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Central Asia and Caucasus Mass Media struggle to play catch up with the West
Peter Preston will have seen it all in his long, distinguished career. However, as he chaired a session on press freedom at the second Eurasian Media Forum being held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the former Guardian editor entered new territory.
He found himself imploring speakers to "please stop!" as a seemingly endless stream of local participants from the audience delivered lengthy, non-descript personal statements to a panel of Russian, Georgian and Kazakh journalists and free speech representatives.

Preston's difficulties were an example of the cultural differences that appeared during the three-day gathering of 200 journalists, academics and politicians from 'Eurasia' (in essence the ex Soviet Union) and the West. The debates tried to foster dialogue between the two regions and analysed the development and role of the mass media in Central Asia and the Caucasus, touching upon issues such as the coverage of the war on Iraq, SARS, and press freedom.

His pleas were to no avail; one gentleman even had to be cut short in full flow by two of the organisers. They removed the microphone from him in a double-pronged assault that would have made Tommy Franks coo in appreciation. Under such working conditions one can only wonder how David Dimbleby would handle Question Time from Tashkent.

As is the norm with conferences, there were plenty of self-congratulatory statements of progress and calls for mutual efforts to resolve cultural and political disparity. Yet the very differences they claimed to be working to resolve demonstrated themselves time and again throughout the talks. It was like a reformed alcoholic declaring to his AA buddies that it was 2 months since his last drink, while a miniature of Jack Daniels tumbles inadvertently out of his pocket.

It is clear that, 13 years on from the end of the Cold War, the Central Asian states, known as "the Stans", and the Caucasus region are still ideologically a long way from their counterparts in the West. This is especially evident within the role and operation of mass media.

The forum was part of Kazakhstan's attempts to redefine its international profile and build on the large foreign investment it has received in its vast natural resources over the last few years. A steep task when you consider that, for most in the UK certainly, the country's most famous son is a spoof television reporter. Pity neighbours such as Tajikistan who do not even have a Borat to launch a PR campaign of their own.

The area has comfortably avoided international public and political radar for the last 10 years, save for a blip around the Afghanistan conflict when the US needed bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyszstan. The Caucasus countries have been more visible, thanks mainly to their proximity to Chechnya.

This relative obscurity has allowed most to maintain largely authoritarian regimes, with former Communists remaining in charge. While efforts to open up to the West are to be commended, they also reveal the extent of the problems the countries face before they are accepted as "modern social democracies".

The organisation of the Media Forum itself is symbolic of the contradictions the region will be accused of with a more westward outlook. Head of the organising committee is Dariga Nazarbayeva, head of state television, Khabar, and daughter of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled Kazakhstan, with little formal political opposition, since independence in 1991.

For many, the idea of Ms Nazarbayeva putting on a conference encouraging free speech is similar to Margaret Thatcher becoming President of the European Commission. Human rights violations against independent media outlets have been an alarmingly consistent feature of the Nazarbayev regime and a month or two prior to the Eurasia Media Forum Sergei Duvanov, a leading opposition journalist, was jailed on charges of rape to widespread criticism in Kazakhstan and internationally.

Many believe Duvanov was targeted as a result of his reports on 'Kazakhgate', a scandal linking senior Kazakh officials to various secret Swiss bank accounts. Consequently several organisations such as the Institute of War and Peace Reporting and the International Federation of Journalists boycotted the event.

Local independent journalists claimed the Forum was staged to conceal government oppression. A letter to attendees signed by 17 editors and journalism activists claimed "By holding a global-scale event and demonstrating its controlled media, the forum organisers are pursuing the goals that are important for them: gaining the image of a press friendly country".

Yet the fact that Nazarbayeva was willing to listen to criticism, including questions regarding Duvanov, is positive. It is worth noting that Almaty is probably the only city in the region where such a gathering would conceivably be held.

The situation for independent media and free political expression is far worse in the neighbouring 'Stans'. Censorship is widespread in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, while in Turkmenistan no formal opposition is tolerated whatsoever. President Supramahot Niyazov the self-appointed Turkmenbashi (leader of all Turkmens) has such tentacular control of all facets of society that he once issued a decree altering the number of days in a week.

Reformation of local media will be a painful process. Many journalists were reared in the days when mass media was a government mouthpiece, privy to limited information. Any independent media that disagree with a government policy or viewpoint are often automatically branded as "opposition" and authorities are unwilling to fully relinquish control of information flow.

The politicisation of news outlets was evident during the conference when Ermukhamet Ertysbayev, an advisor to President Nazarbayev, said: "People speak of Sergei Duvanov as a journalist, to me he is a politician." The response from the floor: "Does this mean politicians can be arrested?" spoke volumes.

Eurasian participants were also surprised at the ferocity of some Western journalists, used to seeing politicians and officials as fair game. As a session on media coverage of economic affairs in the Caspian, mutated into a series of prepared monologues from politicians, CNN's abrasive business anchor Richard Quest, took it upon himself to shock and awe the panellists by launching an attack on the Caspian's "elephant in the living room", the alleged corruption involved in awarding of oil contracts.

Those on stage were rattled. Victor Kaluzny, the Russian minister for Caspian affairs accused Quest of "muck raking" and pleaded that "we should talk about something interesting." Quest had the lightening riposte: "When somebody says let's talk about something interesting, it's usually a good indication to me that we already are."

These differences in journalistic practices emphasise that achieving a genuinely open and free press in countries of the former Soviet Union will be a lengthy task. Yet the conference also featured young journalists, such as Akaki Gogichaishvili from pioneering Georgian TV station Rustavi 2 and Masha Gessen from Russian website polit.ru, who have evolved in the age of the Internet and with a different approach. And Kazakhstan, for one, has the modern infrastructure necessary to progress.

So while gatherings such as the Media Forum pose more questions than they answer, at least they bring some attention to a publicity-starved region. The fact that the Almaty skyline has yet to feature the golden arches of chief globaliser, Ronald McDonald shows how far it still is from the western gaze.

Mind you, in a country where the public appetite for horse's meat and milk is so disconcertingly voracious it would induce Frankie Dettori to seek therapy, that is perhaps not such a bad thing.

Greg Norman, 27/04/2003

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