Cultivating Media Independence Initiative Activity in the Kyrgyz Republic
Funding provided by: United States Agency for International Development Cooperative Agreement No. AID-176-LA-17-00001
Quarterly Progress Report
January 1 – March 31, 2019
Submitted: April 30, 2019
Submitted to:
Erkin Konurbaev Agreement Officer’s Representative USAID/Kyrgyz Republic [email protected]
Table of Contents Executive Summary ...... 1 Highlights ...... 1 Project Activities ...... 2 SP1: Increase Domestic Production and Hosting of More Engaging Multi-Media Content ..... 2 1.1 Comprehensive Support for Key Partners ...... 2 1.2. Engaging Content Grants (ECGs) ...... 11 1.3. Data Journalism Fellowships ...... 15 1.4. Professional Media Education ...... 18 SP2: Media Managers Increase Advertising Revenues ...... 22 2.1. Key Partner Corporate Investment ...... 23 SP3: Disparate Stakeholders Better Coordinate Efforts to Help the Sector ...... 25 3.1. Annual Media Conference ...... 25 3.2. Media Policy Action ...... 26 3.3. Support for Media Audience Research ...... 29 3.4. Media Market Fairs ...... 30 Project Management and Staffing ...... 30 Financial Overview ...... 30 Challenges/Lessons Learned ...... 30 List of Annexes ...... 31 Annex 1. Monitoring and Evaluation Table ...... 31 Annex 2. Performance improvement plan for 24.kg ...... 31 Annex 3. Performance improvement plan for Elgezit ...... 32 Annex 4. Performance improvement plan for Govori.tv ...... 32 Annex 5. Performance improvement plan for Lyubimyi TV ...... 32 Annex 6. Performance improvement plan for Maral Media ...... 32 Annex 7. MPI’s legal analysis of the legislation on Yntymak ...... 32 Annex 8. MPI’s legal analysis of the bill on Protection of Children From Information That Harms Their Health And Development ...... 32 Annex 9. Media Industrial Committee’s request to USAID ...... 32 Annex 10. Summary List of Sub-grants and Loans Issued this Quarter ...... 33 Annex 11. Plans for Next Quarter ...... 36 Annex 12. Performance Indicator Tracking Table ...... 39
Media-K/Cultivating Media Independence Initiative in the Kyrgyz Republic i Quarterly Report, January 1 – March 31, 2019
Executive Summary
The Cultivating Media Independence Initiative (Media-K) project is focused on increasing the professionalism and independence of media to ensure that citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic have greater access to diverse and balanced information, are less vulnerable to media bias, and are empowered to make more informed civic decisions that reflect their communities’ priorities to best serve the public interest. The implementation period runs from October 1, 2017, through August 31, 2020.
Media-K implements a series of activities devoted to accomplishing the following project sub-purposes (SPs): • SP1: Increase Domestic Production and Hosting of More Engaging Multi-Media Content • SP2: Media Managers Increase Advertising Revenues • SP3: Disparate Stakeholders Better Coordinate Efforts to Help the Sector
Highlights 1. Media-K’s March residency with NTS’ web team resulted in the production of more multimedia content that attracted a larger audience. Many of the publications appeared in the list of most viewed content, increasing the number of users by 68.4%. NTS’ Facebook and Instagram pages also continue to gain new followers. 2. Kloop Media finalized its strategic plan for 2019-2021. They were eager discuss not only the plan, but also the project’s subsequent implementation and monitoring processes. Before partnering with Media-K, Kloop Media had not previously been equipped with these systems and documents. 3. Politklinika upgraded its website, making content load faster and following modern trends of audience behavioral preferences. 4. In February, Salam Media upgraded its radio studio, replacing old equipment from the early 2000s, and developed a new digital radio station, improving the quality of the signal and bega 5. n streaming live broadcasts on Facebook and YouTube to expand audience reach. The upgraded newsroom hosted a radio training and was visited by the United States Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic, who came to celebrate the studio’s upgrade. 6. Based on some progress made by Yntymak to meet audit recommendations, USAID decided to resume funding the broadcaster from November 2018 to February. USAID also stipulated that for funding to be continued in the future, Yntymak needs to demonstrate total improvement on each recommendation from the audit by the end of May. 7. The Smotri V Oba (Both Eyes Open) content production project of Media-K’s Engaging Content Grants component attracted the attention of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Current Time channel, which is funding the project’s continuation in order to expand audience reach across Central Asia. Therefore, more VR-360° documentary films will be featured, enriching locally produced content. 8. Factcheck.kg’s investigations into the corrupt practices of government officials, conducted through Year Two’s Engaging Content Grants, gained the government’s attention, which led to the latter’s decision to investigate corruption findings. 9. Media-K completed its Year One Data Journalism Fellowship program. Six journalists in teams of two produced 16 data-driven publications on issues of public interest. One of the stories generated huge interest among readers and caused a public
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discussion that attracted the ombudsman of the country, journalists and rights defenders. The data stories generated, on average, 35% more views than other publications of the partnering media outlets, a huge success for this Media-K component. Based on the experience and lessons learned during the first year, Media- K started to implement the second year of this fellowship program with new fellows who have already begun formulating data-based arguments to help the wider community discuss national problems. 10. Media-K’s School of Multimedia Storytelling yielded the first multimedia publication produced by the school’s alumni. Four more publications are scheduled to be released by next quarter. 11. Media-K conducted a series of trainings to help Key Partners and the broader media community acquire new skills to produce more engaging and attractive content to increase their audiences. The 111 (68 women) journalists who participated in these trainings improved their knowledge and skills this quarter. 12. The Media Policy Institute successfully mediated a dispute between the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic and the journalists of media outlet Novye Litsa. To an extent, Media-K’s successful track record of facilitating mediations also demonstrates the government’s willingness to settle disputes with journalists at the negotiating table. 13. Media-K and the Media Industrial Committee signed an agreement and took steps toward launching the first Peoplemetering project in the Kyrgyz Republic. The consortium, led by Nielsen, opened a local office and started the preparatory work to conduct the survey.
Project Activities
SP1: Increase Domestic Production and Hosting of More Engaging Multi- Media Content
1.1 Comprehensive Support for Key Partners
(Please see Activity 2.1 for additional information about assistance to Year One & Two Key Partners.)
Assistance to Year One Key Partners
NTS
On March 11-15, Online Adviser Valentina Galich conducted a residency for two female editors at NTS to improve the production of multimedia content. During the five-day residency, the web team participated in eight master classes, during which they become skilled at eight different online services. Applying the skills learned, the participants produced 39 units of multimedia content for Instagram and eight multimedia publications for NTS’ website during the residency. Six of these publications were the most viewed during the period of the residency. The teams also produced short videos for social networks using VideoWrapper; swipe cards for NTS’ Instagram page using Canva; interactive content using PersonalityQuizz, FlipCard, RankedList, Convo, and List; and the before-and-after format using FlourishStudio. The production of multimedia content positively affected viewership figures. During the period of the second residency, the number of users increased by 68.4% (there were 869 users before the residency and 1,464 users after the residency). To compare
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these statistics with the first residency, conducted in October 2018, the figures were the following: 605 before and 652 after (an increase of 7.7%).
Following Valentina’s recommendations, the web-editors revised the visual concept of NTS’ Instagram page. Now, NTS’ content is formatted into three columns: the first column is for swipe cards in Kyrgyz; the second is for swipe cards in Russian; and the third is for short videos. This system of organizing NTS’ content on Instagram is not only efficient and stylish, but also versatile in that it adapts to the behavior of Instagram users who may prefer to scroll through pages horizontally or through individual content vertically. In terms of NTS’ popularity on Instagram, the Online Adviser and the NTS web-editors used the assessed NTS’ Instagram page’s performance against the relevant Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to measure by the end of the first residency: The number of followers increased from 2,494, at the end of October 2018, to 5,303 by the end of December 2018, a 112.6% increase from last quarter the KPI target was 3,500). During the second residency, the number of subscribers increased from 5,303 to 5,410, an increase of 2.01%. Growth during the two residencies is broken down to about 21 subscribers gained per day, a stable growth rate that demonstrates high user interest in NTS’ Instagram page.
NTS’ Facebook page also witnessed an increase in subscribers and activity. During the first residency, the number of subscribers (followers) was 5,384, and by December 2018, the newsroom’s Facebook page reached 7,457, a 38.5% increase (the KPIs target was 6,000). The surge of subscribers is a result of Valentina Galich’s recommendations and the effective work of the NTS web team. By the end of the award, Media-K and NTS aim to reach 10,000 subscribers on both Instagram and Facebook pages.
Applying the knowledge gained from its two residencies, NTS revisited its internal business processes and strategically followed the principle of posting news online prior to broadcasting it on television first. This new approach will drive online views of articles. NTS decided to move its news block on television to mid-day, when audiences would be able to gain more detailed information, including video reports, about the news they had read online.
TV1KG
On February 6 and 7, Valentina Galich provided residence for a female editor of the Vecher Trudnogo Dnya (Hard Day’s Night), a TV project on TV1KG. The residence aimed to improve the editor’s professional skills in producing multimedia content on social networks, such as how to make announcements, conduct tests and voting.
During TV1KG’s residency, the editor learned how to experiment with graphic design, using software for beginners on sites recommended by Valentina Galich, to create static and animated posters, banners, infographics for Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The residency also covered the production of multimedia content using online tools such as Canva, Crello, Pictochart and Playbuzz (Trivia). The editor exercised her new skills in producing content by testing different formats that could be used by the newsroom to promote the Vecher Trudnogo Dnya TV project, and in improving engagement with audiences. The editor also learned how to match color schemes of produced content using Galactic, Color.adobe, and Colorscheme apps. Since TV1KG has no in-staff photographer, Valentina showed the editor online stocks of free photos and videos that could be used for content production.
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By the end of December 2018, TV1KG started live broadcasting Vecher Trudnogo Dnya on Facebook, YouTube, and TV. They plan to upload episodes of the show on Instagram TV as well. Meanwhile, the absence of a Social Media Marketing (SMM) specialist on the team may hinder the newsroom’s social networking accounts from gaining new audiences at a rapid rate. Since launching the accounts in the middle of December 2018, TV1KG only attracted 1,666 followers on Instagram and 969 followers on Facebook, signs of low growth. Nonetheless, the newsroom began to generate income from broadcasting Vecher Trudnogo A multimedia publication encouraging audience Dnya on its Facebook page. engagement
This Key Partner’s management is planning to upgrade its website, which is noninteractive and lacks the option to publish content on multimedia formats. Due to the limitation of funds, however, TV1KG management will search for services that would be able to execute this upgrade for free.
