New independent printing house opens in Bishkek

Friday marks the opening of the first independent printing house in the capital, Bishkek. Funded by Freedom House, a Washington-based advocacy group promoting the worldwide expansion of political and economic freedoms, the facility will strengthen press freedom in the former Soviet state. "The independent printing house will boost Kyrgyzstan's independent media," Rina Prizhivoyt, the editor of the MSN (formerly the Moya Stolitsa, which was closed down due to a lawsuit) independent newspaper, told IRIN in Bishkek. Under the scheme, publications unable to afford the prices and terms of Uchkun, the government-controlled printing house, could be forwarded to the new printing press for publication, she said. Ramis Ziyangaraev, the project's manager, said that the facility, registered by the justice ministry as the Centre for Mass Media Support, could also process orders from neighbouring countries, including nearby Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, thereby having regional implications for the development of independent media as well. "It will be led a board of directors, comprising representatives of international organisations, the Kyrgyz and US administrations, members of parliament, and journalists as well," Ziyangaraev explained. The chief editor of the independent Litsa newspaper, Bermet Bukasheva, believes that the facility will also enhance freedom of speech in Kyrgyzstan. "Those newspapers that were publishing under threat of closing will feel more confident. They will report about the human rights situation more confidently, and therefore the situation with regard to human rights will improve," she told IRIN in Bishkek. However, she went on to note that whereas the impact of the independent printing house's opening would be positive in the short term, it would be difficult to foresee its long-term influence. "The monopoly of Uchkun will be lessened and a more competitive environment will appear. In the economic sense, the opening of the independent printing house will positively impact on the development of the mass media in Kyrgyzstan," Turat Akimov, the chief editor of KyrgyzInfo, a local news agency, told IRIN. Not everybody shares his optimism, however. Vecherniy Bishkek, a pro-governmental newspaper, described the independent printing press from Washington as an attempt to influence content in the country, asserting that "the West intends to seize the fourth estate" in Kyrgyzstan. What is clear is that the new printing house will provide services at lower prices, partly due to the fact that it will be operating free of value added tax. Also, new technologies at the facility will enable it to print full colour publications. Meanwhile, Kanybek Imanaliev, the head of Uchkun, has countered that, with effect from November, Uchkun would reduce its prices, and work to improve the facility's quality and printing terms. But he had better move fast. "We are going to use its [the new printing house's] services. The key factor will be the economic one - prices," Bukasheva said. "The most important thing is that the authorities will be deprived of the monopoly on publishing activities," Alexander Kim, the editor-in-chief of MSN, told IRIN, noting that all the other printing houses in the country were under government control. He added that the independent printing house would have a positive impact on press freedom in the country, as well as the region as a whole, as independent media would always know that there was a printing house that would never refuse their copy for political reasons. Earlier this year, Uchkun reportedly refused to print some independent newspapers, including the former Moya Stolitsa, a move which was seen as the authorities' reaction to their criticism of the government. According to the Freedom House's recent report on media freedom, Kyrgyzstan's press is rated as "not free".