Off the Record, Journalists Predict Political Games to

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KPAO KG
SUBJECT: Off the Record, Journalists Predict Political Games to
Continue Into Spring

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Ref: Bishkek 1643


1. (SBU) Summary: In an off the record session with four of the most
well-connected journalists in Bishkek, the Ambassador had a
wide-ranging discussion on the state of post-protest Kyrgyzstan.
The general opinion was that while the new constitution had provided
both sides a face-saving compromise, the actual implementation of
the document will lead to even more conflicts. The future status of
state-owned television channel KTR will continue to be a difficult
issue. The outcome of the protests and the restructuring of the
checks and balances in the new constitution have politicians
attempting to reconsolidate their power. Neither governmental nor
independent media provided balanced and unbiased reporting about the
protests said the journalists. End summary.

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CONSTITUTION
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2. (SBU) On Wednesday, November 15, the Ambassador met with four
journalists: Dinara Suymalieva of Internews, Andrey Tsvetkov of NTS
TV, Marat Tokoev of the Journalists Public Association, and Anton
Lymar of 24.kg. The journalists said that opposition politicians
were not happy with the current rules of the political and economic
games. The new constitution moved Kyrgyzstan away from the brink of
a catastrophe, but political battles will continue into spring 2007,
especially over the contradictions in the document and its
implementation. The journalists described this as a very raw and
very contradictory constitution, and they seemed remarkably sanguine
that exactly a week after being signed, a final version has not yet
been published.


3. (SBU) The journalists blamed President Bakiev for the way
constitution was passed. They said that reforms had dragged on for
a year and a half because he realized that the 2003 constitution was
beneficial for his personal authority. They claimed that he was the
main person blocking reforms. They claimed that the fact that
Bakiyev wants to maximize the benefits to himself under the old
constitution before fully implementing the new constitution is
another problem.


4. (SBU) Since no one has seen the final version of the
constitution, the deputies themselves do not know what their rights
and powers are. Some of the journalists said that Deputies had been
coming to them looking for final copies of the constitution.

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STATE TV
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5. (SBU) The journalists said that reforming the state television
channel KTR into a public broadcaster should continue to be the
priority. Although President Bakiev vetoed the bill on reforms of
the state TV, they were convinced the Parliament has enough votes
(2/3 of 75) to overcome the veto or initiate a new and separate
bill. According to the new constitution, KTR should now move under
the control of the Prime Minister Felix Kulov, not the President.
The journalists acknowledged that the bureaucratic shuffling of who
controlled KTR was largely meaningless in addressing the larger
problems in the Kyrgyz media environment since they did not believe
the Prime Minister would take full advantage of his new authority
and would defer to the President's wishes. The journalists said
that the one-sided news coverage by KTR exacerbated already existing
North-South divisions and increased tensions during the protests
rather than calming them, because Northerners saw different (and
broader) news coverage which the South did not have access to. One
commented that a public television station broadcasting unbiased
information would have helped deescalate the situation.

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OTHER MEDIA
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6. (SBU) All the journalists agreed that the coverage of the
protests by other media was either censored (Pyramida TV and NTS
were periodically cut off the air by "technical" issues, websites
faced hacker attacks) or biased in favor of one side. One of the
participants described how her television talk show had not been
aired by NTS, a station owned by one of the opposition leaders,
because the leader wanted only one-sided coverage. Another
participant supported her saying that the owner of the station was
personally directing the broadcast policy of the station during the
crisis.

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WHAT IS NEXT?
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7. (SBU) The journalists believed that although the clash was
between the President and the Parliament, it was the Prime Minister
who emerged as the winner. Another byproduct of the protests was
that political forces now realized that it is not always profitable
to be the president. They theorized that some politicians would be
taking a break till the 2010 elections. Some others are forging
alliances with each other, leading to divisions forming within the
Za Reformi movement. Others are already starting political parties
to take advantage of the new proportional representation clauses in
the new Constitution. Finally, they believe that Felix Kulov now
understands that he has lost his followers among the opposition and
sees Bakiyev as his only political ally.


8. (SBU) The journalists ended by commenting that it is a very bad
precedent to change the Constitution with "street democracy." They
see two large questions looming. First, how will the constitution
be amended to remove contradictions unresolved during drafting: will
it be in the Parliament or again on the streets. Second, the
Parliament now has to consolidate its powers (comment: and determine
exactly what those powers are) and show the President that it can
appoint the Prime Minister and the cabinet.

Yovanovitch