Kloop Media
Kloop Media finalized the narrative of its strategic plan and crafted a detailed plan of activities for 2019. The organization’s main goal is to increase the number of unique users and sessions by a factor of 2.5 ( 250,000-300,000 users per month), through newsroom optimization, the production of content in formats prescribed in the strategic plan, the development and implementation of an editorial policy, the adoption of a work plan for freelance correspondents to execute, and hiring new SMM and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists to optimize the website. Kloop Media also plans to attract new audiences, both from within the country and internationally (mainly Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries and English-speaking viewers) by writing stories about local people who contribute to their communities’ development and reporting on events taking place across different regions. In addition to reaching new audiences, the media outlet is considering creating new media products based on global media trends. By 2021, Kloop Media aims to reach 1.5 million unique visitors per year on its Kyrgyz language website by developing its Kyrgyz language newsroom and increasing the number of original materials produced in Kyrgyz.
The strategic plan that was collectively developed by the staff of Kloop Media was presented to the Media-K team, who will be involved in the plan’s implementation and monitoring. Based on the plan, the newsroom developed qualitative and quantitative performance indicators, in addition to a work schedule for editorial staff. During this reporting quarter, Kloop Media almost finalized its editorial policy, which defines the values, formats and rules of the newsroom. A draft of the editorial policy is scheduled to be completed by early April
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by senior editors of the organization, who are responsible for different areas (news, reports, videos, investigations).
As of spring 2018, Kloop Media has been gradually changing its approach from fast-paced news coverage towards slow explanatory journalism. Initially, this change caused a growth in web activity on its site, then a sharp decline in activity, largely due to the reduced number of publications. It may also have been caused by the editorial office’s resorting to its old tendencies of producing snapshot journalism and inability to adjust fully to higher standards of journalism and news production. Since 2019, however, the editors decided to correct this by not only providing news briefs, but also introducing new formats to the writers.
During this quarter, Kloop Media continued producing more explanatory content that discusses various phenomena in detail. An illustrative example was its publication on the TV series Akshoola featured on KTRK (the national public broadcaster), which presents bride- napping in a positive light. The authors of the article detail why this show and the practice itself are highly problematic and how the Kyrgyz Republic’s main TV channel, KTRK, should not be perpetuating the normalization and tolerance of violence. After Kloop’s publication, readers raised concerns and even fury over KTRK’s editorial policy and how it should not be promoting controversial content based on antiquated norms on a major public TV channel. In its publication about the renaming of Astana to “Nursultan” in Kazakhstan, Kloop Media detailed how this name change was instituted to distract people from a separate, more significant issue: the decision of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev to appoint his daughter as the speaker of the Parliament.
Kloop Media’s most popular piece during the reporting period was a series of publications and an investigation about Kyrgyzstani citizen Atabek Abdullayev, who was arrested in Sweden on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack (the publications generated 11,453 views collectively). The editors analyzed 2,200 pages of documents related to the investigation that were released by Sweden’s security services, deducing that the charge against Abdullayev had no valid grounds, a conclusion also shared by law enforcement agencies in Sweden. With the assistance of his lawyer, Abdullayev was subsequently released, and Kloop Media’s efforts in drawing much public attention to this topic is to be noted.
Another format that has been very popular with audiences is the production of data stories, written in collaboration with the Media-K project, Data School and UN agencies. Kloop Media will continue to develop this format, considering the important role data journalism can serve in providing evidence to back up stories and claims, as well as demonstrate the actual scale of problems.
In addition to the aforementioned formats, Kloop Media, during this quarter, also focused on raising issues of social importance that are not usually discussed openly in the country. The outlet published two such pieces: one about a fire in Tash-Dobo, with a detailed description of the event itself and the apparent suicide of the family that was found in the remains of the fire; the other, a social portrait feature about a 70-year-old aksakal (elderly person), who professionally sews and in doing so, debunks stereotypes about what is considered by some to be an unmasculine profession. Another piece reflecting this new editorial format was the analysis of slogans and posters from the women's march in honor of International Women’s Day, March 8. In these pieces, the authors describe the atmosphere and emphasize the importance of what occurred to provide readers with new perspectives on issues not covered as often. The Women’s Day event also was covered by Kloop Media in other formats—a text
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chronicle and a photo reportage. In total, Kloop published more than 150 publications this quarter, in addition to using short formats, such as posters, photos, infographics with short explanatory texts: «Пост дня», «Одним кадром», «Цитата дня», «В одном графике».
Kloop Media’s recent changes in formatting, editing, and coverage increased its viewership this quarter. While Kloop Media’s site indicators for audience engagement fell by 34% compared to last quarter, reflecting a total of 83,250 unique users, the number of unique visitors increased to 120,843 in this quarter, representing a growth of 45%, compared to the previous quarter.
Kaktus Media
Kaktus Media published several pieces disclosing cases of corruption within various state bodies of the Kyrgyz Republic (Ministry of Finance, Treasury Department, State Service for Combating Economic Crimes, etc). Among them is a series of publications about a shootout in Tokmok, near the Kyrgyz-Kazakhstani border. Kaktus Media played the role of watchdog in this case, disseminating information on the incident, provided that neither customs officials nor police officers reported it. As a result of publicity generated by the article, the police opened a criminal case, and certain policemen who were involved in the incident were sanctioned. However, Kaktus Media is not investigating the smuggling of drugs, which caused the incident, as the outlet is primarily focused on reporting cases of corruption. In February, the media outlet published a story about a victim who was seriously injured by the police. The police tried to keep things quiet, but Kaktus Media’s article led them to initiate an investigation into the matter. Kaktus Media Feedback from a participant who attended also published two investigative reports the residency at Kaktus Media accusing a state official and a police officer of engaging in illegal entrepreneurship activities. At the managerial level, an executive decision was made requiring each journalist to produce an investigative or analytical publication on a monthly basis.
Valentina Galich conducted a four-day residency at Kaktus Media from January 29 - February 1. At the partner’s request, Valentina focused on how to improve data visualization skills of the journalists (5 women and 1 man). The residency accommodated six master classes, during which the team learned new skills in how to operate various online software, such as Flourish Studio, Datawrapper, Storyline, Apester, Piktochart, Galactic, Color.adobe, and Colorscheme. These applications help design various types of visualizations that produce engaging features for online publications. Valentina also shared her experience on the
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benefits of using graphs as a visualization tool. After the residency, Kaktus Media produced and published 15 publications using the online tools learned. They garnered 69,944 views, representing 5.11% of the total number of views on Kaktus Media’s website. Additionally, following the residency, the management of Kaktus Media began to require each journalist to produce at least one infographic publication each week.
Kaktus Media also asked Valentina Galich to suggest ideas for the visualization of their new online project. She proposed using a trendy swiping format, which presents content in a different way for readers to consume. This format is different from scrolling as it involves a different set of actions inspired by online users’ behavior. Swiping is more compatible with Kaktus Media, provided that the majority of the outlet’s audiences consume its content using their smartphones. The management of Kaktus Media also prefers Valentina’s suggested swipe idea and is therefore consulting with the newsroom’s IT team to ensure that this swiping mechanism will be featured on Kaktus Media’s website as well.
Politklinika
In February, Politklinika’s website underwent an upgrade. Speed tests now show a significant improvement in the website’s loading time on both PCs and mobile devices. The design, layout and composition of the website, featuring convenient navigation, are logically structured and user-friendly. Advertisement blocks are placed so as to minimize distractraction from content. The combination of colors visually creates a sense of calmness, balance and trust among users, and the site design follows modern trends, taking readers’ behavioral preferences into account.
Having worked with Valentina Galich during the outlet’s first residency in November 2018, Politklinika has been actively implementing the explanatory journalism format in accordance with the online media specialist’s recommendation. The team has also been applying the online cards format using Playbuzz (List) and started producing more content with the caption video format for topics of social importance using the SUPA online service. Politklinika learned how to use both Playbuzz and SUPA during their first residency in November 2018. They also used caption videos to announce and promote their journalistic investigations, which yielded 37,300 views, 481 shares and 115 comments this quarter. In addition to the aforementioned formats, Politklinika regularly produced interactive content for its website in test format using Playbuzz (Trivia). Throughout this reporting period, the team produced five interactive online tests that engaged 1,155 users.
According to Google Analytics, some of the outlet’s multimedia publications are among the top 20 most-viewed materials on the website. The website’s upgrade and multimedia content thus contributed to the improvement of these online metrics. In comparing with last quarter, the indicator for active users for one day increased by 200% (93 to 279 users), the bounce rate indicator improved by 1.45% (84.64% to 83.43%), and the depth of viewing increased from nine seconds to one minute and 11 seconds.
As for the outlet’s performance on social media, the editorial staff observed a slight increase in followers since last quarter for the following accounts: Facebook - 1,309 to 1,482 followers; Instagram - 456 to 502; Twitter - 84 to 89; and YouTube - 1,158 to 1,561. The insignificant growth was most likely related to the absence of an SMM specialist on the team. The newsroom is trying to address this by hiring SMM interns and training them for future employment, based on their performance.
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Salam Media
Salam Media upgraded their radio studio in Ulukbubu Amirova, Chief Executive February, replacing equipment from the Officer (CEO) of Salam Media: “Our early 2000s. The newsroom is now able to broadcast has become clearer, and the stream live broadcasts on Facebook and sound is pleasing. Now people see that YouTube, expanding their audience reach. someone remembers us, thinks of us, that Salam Radio is also the only broadcaster in expensive equipment arrived, and they are the country identifiable as RADIO SALAM as happy as we are because this support by radio receivers, which will make the inspires us in contrast to the general outlet more recognizable by audiences. negative situation in the [Batken] region. Moreover, on March 1, the U.S. And this encourages youth not to go Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic visited abroad for work but to see an opportunity Salam Media’s studio to see the Key for their future here.” Partner’s improvements in person.
