limit advertising in the media. In particular, the lawyers spoke at roundtables with relevant government officials and sent proposals on behalf of individual media outlets (rather than sending only one proposal from a large group, to increase the quantity of proposals received) to the Ministry of Health Care and the local Chamber of Commerce, which has a strong lobbying position with the government.

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Annex 6. Links to Asia Plus publications on labor migration under Activity 3.3

1. The number of Tajik migrants is increasing but remittances are decreasing (Russian, Tajik, Migrantnews) 2. Tajikistan’s economy is still highly depednednt on remittances from labor migrants (Russian, Tajik, Facebook) 3. Migrants earn more money than exporters of Tajik products (Russian, Facebook, Telegram) 4. Tajikistan has received 8.5 times more money from migrants than from direct investments (Russian, Tajik, English, Facebook, Telegram) 5. Remittances constitute one-third of Tajikistan’s GDP (Russian, Tajik, Facebook, Telegram) 6. How important social and economic events in Russia influenced the flow of remittances (Russian, Facebook, Telegram) 7. Migrants are the main suppliers of foreign currency (Russian, Tajik, English, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram) 8. More than one-third of all the family income in Tajikistan are formed of remittances (Russian, Facebook, Telegram) 9. Flow of cash in Tajikistan is increasing regardless of the size of money transfers (Russian, Telegram) 10. Money transfers are making a substantial part of budget income in Tajikistan through VAT (Russian, Tajik, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram)

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