edition-dw-akademie-in-the-service-of-the-public-functions-and-transformation-of-media-in-developing-countries-pdf

Characteristics Status Changes and progressover the past yearsRegulatory system/governing bodyThe Supervisory Board is made up of 15 members: 5 fromgovernment, 5 from parliament and 5 from civil society.Members are elected for a period of two years, elections takeplace annually. Theoretically, the Board wields quite a lot ofpower, in practice this is constantly tempered by politicalpressure. All decisions also go before parliament, budgetingdecisions go to Finance Ministry.The Supervisory Board iswidely seen as one of thesuccess stories of transformationin Kyrgyzstan andas such, attempts to politicallyundermine it rarelyget far.Engagement of civil societyThe inclusion of civil society in the Supervisory Board wasa precept only reinstated in the third attempt to establishPSM in 2010. Civil society in general guards social freedomsjealously, there are numerous media and press associations,although no unions.–FinancingOTRK is financed primarily by the state: the budget goes tothe Supervisory Board, then to parliament for approval, so allfinancial matters are decided on by politicians. The FinanceMinistry holds the purse strings. There is also some revenuefrom advertising (not much – the Kyrgyz advertising industryis small), and funding from international donors and developmentpartners.OTRK recently attracteda Japanese grant worthUS$ 800,000 for technicalupgrading.Use of mobile and internetcommunication/moderntechnology/challenges ofdigitalizationDigitalization is planned for June 2015, estimated cost, 550million Kyrgyz som (just over US$ 11 million). Likely to beproblematic as there are already complaints that not enoughmoney is being made available for the necessary upgradingof infrastructure and skills.OTRK has a website presence, with live streaming, and alsoruns a Facebook page and a Twitter account.Radio Dostuk (Friendship Radio) is only online, programs aremade available in MP3 format.The use of social media hasrecently been improved:a local expert (runs oneof the biggest and mostsuccessful news websites inthe country) showed staff atOTRK how to use the socialnetwork sites and sincethen, they are a popularinterface between stationand audience.Regional structures andreportingThere are 7 regional studios, one in each oblast (region), withcorrespondents, and a mobile studio goes out to the regionstwice a year and organizes talk shows with locals and localdignitaries/politicians. Nonetheless, audience feedback indicatesthat coverage of regional events/affairs is anything butsatisfactory. Generally, the regional facilities are only usedwhen members of government or VIPs visit.–66