As the other newsrooms have done, Salam Media has been following Valentina Galich’s recommendations to upgrade their online features and components, such as improving their social media presence and producing high-quality, engaging multimedia content for their online audiences. All of Salam Media’s social media pages have been upgraded based on a single corporate design. While producing content on YouTube, the newsroom has been adhering to the content plan that it had developed during its second residency in October 2018. The plan involves producing short videos that feature news stories and live broadcasts. Live broadcasts on its YouTube channel, covering the prices of products at the local livestock market and the prices of cars at a cars sales market, yielded more than 8,000 and 1,000 views, respectively. The videos that present short reviews of news stories generally yield 100 to 1,600 views, depending on the topic. By January, just two months after its launch, the newsroom’s channel managed to unlock YouTube channel monetization and earned $80 USD through their channel during the reporting period.
The newsroom continues to actively use Canva for designing images and SUPA for producing short videos, both of which they learned to operate during their second residency in October 2018. Salam Media has also been posting banners and posters on Facebook
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notifying their audience about electricity outages, announcing upcoming live broadcasts online or upcoming events and announcing weather forecasts.
As for Salam Media’s growth in followers on social media, the production of multimedia content and live broadcasts contributed to its increasing numbers. The newsroom exceeded its target of subscribers on YouTube, which was set at 500, with 9,517 subscribers by the end of March. On Facebook, Salam Media’s target for the end of December was set at 1,000, starting from the baseline of 436 subscribers; by the end of March, the page reached 2,324 followers. With the support of Media-K, Salam Media will continue to work on improving these statistics for their other social media accounts, Instagram and Odnoklassniki, to reach a target of 1,000 followers each.
Yntymak
In October - November 2018, Marka Audit conducted a financial audit of Yntymak under the Media-K project, based on USAID’s request to include annual audits of Yntymak. Following the disappointing audit results, USAID and Media-K jointly decided to temporarily halt activities with the public service broadcaster. Yntymak’s implementation of its financial audit’s requirements is detailed in Activity 2.1 below.
Assistance to Year Two Key Partners
We announced an open tender for Key Partners in Year Two of the project. In total, 34 media outlets applied, and 13 applications were shortlisted. As a result of site visits, five applicants were selected as the project’s Key Partners, based on an evaluation and vote by a committee consisting of Media-K team members and the Agreement Officer’s Representative (AOR). The criteria for selection were:
1) Having a development strategy and vision 2) Content compliance (Independent Editorial Policy) 3) Capacity to achieve the project’s objectives 4) Having a platform to disseminate information using multimedia instruments
To stick to the Media-K Year Two timeline (with a shorter period of support for Year Two Key Partners compared to Year One Key Partners), Media-K started the assessment of the selected media outlets in order to be able to start implementing performance improvement plans immediately upon USAID’s approval. During the reporting period, Media-K completed organizational capacity assessments (OCAs) of all five selected applicants. This included content analysis, organizational capacity assessment, and assessment of IT and infrastructure to help Media-K determine which areas need to be prioritized for improvement. The assessment results were converted into Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) that were delivered to each partner in February-March (attached as Annexes 2-6).
By the end of the reporting period, the AOR approved four of the five recommended Year Two Key Partners: TV channel “Lyubimyi,” online analytical portal “Elgezit,” online TV “Govori,” and online news agency www.24.kg. The delay with “Maral TV” is related to the outlet’s technical need to purchase a large amount of equipment, requiring additional time to define the technical specifications and costs for the indicated equipment.
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Priorities for the support of Year Two Key Partners and planned activities are provided below:
24.kg intends to increase production of content, improve financial and technical capacities, engage more traffic from social platforms, and develop strategic plans. 24.kg will extend its content by adding multimedia and video content to increase viewership. To achieve better engagement, the news agency will increase its presence on social platforms including YouTube. Improvements in financial management will include an upgrade of the existing financial software and introduction of new advertising instruments with the help of Internews’ advisors. Technical improvements will include the upgrade of the agency’s website to make it user-friendly and optimize the administrative panel, as well as the installation of a new server to maintain the uninterrupted work of the newsroom.
Govori TV intends to launch new programs and increase the production of online content by introducing multimedia tools. To improve the quality of programs and engage more viewers, Govori TV intends to make a number of improvements, including upgrading their website, training for their journalists and cameramen, and purchasing modern equipment. Govori TV will produce a large amount of video and multimedia content within the upcoming six months, which the current website will not be able to manage. The new website will entail better functional capacities, improved design and usability, and will be optimized for publication of video and multimedia content. The journalists and cameramen will be trained on filming and editing video, production of analytical video and investigative materials, and social media marketing to be able to promote materials online. The purchase of equipment including video cameras, steadycams, laptops, editing computers, teleprompter, microphones, radio patches, tripods, and a drone will provide for the launch of new programs.
Maral TV intends to strengthen its institutional, financial, and technical capacities to become a full-fledged TV station. After a successful run as a top radio station, Maral TV launched its TV channel and gradually reformatted into a TV station. However, the existing technical and human capacities demand investments. To improve technical capacities, the station plans to renovate the existing production studios and purchase new equipment to improve program quality. Development of internal policies and editorial guidelines for journalists is expected to increase professionalism of the editorial team and contribute to enhancing institutional capacity. The editorial team consisting of journalists, cameramen, sound engineers, and IT specialists will be trained by Maral TV and Media-K. Finally, Maral TV will seek commercial sponsorship and create advertiser-friendly content. Media-K’s business advisor will closely assist Maral TV in training the commercial department and improving business processes.
TV channel Lubymyi intends to increase the amount of content by increasing production of and purchasing TV content. In order to fulfill the legal requirement of having no less than 50% of its total content broadcast be produced domestically, the channel will launch new talk shows and introduce new commercial programs. To achieve the 50% requirement, the channel will also purchase films, TV shows, programs, and sports events. In order to match the technical needs related to launching new programs, the channel intends to purchase studio equipment with the capacity of live broadcasting to better engage the audience. The remaining priority is strengthening its online presence and promotion by training the website team on search engine optimization techniques and social media marketing. For better promotion of TV content, the channel plans to add descriptions under videos, show behind- the-scenes content and teasers, and launch announcements of all television projects.
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Online analytical media Elgezit intends to increase the number of publications, bring more advertising revenue, strengthen institutional capacity, and modernize its equipment. Elgezit is one of the few online media that publishes analytical materials on various topics. It was launched recently and thus needs to grow as an institution. As a Key Partner, Elgezit plans to hire journalists, cameramen, and editors to increase the number of publications and improve the quality of materials published. The newly-hired staff, along with the existing personnel, will be trained on journalistic standards, writing materials, online publication and promotion, and using multimedia tools. Their website will be modified to include additional features to maintain video and multimedia materials. The journalists will also be provided with modern cameras, computers, mobile phones and coding devices to better prepare and publish materials. In order to work towards financial sustainability, Elgezit will train its commercial department on how to use online advertisement tools and make active sales. Media-K’s business advisor will provide consultations on effective advertising methods.
1.2. Engaging Content Grants (ECGs)
Updates on Year One Engaging Content Grants
During the reporting quarter, seven more of the original 15 awardees completed their projects. Three teams (White Paper, ArtFund Women of Asia, and Pokolenie 21) asked that their awards to be extended in order to complete their respective projects. Below are updates on the seven projects that were completed this quarter and the three that were extended.
1. The ArtFaqt team reached an agreement with OTRK to broadcast their three documentary films about culture centers in Kaindy, Tokmok, and Kara-Balta. After broadcasting, the films will be available on the tvexchange.asia platform.
2. The Union of Photographers completed their project this quarter. After producing their short documentary series, “Disappearing Kyrgyzstan,” and airing it on April TV last quarter, they converted the stories into online-only formats for Kaktus Media. All content will be available on the tvexchange.asia platform.
3. The Media School completed their project by translating their nine special reports about young people who successfully solved important problems in their communities from Kyrgyz to Russian. The reports were uploaded onto their YouTube channel in January.
4. In reviewing the subtitles of the 10 episodes of White Paper’s cartoon series Kyz Kiyal, Elima Dzhaparova noted a number of spelling errors in the texts, significant inaccuracies in translation from Russian to Kyrgyz and vice versa. She also warned the authors about sensitive moments in the script, questioning the accuracy of the mentions and quotations on religious tenets and the feasibility of their usage in content intended for younger audiences. There were also some technical problems with the video quality. As a result, the authors edited the script to make it more neutral, without unduly mentioning religion, and corrected the aforementioned issues. As soon as the content is ready (expected by mid-April) and published, the heroines of the cartoons will begin their virtual life on Instagram. The White Paper team is currently negotiating with OTRK on broadcasting their cartoons.
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5. ArtFund Women of Asia is producing a 60-minute documentary called "Tokol" investigating the issue of polygamy and unofficial marriage in the Kyrgyz Republic. The directors produced a rough cut of the film. After a review, Media-K insisted on premiering two screenings of the film: one at the hall of the Republican House of Cinema, with famous Kyrgyzstani film directors Aibek Daiyrbekov and Nurkiz Tunkatarov in attendance; and the other for the Media-K team at their office. These screenings were carried out to determine the possible reaction that a film with sensitive topics would receive.
Aibek Daiyrbekov noted that the theme of the film is relevant and reveals the urgent need to address polygamy, provided that it is still practiced. He and the other directors also provided suggestions on the video and the tempo of the film. The Media-K team also asked a number of questions regarding the film’s content, video sequencing and saturation, as well as the development of the history of heroines and their representation for the director, Alizhan Nasyrov, to answer. As a result of the film’s preview, Media-K decided to extend implementation of the project to allow the team more time to make changes. Within six months, Alizhan Nasyrov should complete work on the project, including not only the development of stories of existing heroines, but also possibly stories about new heroines.
6. Ayai Media produced seven documentary films about young people contributing to the development of small and medium- sized cities of the country last quarter. During this quarter, they added subtitles to the videos and published them on YouTube. Ayai Media reached an agreement to air their films with Yntymak. Meanwhile, negotiations are underway with OTRK. All seven films will be
released under a free license on the An Exhibition Organized by Walkerstory tvexchange.asia platform.
7. Walkerstory completed its project this quarter. The team produced 10 long reads about the following individuals who brought positive changes to their respective regional communities: Musa Imanaliev, who opened a center for treating homeless people dealing with alcohol addiction; Kuvan Imanaliev, a teacher who with his students opened a museum devoted to the underwater city of Issyk-Kul; and Isa Omurkunova and Taalaykul Arzymatova, a couple who opened a crisis center for women, kids and many others. All 10 stories were converted into radio podcasts that were broadcasted by the Network of Community Radio Stations.
On March 28, Walkerstory held a one-day exhibition showcasing 30 graphical sketches of various sights that the project’s team visited under this award. Some of the exhibited pieces also included quotations of the inspirational people featured in their publications, in addition to the QR codes that lead to where the respective stories took place. More than 80 people attended the exhibition that wrapped up the project.
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8. By the end of the quarter, Pokolenie 21 published 11 special reports and produced 10 talk shows on various issues of public interest through their engaging content grant so far, with one report, two talk shows and one publication on ResPublica left for the next quarter. During the reporting quarter, the team continued to conduct investigations and invited speakers to talk shows to discuss air pollution in Bishkek and other environment- related topics. They will also soon be discussing the government’s initiative to privatize the Kyrgyz Temir Jolu company on a talk show planned for April. They also participated in several talk shows on topics that were aired and reported on last quarter: the pros and cons of the Kyrgyz Republic’s participation in the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Kyrgyz Republic’s public health care system. The former and latter topics were both published on ResPublica’s website, as well.
9. Adilet Bektursunov published its fourth (and final) VR-360° documentary film for its Smotri V Oba (Both Eyes Open) project this quarter. The film is about Egor Panshin, a former doctor who now guides both locals and international visitors around Bishkek’s historical sites. Meanwhile, teachers at a local university recommended for their students majoring in History to watch Adilet Bektursunov’s third film, which is about the ancient routes of the Silk Road along the Tyan-Shan mountains. After completing the documentary film series, Adilet Bektursunov signed a contract with the Current Time channel to continue the project’s geographical expansion across Central Asia. This new project is called Asia 360°.
10. The Respublica team completed their project and broadcast the last six episodes of the We Speak talk show on Next TV and on their website, covering important events that occurred in 2018, the anti-Chinese protests, the new codes in force causing the revision of certain criminal cases, and other topics. All episodes will be available for rebroadcasting by other mediums in the country. The newsroom will continue to produce the We Speak talk show on its own.
Updates on Year Two Engaging Content Grants
Currently, Media-K is supporting nine media organizations and production companies in Year Two of the project. Information regarding the seven media organizations that received concurrence from USAID was provided in the previous quarterly report. A grants committee consisting of Media-K members and USAID’s AOR recommended that Next TV and Precedent Info apply for ECGs after they were not selected to become Key Partners. Their subsequent ECG applications were supported.
We have received USAID approvals for all nine applications. Grant agreements have been signed with seven media organizations, and due diligence and agreements with Next TV and Precedent Info will be completed in the next quarter.
On March 24-27, the Union of Photographers and April TV teams participated in Yuri Burtsev’s workshop on producing documentary films (see details of the workshop in Section 1.4). Media-K arranged separate sessions for both teams with the trainer. The teams presented their projects to Yuri and received his feedback and recommendations for improvement.
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Three of the initial seven supported content producers already published some content under their awards. Below is a brief update on those projects thus far:
1. Media Development Center (factcheck.kg)
In this quarter, Factcheck.kg published two investigations and five factchecking materials. All publications were cleared by lawyers prior to their publication.
For their first investigative report, the awardee used open data to analyze the income and expenses of the Agency of Primary Vocational Education of the Kyrgyz Republic under the Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic. The report mentions cases of overpriced procurements of supplies and equipment as well as the renting of facilities of vocational centers and dormitories at prices significantly lower than market price. The second investigative report was a continuation of the first, revealing how the directors of the vocational centers operate businesses out of the centers and the center’s equipment that was procured through donor’s funds. The journalists also found discrepancies between the rent collected from dormitory residents and the funds allocated in the budget. Following the publication of the investigations, the Agency of Primary Vocational Education started an internal investigation and the police opened criminal cases against these officials.
The team checked facts in five popular and viral publications to show audiences what was actually true and what was fake. Only one out of the five actively shared publications appeared to be fact-based; the others were based on false information: an article about the arrest of Kyrgyzstani officers at the Kyrgyz-Tajik border by Tajik officers, published in Russian by Asia Times; a report published in Russian about a boy who died from drinking soda that was shared via WhatsApp by a group of concerned parents; fake stories in Russian about a baby born in a tomb and in Kyrgyz about a pregnant 8-9 year girl that were released from random personal user accounts; and lastly, a report that provided false information about a man who was accused of raping a woman in Yakutia, Russia that was published in Russian and Kyrgyz languages by one of the Kyrgyz Republic’s most popular online newsrooms, AKIpress. After the report was published, AKIpress apologized on its page for disseminating misinformation. Factcheck.kg also analyzed a post stating that a deputy of Bishkekski Gorodskoi Kenesh (the municipal parliament of Bishkek) has Russian citizenship, which deputies are forbidden from having by law. After journalists confirmed this fact, the election committee initiated its own investigation.
Elima Dzhaparova shared recommendations with the Media Development Center, suggesting changing Factcheck.kg’s formats of investigations and to use a common style for all their investigations.
2. Jurogumdo Muzyka (Music In My Heart) project by Maalymat Media
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Maalymat Media signed agreements with the Children's Art School and the Special Boarding School for Blind and Visually Impaired Children to be its partners for the production of a six-episode reality show about blind children learning how to play musical instruments. Initially, Maalymat Media planned to conduct a casting with students of the Special Boarding School for Blind and Visually Impaired Children. However, after discussing with the Visually impaired students learning how to teachers of the schools, the project team play musical instruments agreed that casting might negatively impact the students who were not selected. The teachers instead nominated six participants (girls and boys equally represented), who they believed were the best candidates for the project. The project team obtained written consents from the parents of the children who would be participating in the project.
Musicians of the Ibarat (word) band will teach music and mentor selected children in the next quarter of the project. The participants of the project will also have organized meetings with inspiring leaders and athletes, as well as interviews, where they will be able to share their personal stories.
3. Visual Arts Development Fund (Ruslan Akun), Media Camp project In March, Ruslan Akun announced a competition to select people to participate in a media camp project on several platforms. The announcement was the most viewed post on Internews’ Facebook page. Participants in groups of two or three people will be encouraged to produce a short video or performance. Approximately 30 authors of the most creative, innovative and extraordinary works will be selected as part of the competition. The event will be held at Issyk Kul, where participants will be able to dedicate their time and sole attention to the media camp’s training. Currently, preparations are underway for this camp.
1.3. Data Journalism Fellowships
Completion of Year One program
On January 22, Media-K hosted a public discussion of a data-driven publication prepared by Savia Hasanova and Anna Kapushenko, two of the project’s Year One data journalism fellows. The event gathered 43 journalists and activists (15 men and 28 women), with 743 unique viewers who
At the Data Story Discussion watched the event via live streaming on Facebook, to discuss the data fellows’ findings. The findings revealed that 96% of people charged with a crime in the Kyrgyz Republic are found guilty by Kyrgyz courts. Exceptions of this rule seem to apply only to state officials. Event participants were able to ask questions about the publication’s authors as well as the invited guests: Tokon Mamytov,
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the country’s ombudsman, and Rita Karasartova, a prominent human rights defender. The ombudsman agreed to review the findings in order to include them in his annual report for the Parliament. Disappointingly, none of the invited judges showed up for the discussion.
By the end of January, Year One data fellows released two more publications. In the first one, the fellows came to the data-based conclusion that Kyrgyz entrepreneurs prefer to conduct business illegally. Among the main reasons are high taxes, corruption and bureaucracy in government agencies. The publication gathered 4,086 views on the website and 307 reactions on the Facebook. Another story was about the problem of parents not being fulfilled in their duties and responsibilities as caretakers. Data showed that after work, parents prefer to watch television instead of communicating with their children due to being emotionally burnt out and exhausted by constant attempts to survive and financially support their family. Despite the interesting topic, the latter publication received low readership indicators.
Based on data from Google Analytics on the first year of this component, the data stories generated more traffic than other analytical content on both Kloop Media and Yntymak, though not for Kaktus Media. On average, for the three media outlets the data stories generated 35% more views in comparison to the publications of the other partner media outlets.
By the end of the first year of the component, the Year One data fellows published 16 articles instead of 18, as planned, since some of the fellows failed to meet their commitments. Media- K paid closer attention to the Year Two selection of fellows, considering that while in Year One, the fellows were selected based on their applications, in Year Two, Media-K and Anastasia Valeeva conducted interviews of short-listed candidates. Moreover, Media-K met with the newsrooms that hosted fellows to set expectations and obligations high.
Launching of the Year Two Program
On January 9-13, Media-K launched the Year Two Data Journalism Fellowships program, hosting an initial kick-off training for the second group of six data journalism fellows (5 women and 1 man). The training participants learned data journalism basics, starting from developing a hypothesis to data analysis, interpretation, and visualization. The fellows have been paired up and are working on the following stories: access to kindergartens in Osh city, Data Journalism Fellows Doing Practical Assignment staggering numbers of tuberculosis morbidity, and electricity fees and their burden on the state economy. This year, the fellows will publish their stories at five different Kyrgyz media outlets: Yntymak, T-Media, Azattyk, AKIpress, and Kaktus Media. With the exception of Azattyk and AKIpress due to their corporate terms on data confidentiality, all other media outlets provided Bekzat Jeenbekov, Media-K’s monitoring and evaluation specialist, access to Google Analytics data, who subsequently designed an online guide for collecting data according to the AMELP for
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Indicator #8 and conducted short trainings for the web-editors of Azattyk and AKIpress media outlets.
The program’s trainer and mentor Anastasiya Valeeva will provide feedback, check progress, and suggest additional resources to the data fellows. She will meet with the four fellows in Bishkek two to three times per week (and connect online with the team in Osh) to check on their progress and provide guidance on their stories. For the team in Osh, Anastasiya Valeeva arranged a Kyrgyz-language editor, Cholpon Uzakbaeva, because it is easier for the Osh team to work in Kyrgyz. As a result, parts of the online meetings are in Kyrgyz with Cholpon, and partly in Russian with Anastasiya.
In March, one of the teams of fellows released a data- driven story on Azattyk about the need to increase The graph from the publication showing respondents’ electricity prices for negative perception towards TB patients ordinary consumers, as prices are currently below production cost. This imbalance, coupled with interest and loans the energy sector owes to the government, has caused huge debts for the energy sector. Nevertheless, the population is against increasing the electricity price tag, as shown by a poll conducted by the authors of the publication. The story was viewed 2,368 times on the website and received 151 likes, 156 comments, and 90 shares on Facebook. Another data story produced by the fellows was published at Kaktus Media and AKIpress, demonstrating that while the rate of tuberculosis cases is slowly decreasing in the country, it is still the highest among CIS countries. Moreover, the rate of resistant forms of tuberculosis is increasing rapidly, as the majority of patients do not complete their treatment, partly due to society’s stigmatization of the disease. Public opinion polls show that more than 60% of respondents do not want to interact in any form with TB patients. The story was viewed by about 13,000 users on both news sites. USAID support of this program jointly with the World Bank and the Institute for Democracy, Media and Cultural Exchange (IDEM) has made it possible to provide data- based arguments to help the wider community discuss national problems. Another story published on Yntymak & T-Media showed that overcrowded kindergartens in Osh city, and in Kyrgyzstan more generally, leads to the low level of development and school unpreparedness for children aged six and under.
After the fellows published their respective stories, Anastasiya Valeeva arranged a meeting with them to discuss their stories in depth and to receive feedback. The team of fellows in Osh was able to participate online. They discussed what worked, what needs improvement, and the hardest part of production. They discovered that journalists need to request data at the earliest possible stages and to improve visual aspects of the stories to attract more audiences. They also collectively brainstormed topics for the second round of stories and outlined several ideas for future publications. Finally, the data fellow teams engaged in a learning session on storytelling, composition of data stories, and Financial Times’ recently-introduced free visualization software, Fastcharts.io.
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In this quarter, the teams started working on their second round of stories and by the end March they collected nearly all the necessary data to develop a refined hypothesis. Azattyk’s team of fellows is working on child labor and its influence on child development and educational performance, Kaktus Media’s team is exploring the causes of high morbidity among people with heart diseases, and the Osh team is investigating the problem of early childbirth.
1.4. Professional Media Education
Responding to a need for professional training activities within the media sector, on November 2018, Media-K presented its new training space. This section provides updates on the training activities of the reported quarter.
Publications of the School of Multimedia Storytelling
Media-K conducted the School of Multimedia From the publication: Students Storytelling that consisted of three three-day rearrange space in their classroom workshops conducted by Artem Galustyan, a media producer, and designers Ksenia Diodorova and Aleksey Poleukhin: a three-day, start-up workshop on October 19-21, the second on November 2-4, and the final one on December 21-23. The five teams presented their final multimedia projects on December 25, 2018.
In March, the first multimedia story, Who Owns A City, was released on Kaktus Media and Azattyk. The first team presented the results of their experiment in a high school to learn about perceptions of common space. They determined that students who rearranged the common space of their classroom started perceiving it as their own. In their publication, the journalists used various types of multimedia content to show that community-wide participation in resolving urban-related issues may change their perception of a city, making it a more comfortable place to live.
Despite initial plans to publish all the stories in January, the teams are still working on their projects:
1. Eight: The team completed the project that united eight real stories of people who were shamed (uyat) by their relatives or the community. The team agreed to publish this story on Kaktus Media in April.
2. Toy (Wedding): The team is almost finished with its project that reminds readers of the tradition behind wedding feasts. Rather than to impress guests, the wedding feasts were originally thrown to receive blessings. Although the team produced all the video and audio content and wrote the text, the audio recordings were stored on a mobile phone that is currently not working. The technicians are trying to restore this data. The team agreed to publish this project on Kloop Media.
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3. Museum Stories. The project team would like to encourage more youth to attend the National Museum of History in Bishkek to learn about the country’s history rather than rely on information from the internet. The idea of the project is to show that answers to everyone’s questions about love, faith, friendship, and betrayal may be found in a museum, in real stories and historic events. Almost all of the stories have been written, featuring photos, videos and audio materials. The team’s major challenge was bringing in people together from a range of generations, which caused some misunderstandings as they launched into serious discussions on the content. Each tried to defend her or his own point of view when recounting historical facts. While editing the text, each participant also offered their own style of writing, hence taking up a lot of time. The team has an agreement to publish the project online with Kloop in April.
Participant’s Feedback on 4. Way to Paradise. The project aims to bring the Talk Show Workshop audience’s attention to the necessity of regenerating the slowly disappearing walnut forests of Arslanbob. Delays in the finalization of this project were due to the heavy workload of one of the participants, who is also involved in an international project, causing the postponement of the project’s design with ReadyMag. The project is currently at its final stages of agreement with Kaktus Media to be published in April.
Four-day Workshop on Hosting Talk Shows
On January 24-27, 36 journalists and editors (22 women and 14 men) from local media outlets participated in a workshop on hosting talk shows conducted by Svetlana Sorokina and Yuri Burtsev, prominent trainers from Russia who have significant experience with both hosting and producing talk shows. At the workshop, the participants not only learned about the practical aspects of producing talk shows—from defining themes and
Practical Session: Conducting an Interview drafting scripts to taking interviews and recording shows—but also worked on practical assignments: split into two teams, they produced two, 30-minute talk shows during the training. Each team brainstormed and decided on the theme of their talk show, drafted a script, casted their host, agreed on guests, and finally recorded their talk show in the studios of NTS TV broadcaster, one of Media-K’s Key Partners.
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The trainers and participants then discussed each show to point out their strengths and weaknesses. All 21 respondents who filled out the post-event questionnaires gave excellent marks to both trainers. The knowledge and skills that the journalists gained at the workshop will allow them to improve the quality and attractiveness of locally-produced content to increase audience reach of their respective media outlets.
After the training, the management of NTS broadcaster decided to make changes to the format of its talk show Ar-tarap (Different Opinions). Following the trainers’ recommendations, they started to invite audience members to the studio in order to enhance the content of the talk show and diversify the range of opinions expressed. New format involves audience joining a discussion on For the same talk show, NTS NTS’ Ar-tarap (Different Opinions) talk show upgraded its set’s decorations, following Olga Zakharova’s recommendations from the outlet’s residency in December 2018.
Media-K Encourages Objective Political Journalism
On February 8, Media-K’s Content Advisor Azamat Tynaev gave a lecture on political storytelling for 21 (17 women, 4 men) journalists and journalism students. With politicians and political parties controlling much of the information space, there is a dearth of political analysts and journalists at media outlets whom the audience trusts. Additionally, the majority of political journalists work at newspapers, not using new multimedia formats at all. Addressing the general Azamat Tynaev gives a gift to a participant public’s waning trust in political who asked the most interesting question journalism, Azamat Tynaev initiated a discussion with the attendees about political reporters’ impact on political processes in the country through advocating for democratic principles, transparency, fair political competition, and freedom of expression. He reviewed the history and evolution of political journalism as well as the threats and challenges of modern political journalism, including the negative impact of fake news, propaganda, hate speech, and the information bubble phenomenon. He also shared stories of positive outcomes, encouraging the attendees to choose the path of political journalism. Fifteen of the participants completed a post-training survey, 71% of which rated the event as either excellent or good.
Media Professionals Learn to Use Social Media to Their Advantage
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On February 12-14, USAID’s Media- K project conducted a training for 30 (21 women and 9 men) journalists, editors, and social media promotion specialists on how to manage multiple social media platforms. Led by Svetlana Margolis, a prominent local trainer on and practitioner of social media marketing, the training educated participants about promotional tools and techniques that would be able to inform audiences of participants’ businesses and products more efficiently, as well as major Participants of SMM training learn to use pitfalls that may deter audiences from new tools communicating on social media networks. The participants were able to choose from the following topics: context advertising, improving one’s social media presence, how to start a business page on Facebook, how to create a content plan, how to gain more information about a company, how to work with users on social networks and how to calculate and budget costs for an advertising campaign. During the training, participants drafted content strategies for their respective newsrooms that they will implement after receiving the trainer’s feedback. Samara Abdykerimova from Yntymak also compiled a checklist of criteria that an SMM specialist should meet, taking Yntymak’s subscribers’ preferences into consideration. Surma Sharshenbaeva from NTS and Yrys Kylychbek Kyzy from Politklinika began using hashtags to increase audience reach and number of views. Svetlana Margolis initiated a joint WhatsApp group for the training’s participants, where she can answer participants’ questions.
Due to the great interest in such a training—117 people applied for 30 spots—as well as the participants’ positive feedback, Media-K scheduled to conduct the same training for a different group of 30 media professionals for March 13-15. Unfortunately, the trainer had to cancel the event several days prior as she became ill. Media-K is planning to postpone the second training until May with the same trainer.
Radio Training Allowed Networking of Radio Journalists
To commemorate the renovation of Salam Media’s radio studio in Batken, Media-K organized its first Kyrgyz-language training there on February 21-26. This was also the first training that Media-K ever conducted in the Batken region. The training gathered 14 editors and DJs (both genders equally represented) representing four radio stations based in the South (Salam Media, Yntymak, Jash FM and Osh Pirim). Participants attended theoretical sessions and completed practical assignments to improve their knowledge and skills in engaging content production; content programming; creating broadcasting schedules; producing jingles, headers, and taglines; and conducting interviews. The participants formed two teams and practiced taking live interviews. One of the main outcomes of the training was how the participants were able to engage in joint activities, thus leading to building future networks of radio journalists in this region.
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Media Use Mobile Phones to Produce Video Content, Cutting Production Costs
On March 18-20, Media-K hosted a mobile phone video production workshop for 18 (13 women and 5 men) journalists and editors from TV broadcasters and online newsrooms. After covering theoretical topics that helped the participants to gain a deeper understanding of concepts like trends in video-storytelling; elements of video story; telling a story using texts; and the interrelationship of video and verbal language, the participants were then trained on how to use the Open Camera app for capturing photos and videos, as well as the Kinemaster app for editing video. With guidance from the trainer, Ibragim Hasan-Akhunov, participants produced and posted mobile phone- shot videos as part of their practical assignments. Feedback from a workshop Kaktus Media has already started making participant publications using the skills learned at the workshop. Shooting videos with mobile phones will help newsrooms reduce production costs, enabling journalists to produce even more content without the need for a camera crew on site. Eighty percent of the respondents who completed the after-training survey rated the event as either excellent or good.
Media Professionals Build Pre-Production Skills to Develop and Pitch TV Project Ideas
On March 24-27, 28 (18 men and 10 women) film directors, producers, and cameramen participated in a workshop on documentary reporting and film production organized by Media-K. While the trainer initially began the intensive four-day training by teaching the theoretical aspects of documentary film production, the main focus then homed in on practical assignments. The participants, divided into small groups, developed Trainer Yuriy Burtsev project proposals for a pitching session, which included a concept note for a documentary film, the team’s roles and responsibilities and a preliminary budget. All 11 teams presented their proposals during the pitching session during the workshop and received feedback from the trainer. This experience will help them present projects to their management or potential investors in the future.
SP2: Media Managers Increase Advertising Revenues
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2.1. Key Partner Corporate Investment
Assistance to Year One Key Partners
NTS
The Key Partner experienced an increase in advertising revenue during the reporting period compared to the same period of last year, with the exception of February. NTS believes that this exception may be due to the decrease in advertising international brands that month. Meanwhile, NTS was unable to appoint the new head of its A presentation of the analytical results to advertising department (the former head NTS’ team resigned), as there were no applicants who met the criteria. NTS will thus be continuing its search.
In January, Media-K Business Adviser Nazik Chekirova and consultant Zhanna Shegai made on-site visits to NTS to interview NTS staff and work with NTS’ advertisement department to elicit required information, such as what its management’s expectations are. Media-K helped the broadcaster develop a pricing system and analyze the contribution of programs in ad income. The results were presented for the NTS team on January 29 at the Media-K office in Bishkek. However, when Jainak Usen, NTS’ former General Director,1 decided to run for the General Director of OTRK, NTS’ implementation of this new pricing system was suspended until further notice. Once Jainak Usen transitioned into OTRK’s General Director and Mirjan Balybaev was appointed as the new general director of NTS in the second half of March, Media-K scheduled a meeting with the latter to discuss further activities.
Kloop Media
In this quarter, Kloop Media’s advertising revenue increased by 14% compared to the previous quarter. The main focus of Kloop Media’s advertising opportunities has been aimed at developing native advertising2, with two special projects already being developed for advertisers in the non-profit sector. Kloop Media also completed native advertising projects for organizations such as MoveGreen, the Foundation for International Tolerance, UNIDO, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, as well as the UN Women Agency in partnership with the Data School of Kyrgyzstan.
Nazik Chekirova and Zhanna Shegai also helped Kloop Media create a sales strategy for native advertising. They assisted them in identifying areas of interests for two types of clients: international organizations and local businesses. The newsroom is now analyzing potential advertisers based on the category and format of their native advertising. Media-K also helped determine the main issues that prevented native advertising from making sales in the local market. To overcome one of the major issues, Kloop Media planned activities with advertising agencies to popularize native advertising. Kloop’s advertising manager will
1 Jainak Usen was the General Director of NTS, Media-K Key Partner, since 2015. Brief info about him is available following this link. 2 The use of paid ads that match the look, feel and function of the media format in which they appear.
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conduct a master class about native advertising during the annual Digital Fest in Bishkek in April.
Kaktus Media
On January 16, Nazik Chekirova met with the staff of Zima, Kaktus Media’s current advertising agency. Chekirova conducted a master class on tender procedures and then consulted ad sales managers on how to fill out documents to open bank tender accounts. As for the outlet’s advertising statistics, Kaktus Media’s ad revenue increased by 50%, compared to the same period in 2018.
After engaging in a series of discussions with Dina Maslova, the CEO of Kaktus Media, on different financial models, Media-K and Kaktus media jointly decided to focus on calculating the team’s expenses in producing various types of content to determine the break-even point. This will help the media outlet establish effective pricing and a sound financial plan. Zhanna Shegay will start this work in April.
Kaktus Media also developed and standardized a number of key internal documents, such as the plan for strategic development, editorial plan, strategic plan for the promotion of social networks, job descriptions, competency models, individual development plan and a fee system.
Salam Media
Media-K continues to develop the professional skills of the advertising manager of Salam Media through remote consultations and mentorship to improve advertising potential of the media outlet. The manager regularly visits local companies and gives presentations on ad products that Salam Media proposes. While the ad manager’s method thus far has not always resulted in a signed contract after her presentations, her enthusiasm and determination are still strong qualities that an ad manager should have. She has also been monitoring ads aired on Osh and Jalal-Abad TV broadcasters Salam Media’s Event Celebrating while creating a list of potential International Women’s Day advertisers to contact later on to propose or offer an ad placement on Salam Media.
Salam Media also continues to hold events aimed at strengthening bonds with its customers and engaging new audiences. For one event, which was partially sponsored by two local companies, the partner organized a singing contest for 250 women from the Batken region to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8. While the event did not generate any income, it still had a positive effect on the image of Salam Media.
As for the partner’s income growth, this quarter’s advertising activities demonstrates a positive trend. From January to March, advertising revenue grew by 65% compared to that of
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the same period in 2018. In March, Salam Media signed a contract with Asai Media, which is one of the largest advertising agencies in the Kyrgyz Republic and an outsourcing agency for several large advertisers, such as cellular operators, banks and pharmacists. A signed contract with Asai Media will attract new advertisers to Salam Media.
TV1KG
No activities with the partner during this reporting period.
Politklinika
Politklinika prioritized improving its content this quarter. The only relevant activity it had engaged in was formulating an advertising contract with a local mobile operator. After placing a banner ad on its website, Politklinika has been generating 20% of the outlet’s total annual income through this ad.
Yntymak
During the reporting period, Media-K’s cooperation with Yntymak was mainly focused on the issue of addressing and fulfilling the recommendations of the independent financial audit. On February 19, Zhanna Shegay visited Yntymak to assess the broadcaster’s progress in implementing the auditors’ recommendations. Nazik Chekirova then joined her on February 20, and on February 21, Media-K Chief of Party (COP) Elina Karakulova joined the two for a meeting with Yntymak’s management, during which Media-K reminded the newsroom of the goal to reach a level of self-sustainability by 2020.
Following the recommendations of the Media-K advisors and auditors, Yntymak hired a lawyer and a cashier in the commercial department. Strengthening the commercial department team will improve the efficiency of the company’s business processes. At this stage, the lawyer is reviewing Yntymak’s contracts. Meanwhile, Yntymak displayed a positive trend in income, generating a 49% increase in March compared to the average monthly income for 2018.
Based on the progress that Yntymak’s team has made on fulfilling the auditors’ recommendations, USAID decided to resume funding the broadcaster from November 2018 to February. USAID also stipulated that for future funding, Yntymak must demonstrate total improvement of each recommendation of the audit by the end of May. Media-K will observe Yntymak’s performance monthly by closely monitoring its financial reports and paying a visit to the broadcaster at the beginning of June to conduct an on-site assessment. Media-K will submit March updates on Yntymak’s progress separately.
SP3: Disparate Stakeholders Better Coordinate Efforts to Help the Sector
3.1. Annual Media Conference
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At the beginning of April, Media-K will release a call for participants to attend the second Media Toptoo Industrial Forum scheduled for April 27-28, at the Asanbay Center. Around this time, the team will start to make logistical arrangements for the event. The deadline for registering participants who will need Media-K to cover their transportation & accommodation costs is April 10. The Soros Foundation-Kyrgyzstan (SFK) has agreed to cover costs for up to 30 participants.
Besides SFK, Media-K also partners with the Institute for Democracy, Media and Cultural Exchange (IDEM), the OSCE, the Industrial Media Committee, as well as Samsung (who will provide presents for the Stremlenie Award winners) and Ayu Holding (who will provide water bottles for the participants).
Media-K is finalizing the web page of the Media Toptoo Industrial Forum and it will be publicly available starting April 1. The agenda of the event will also be made available on this page. The forum will feature presentations and master classes of both international and local experts, as well as panel discussions on the most challenging issues facing the media environment. The forum will also provide space for a technical exhibition, in which approximately 10 companies will showcase their television equipment and software.
In addition to the web page, Media-K will use various channels to promote this event: ads and banners on TV (the Key Partners will broadcast them), video clips on Internews’ Facebook page, as well as the websites of the Key Partners. Promotion of this event will begin by April 1.
The competition for the 2019 Stremlenie Awards closed on January 31. Media-K received 158 applications and conducted the first round of shortlisting, out of which 18 applicants were chosen under the following five categories (out of six): government and society; childhood protection; culture and education; time to help; and active individual. None of the applicants who were nominated for the Peace and Consensus category were shortlisted due to the low quality of their proposed content.
In March, the second round of reviewing applications was conducted by a jury consisting of the Media-K team, in addition to local and international experts Mars Tulegenov, Venera Djumataeva, Azamat Tynaev, Bermet Malikova and Elima Dzhaparova from the Kyrgyz Republic; and Yuriy Burtsev, Manana Aslamazyan and Anastasia Valeeva from Russia. The committee members operated remotely having had online access to the content and evaluation forms. The jury selected the winners and decided to award the special Stremlenie prize to a journalist from a rural region of the country to encourage other young journalists from rural areas to be ambitious and strive for personal growth and improvement despite their vicinity from a major city.
Media-K will initiate voting for the last category a week prior to the Media Toptoo Forum and will allow members of the media community to nominate a peer devoted to the journalistic profession.
3.2. Media Policy Action
Media-K continues to support positive endeavors surrounding media policy by running its own activities and empowering national organizations, such as the Media Policy Institute
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(MPI), to work towards improving the legal environment for media stakeholders in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Media-K Works to Improve the Financial Stability of Public Broadcasters
MPI held a meeting with the newly-appointed general director of OTRK, Jainak Usen,3 and the broadcaster’s financial manager on March 25. MPI will also organize a roundtable on April 10, to discuss the modifications of a law that regulates the functioning and operations of public broadcasters. However, MPI first needs information from OTRK on how they were able to operate without having direct access to ad income. The broadcaster informed MPI that the long negotiations resulted in an agreement with the Ministry of Finance that the latter will annually transfer the broadcaster a fixed payment of 39 million KGS (equivalent to USD 550,000, which is a little more than a half of the broadcaster’s generated ad income). This significantly hindered the broadcaster from paying adequate salaries to staff and honorariums to engaged independent content producers. OTRK is now drafting a new proposal to the Ministry of Finance requesting to increase the aforementioned fixed payment of ad income. MPI and OTRK agreed that the latter would participate at the roundtable and in a working group that will develop amendments to the law. MPI plans to propose that participants of the April roundtable to form this working group.
To follow up on Yntymak’s financial stability from the previous quarter, the Ministry of Finance proposed a similar solution to the broadcaster in December 2018: to allocate a set amount of funds proportional to Yntymak’s ad income. However, Yntymak postponed responding to this offer as they are currently preoccupied with improving operations after the results of its financial audit (see Section 2.1 for more details)
Meanwhile, MPI completed its analysis of the legislation that would regulate Yntymak as a public broadcaster. The last draft in Russian is attached to this report (see Annex 7). Media-K is reviewing the document that will be presented in a meeting with Yntymak’s Advisory Board in April. It is possible that the modified law for OTRK (whose activities would be regulated) will apply to all other public broadcasters, as well. This, too, will be reviewed by the aforementioned working group.
On March 29, Elina Karakulova and Nazik Chekirova met with the newly-appointed Deputy Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism, Nurzhigit Kadyrbekov, who replaced Ainura Temirbekova on this post. The meeting served as the official introduction and presentation of the Media-K project to the Ministry. Representatives of the Media-K team discussed the current activities of the project, the support provided to key partners (more details were provided for Yntymak), the introduction of the peoplemeters, the upcoming Media Toptoo forum and the general situation and trends of the media industry in the country. The parties agreed to meet the new members of the Supervisory Board of Yntymak again in April.
Law on TV and Radio Broadcasting Discussions with Media Sector
In March, MPI had a meeting with NBT broadcaster to discuss the overall situation of implementing the law on TV and Radio Broadcasting in the country. The majority of broadcasters ignore requirements, such as having to broadcast enough content in the Kyrgyz language to meet a ratio, and they disregard copyrights. NBT asked MPI to develop legal
3 On March 6, 2019, Jainak Usen was elected as OTRK’s new general director.
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mechanisms to monitor compliance with the law. Meanwhile, the managers of many media outlets expressed concerns regarding the feasibility of the requirements, as they require significant investments the market cannot afford. MPI thus developed a first draft of a questionnaire that allow media managers to define which provisions of the law require modifications. Next quarter, Media-K will revise and update this questionnaire and send it back to the managers directly to elicit their position on this case.
Bill on the Protection of Children from Information that Harms their Health and Development
On February 24, two deputies of Parliament drafted a bill on the Protection of Children from Information that Harms their Health and Development. As this bill may limit one’s freedom of expression, MPI consequently produced an analysis of the drafted bill, revealing the following shortcomings (the full text of the analysis in Russian is available in Annex 8): • There are no mechanisms to implement the proposed bill; • Government institutions would have excessive control functions that would impede the freedom of expression of content producers and broadcasters; • Required pre-approval of all content produced for children prior to publication; • The bill’s initiators have not completed a by-law-required analysis of its future impact on businesses.
On March 26, MPI sent its analytical report of the bill to 26 deputies of Parliament, including the drafters of the bill themselves, as well as the leaders of parliamentary fractions and parliamentary committees.
Participation in the Commission for Reviewing Complaints against Media Outlets
During this reporting quarter, the Commission for Reviewing Complaints against Media Outlets reviewed and made decisions on complaints against two media outlets: Ala Too 24 and 24.kg. Both decisions were not in favor of the media outlets, as the latter violated stipulations of the Code of Ethics of Journalist. In the first case, the Commission recommended that Ala Too 24 TV revise the publication in question to make it more balanced for the Commission’s prior approval. In the second case, the Commission recommended that 24.kg revise its heading of the publication in question, as they felt it distorted the speaker’s words on a sensitive issue.
Legal Support to Media and Journalists in Need
MPI provided 14 legal consultations to journalists about accessing information stored by government institutions, restoring violated rights and labor relations, covering topics on extremism, using cameras with drones, publishing sensitive photos, and more. MPI provided consultations to Kloop Media when, for example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to give a visa to a Kloop Media intern from Sudan. After the consultation, the newsroom submitted a request to the Ministry to provide an explanation for the visa denial.
Another consultation was regarding the liability of journalists when an interviewer accuses other people of crimes. The lawyers of MPI explained how the judges created precedents with the Azattyk and Zanoza cases, in which it was ruled that journalists unlawfully conducted interviews and published unrevised quotations. The lawyers thus recommended for
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journalists to first determine if any evidence exists regarding the accusation and to reach out to the accused person to publish his or her perspective and position on the case.
Furthermore, MPI successfully mediated a dispute between the Ministry of Culture, Information and Tourism and journalists representing the independent media outlet Novye Litsa. In November 2018, Leila Saralaeva, the CEO and founder of Novye Litsa, posted a letter on her Facebook page that she had received from the Ministry requesting that the outlet submit every issue of their newspaper to them – a request not in compliance with law. In an effort to learn more about the Ministry’s request, Saralaeva spoke with a lawyer representing the Ministry over the phone, who threatened the journalists with governmental inspections of the media outlet. Having recorded the conversation with the lawyer, Saralaeva posted it on social media, which led to the Ministry’s legal proceedings against the outlet. On February 18, a meeting between the lawyers representing Novye Litsa and the Ministry resulted in the latter party’s withdrawal of the suit as well as their requested monetary compensations from the journalists (approximately $820 USD). To an extent, Media-K’s successful track record of facilitating mediations also demonstrates the government’s willingness to settle disputes with journalists at the negotiating table.
3.3. Support for Media Audience Research
On January 31, Media-K and the Media Industrial Committee (MIC) organized a presentation to announce the results of the tender to measure the country’s TV audience using peoplemeters. Through Media-K, USAID is investing $300,000 into the project, while the media sector, through the MIC, is investing the remaining $2.1 million over five years. The winner of the tender, the consortium of Nielsen Admosphere
Attendees Listen as Nielsen Admoshpere and Integras (Czech Republic) and Integras (Great Present the TV Audience Measurement Project Britain), presented their approach and the technology behind the project. Fifteen media market players are already on board and are encouraging others to join. Members of the MIC will benefit from having full access to the advanced audience measurement data and analysis, whereas those who are not members would have to purchase the product from the MIC to gain access to the measurements.
More than 150 media managers, journalists and representatives of advertising agencies attended the event. During the 1.5-hour question-and-answer session, the audience asked questions about the cost of the peoplemeter project; the cost to become a member of the association; the formation of the panel consisting of 250 households, on which peoplemeters are to be installed; their distribution throughout the country; the possibility to measure radio and digital TV audiences; and several other topics. The event was featured on NTS, Manas, Osh Pirim, April TV news channels, as well as on Kaktus Media and 24.kg media outlets. On the same day, the MIC and the Nielsen-Integras consortium signed the framework agreement
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stipulating the intention of the counterparties to sign a service contract as soon as they agreed on all the terms. Thanks to this event, both OTRK and Yntymak joined the MIC, bringing the total number of association members to 20. In February, MIC submitted a letter to USAID asking to increase financing of the peoplemeter project adding $783,500 USD (the letter is available in Annex 9). USAID is considering the request.
In March, the parties signed the required agreements, and both Media-K and the MIC completed their respective first payments to the consortium in order to launch the project’s implementation. The consortium opened an office in Bishkek and began preparing for the survey.
Expert Victoria Borschenko, who provided assistance during each stage of the project and continues to collaborate with Media-K and the MIC, was invited to the Media Toptoo Industrial Forum to present on the impact of audience measurements in the country’s ad market. After the forum, she will meet with members of the MIC and the consortium for consultations on the potential issues that may arise from the project. Media-K also invited Orest Biloskurskiy, an experienced data analytics expert from Ukraine, to support Victoria and assist the project with quality assessment of establishment survey, determination of factors influencing TV viewing habits and calculation of the design of the sample for the TV panel. 3.4. Media Market Fairs
The Media Market Fair has been postponed for next quarter, provided the abundance of events that occurred this reporting period, in addition to Media-K’s preparations for its Media Toptoo Industrial Forum. In May, Media-K will release a call for media outlets and production houses to pitch project ideas and organize Year Two’s Media Market Fair to introduce these projects to the media industry.
Project Management and Staffing
No activities to report in this section.
Financial Overview
The January-March reporting period was intense with the ongoing content grants of Years One and Two, in addition to several educational events and the preparation of contracts for launching the peoplemetering project. The Media-K team initiated payments for some of the ECG awardees’ completed projects. Media-K also finalized payments for the Year One data journalism fellows and financed the first publications of the Year Two fellows. Year One Key Partners received the third tranches under their awards. Media-K completed the $250,000 USD payment to Integras for their TV audience measurements in the country using peoplemeters. The launch of the peoplemeter project with Media-K’s first installment improved the project’s burn rate, positively impacting the obligation of funds by USAID. Media-K resumed with financing Yntymak. No overruns or high unit costs were incurred. For further financial information, please refer to the quarterly financial report.
Challenges/Lessons Learned
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• The kick-off training showed that Year Two’s cohort of data fellows has a lower skill set in data analysis and data literacy than that of Year One. Moreover, not all of the fellows are equally skilled in multimedia and video production. To minimize the gap, Anastasiya Valeeva will arrange short trainings approximately every two months, in addition to the initially planned second intensive training in June. Media-K will also encourage the fellows to participate in the project’s other training activities. One of the fellows, Asel Sooronbaeva, participated in the training on mobile video production. • Media-K faced several challenges with the team of data fellows from Osh. The online consultations often failed because of the low quality of internet connections in Osh. In addition, assuming that both journalists in Osh are native Kyrgyz language speakers, it can be difficult for them at times to understand data vocabulary in Russian. Fortunately, as mentioned in the respective section above, the Kyrgyz language editor, Cholpon Uzakbaeva, does her best to explain and translate the information, but often has to repeat herself. Anastasiya Valeeva and Cholpon Uzakbaeva assume this may have to do with the overall weaker level of critical thinking and journalism research experience of the team in Osh. In order to address these issues, Media-K and Anastasiya Valeeva decided it would be best to arrange a mentorship trip to Osh to conduct an additional training session with the fellows based there. • Key Partner NTS experienced a change in management this quarter. With a new CEO, there is a risk that NTS’ new management will have other priorities and may scrap Media-K’s previous investments. Due to the management changes, Media-K stopped implementing some of its business-related activities and scheduled a meeting with the new CEO to discuss further partnership in mid-April.
List of Annexes • Annex 1. Monitoring and Evaluation Table • Annex 2. Performance improvement plan for 24.kg (in Russian) • Annex 3. Performance improvement plan for Elgezit (in Russian) • Annex 4. Performance improvement plan for Govori.tv (in Russian) • Annex 5. Performance improvement plan for Lyubimyi TV (in Russian) • Annex 6. Performance improvement plan for Maral Media (in Russian) • Annex 7. MPI’s legal analysis of the legislation on Yntymak (in Russian) • Annex 8. MPI’s legal analysis of the bill on the Protection of Children from Information that Harms their Health and Development (in Russian) • Annex 9. Media Industrial Committee’s request to USAID (in Russian) • Annex 10. Summary list of sub-grants and loans issued this quarter • Annex 11. Plans for next quarter • Annex 12. Performance Indicator Tracking Table
Annex 1. Monitoring and Evaluation Table
Please see separately attached file.
Annex 2. Performance improvement plan for 24.kg
Please see separately attached file.
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Annex 3. Performance improvement plan for Elgezit
Please see separately attached file.
Annex 4. Performance improvement plan for Govori.tv
Please see separately attached file.
Annex 5. Performance improvement plan for Lyubimyi TV
Please see separately attached file.
Annex 6. Performance improvement plan for Maral Media
Please see separately attached file.
Annex 7. MPI’s legal analysis of the legislation on Yntymak
Please see separately attached file.
Annex 8. MPI’s legal analysis of the bill on Protection of Children From Information That Harms Their Health And Development
Please see separately attached file.
Annex 9. Media Industrial Committee’s request to USAID
Please see separately attached file.
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Annex 10. Summary List of Sub-grants and Loans Issued this Quarter
Name City and Region Duration Amount Description Engaging content grants Romb Media Bishkek, Start date 01.03.2019 $18,900 The project intends to increase the production of local content for children in (Akmatov) Kyrgyzstan End date 31.08.2019 the Kyrgyz language, as well as to promote progressive ideas and values. The series will consist of 10 episodes, where the leading roles will be given to children of 8-14 years old. Children will play policeman, judges, doctors, teachers in an imagined city called "Amanat Land". Each series will deal with socially significant issue, and through play of children, they will show how these problems are solved in a democratic society with the rule of law. Children will be dressed in specially designed clothing, and computer graphics will be used at length to make the project as realistic as possible. April TV Bishkek, Start date 01.03.2019 $15,600 April TV intends to produce 10 episodes of documentary films dedicated to Kyrgyzstan End date 31.08.2019 Kyrgyzstani history of the 20th century. The documentaries will be in Kyrgyz language with Russian subtitles and will air for 10 weeks, each episode being shown weekly. The idea behind the documentaries is to promote historical knowledge about the past of Kyrgyzstan, to investigate and present the lesser-known facts of history and to create surround audiovisual content about the history of the 20th century. Maalymat Media Bishkek, Start date 01.03.2019 $19,823 The project will produce six episodes of "reality shows" dedicated to blind Kyrgyzstan End date 31.08.2019 children learning how to play on musical instruments. The team leader of this project is the head of parents committee at the local children’s' musical school. The idea of this project is to support the children studying music to teach children with disabilities to play on musical instruments. The aim of the project is to solve the problem of social isolation of blind children by ensuring their social and psychological adaptation by the methods of art; to make them full participants in the creative process, which will create opportunities for them to fulfill themselves and to further acquire a profession; to open these children to new opportunities for interaction with the outside world; and to discover and develop their creative potential. Noviye Litsa Bishkek, Start date 01.03.2019 $12,566 Noviye Litsa will produce 12 video diaries, 15 articles and three journalistic Kyrgyzstan End date 31.08.2019 investigations about the life of children in orphanages and problems faced by the graduates of such orphanage houses. Multimedia products will be in Russian with subtitles in Kyrgyz. Video diaries will be published monthly, whereas investigations will be published once in two month. The project
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Name City and Region Duration Amount Description attempts to draw attention to the indifference of the state to the lives of children living in orphanages during their stay at these institutions as well as after they graduate. The investigative part attempts to show cases of corruption at orphanages by the leadership of these institutions.
Visual Arts Bishkek, Start date 01.03.2019 $22,320 Ruslan Akun intends to hold a 10-day media production camp involving 30 Development Kyrgyzstan End date 31.08.2019 talented teenagers from different parts of the Kyrgyz Republic. These young Fund (Ruslan and talented participants will learn the basics of visual storytelling, Akun) screenwriting, camera operating, editing, design and decoration, and most importantly, the partisan and comedy approach to shooting video. The authors will make a movie about the life of the participants of the media camp, as well as the learning process and make an interesting content out of it. In addition, participants will make 10 video materials on selected topics using skills acquired during the camp. The camp will focus on creating video stories by using guerrilla tactics with improvised tools, including a smartphone. This camp will give young people the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills, fulfill their creative potential and contribute to an increase in domestic content. Union of Bishkek, Start date 01.03.2019 $14,982 Union of Photographers will produce six episodes of documentary films Photographers Kyrgyzstan End date 31.08.2019 showing environmental problems related to deforestation, trash, and disappearance of birds in Kyrgyzstan. Each episode will be 25 minutes long and air once a week. The implementation of this project will have a positive effect, both in the environmental and in the social sphere. The project will attempt to attract the attention of the local population, public organizations and state structures to the environmental problems and will ensure an increase in environmental awareness. Media Bishkek, Start date 01.03.2019 $20,000 Media Development Center will produce 20 materials on TV and 20 development Kyrgyzstan End date 31.08.2019 materials online in Kyrgyz and Russian in the format of factchecking and the center verification of information. The media partner in this project will be Next TV, (factcheck.kg) online publications will be made on the platform factcheck.kg. The format of factchecking is new in the country; however, it has shown good results as factchecking materials draw big audiences. The idea is to promote critical thinking skills and media literacy of citizens, as well as to enhance the skills of journalists through investigative journalism and information verification. Public Bishkek, Start date 15.04.2019 $19,936 The goal of the Precedent Info news service is to provide legal education, Association Kyrgyzstan End date 30.11.2019 increase the legal literacy of the population and provide the public with "Precedent Info" objective and reliable information about ongoing judicial, corruption, criminal
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Name City and Region Duration Amount Description and other legal events in the country. Within the framework of the project, viewers will receive objective and reliable information about ongoing legal events, which will increase the level of legal literacy of the population. Legal news service precedent info intends to produce 100 publications (16 publications per month) in Kyrgyz and Russian within the project duration. The materials will be published on www.precedentinfo.kg and distributed via Facebook, Instagram and Telegram. LLC Baykanur Bishkek, TBD $19,976 The goal of the project is to increase access to daily information about Mega-Next TV Kyrgyzstan events in the country in the Kyrgyz language to reach a wider audience. Currently, Next TV actively broadcasts political, social and economic news. At least four news stories on current events are broadcasted daily. However, the existing news service in the Kyrgyz language needs further improvements, in terms of raising the qualification of journalists and modernizing equipment. Next TV intends to produce a 15-minute-long daily news program five times a week.
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Annex 11. Plans for Next Quarter
# Dates Event Location Implementer Program details 1. Politklinika Residency Bishkek Internews - Improving multimedia production skills of April, 02-05 journalists.
2. Yntymak Residency Internews - Improving multimedia production skills; April, 08-12 Osh - The development of multimedia thinking of journalists; - Assistance in improving workflows during the preparation of content for publication online (on the website and in social networks). - Drafting of a content map of the website; - Streamlining interaction of online and TV newsrooms 3. Media Toptoo Industrial Internews - http://mediatoptoo2019.internews.kg/ April 27-28 Forum Bishkek
4. Meetings of Victoria Internews and MIC - N/A April 27-28 Borshenko with Media Bishkek Industrial Committee (MIC) 5. Yntymak Residency - Internews - N/A May 13-17 Mars Tulegenov and Osh Elima Dzhaparova 6. Master class: Ad tips: Internews - N/A May 14 How to work with Bishkek advertisers 7. Workshop on mobile Internews - N/A May 20-23 video content production Bishkek
8. Workshop on Internews - N/A May 26-28 infographics Bishkek
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# Dates Event Location Implementer Program details 9. Training on SMM by Internews - N/A May 29-31 Svetlana Margolis Bishkek
10. Elgezit Residency Internews - Improving multimedia production skills; May TBD Bishkek - Developing multimedia thinking of journalists; - Developing skills for analyzing Google metrics.
11. Lubimyi TV channel Internews - Improving multimedia production skills; May TBD Residency Bishkek - Developing video content repacking skills for social networks.
12. Govori TV Residency Internews - Improving multimedia production skills; May TBD Bishkek - Developing video content repacking skills for social networks.
13. Maral FM Residency Internews - Improving multimedia production skills; May TBD Bishkek - Developing multimedia thinking of journalists.
14. Yntymak Residency - Internews - Improving news content of the website; End of May Azamat Tynaev, Content Osh - Master classes on producing short videos, Advisor photo and special reportages, interviews.
15. NTS Residency - Yuriy Intermews - Producing studio programs June 3-14 Burtsev Bishkek
16. Master class for editors Internews - Responsibilities of editors; June 5 Bishkek - Working standards of editors.
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# Dates Event Location Implementer Program details 17. Workshop on Internews - N/A June 8-12 investigative journalism Bishkek by Vladimir Thoric
18. Journalism school by Internews - N/A June 17-26 Ibragim Hasan-Akhunov, Bishkek Mars Tulegenov and Elima Dzhaparova 19. NTS TV channel Internews - Improving multimedia production skills. June TBD Residency Bishkek
20. Politklinika Residency Internews - Improving multimedia production skills. June TBD Bishkek - Developing video-photo content repacking skills for social networks.
21. 24 KG Residency Internews - Developing video-photo content repacking skills June TBD Bishkek for social networks.
22. April-June Consultation and - N/A mentorship of Year 1&2 Bishkek, Internews Key Partners Osh, Batken 23. Consultation and - NA April-June mentorship of Year 1&2 Bishkek Internews Engaging Content Grant sub-awardees 24. Provision of legal - N/A April-June consultations Bishkek Media Policy Institute
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Annex 12. Performance Indicator Tracking Table
Please see separately attached file.
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