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Teenage Journalists in Central Asia Confront Controversial Issues Online

Aselya Abikeyeva (right), a 19-year-old journalist from
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and Saltanat Isakova, a 16-year-
old participant from Kadamjay, Kyrgyzstan, edit their
interview at the Nasha Versia office in Osh, Kyrgyzstan


Zarnigor Atamatova, a 19-year-old participant from
Khujand, Tajikistan, interviews college students in Osh,
Kyrgyzstan about corruption

Young journalists in Central Asia have built on the trainings they received from IREX and developed a powerful independent media outlet confronting controversial issues in the region. Nasha Versia (“Our Version,” www.nashaversia.net) is a cadre of teenage journalists thoroughly researching and writing high-quality investigative online articles on topics such as corruption, politics, AIDS, and education in their communities.

In summer 2006, IREX provided Nasha Versia with a five-day seminar on utilizing computers and the Internet to enhance their reporting. The project was part of the US Department of State’s Internet Access and Training Program (IATP), with this particular component funded through a grant from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Michael Andersen, a Danish independent journalist and documentary filmmaker who has reported extensively on the Central Asian region, led the training at the Independent Internet Center in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. This and a similar event in Khujand, Tajikistan have been followed up with further trainings and online support. One of the most important results of the training was the creation of their website, which they’ve been updating regularly since its inception.

“Thanks to the courses, I learned many things, including how to write professional articles, use online materials, and check information sources,” commented Larisa Haykina, a 17-year-old journalist from Shymkent, Kazakhstan. “I will further advance my journalism skills to generate articles of interest for people and post them on the [Nasha Versia] website to attract more journalists and readers to make an international journalism portal.”

Results of the training came quickly. This past fall, more than 20 Nasha Versia journalists organized two awareness and reporting campaigns entitled “Corruption - NO” in Osh and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, using the hard-hitting journalism skills they acquired from the OSCE-IATP project. The group published three articles, prepared a radio spot, gave a press conference at Akipress in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan’s leading online news agency), and posted their findings on the Nasha Versia website.

During the campaigns, participants surveyed and interviewed over 6,000 students, faculty, and representatives of the Ministry of Education about corruption at local colleges. The majority of survey respondents in Bishkek and Osh provided responses that reflect deep-rooted corruption at local colleges and a lack of steps to prevent it. “Until each college teacher will start receiving a higher salary, until [the teacher] will be sure that he can be fired for taking bribes, and until a college student will start studying himself instead of giving bribes, we can continue looking for the guilty. However, this will not solve the problem. A strong state regulatory system in higher education may help to address the growing corruption at colleges,” concluded Aselya Abikeeva, a young journalist from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in her article dedicated to corruption in education.

Since October, these reporters have published over 20 articles dedicated also to AIDS, gender, and education. Kseniya Shilina, a teenage journalist from Kazakhstan, reported on the accidental HIV infection of some patients in her country. Shillina described how a woman recently confined in Djambil Oblast and over 60 children in Shymkent were infected during a mishandled blood transfusion. “It will be unjust to blame doctors for such mistakes, knowing how little money is given for HIV prevention activities. The state is the guarantor of nation’s safety. The state needs to establish sustainable financing system…if it wants to decrease growing cases of HIV/AIDS in country,” Shilina remarked in her article.

Nasha Versia’s more than 20 young journalists are from throughout Central Asia. They plan to continue their collaboration online and work together in person to create a community to exchange best practices, share achievements, and organize impact-oriented initiatives that benefit their home communities.

The Nasha Versia website plays a key role as one of very few independent news sources on Central Asia produced by local citizens. In February, the website prominently posted six new articles dedicated to HIV/AIDS. The group also developed two new features on the website: a forum to foster discussion on pressing issues and “Notes from the USA,” a Web page dedicated to articles about or from US student organizations and clubs. Regina Berdibaeva, currently studying at Otero Junior College, Colorado on the Eurasian Undergraduate Fellowship Program (UGRAD), posted an article about the effect of student organizations at her college.

Along with their high-quality reporting, the journalists of Nasha Versia remain committed to serving as a news outlet as well as training center for talented youths from the Central Asian states. The Central Asian group also plans to expand its own network of dedicated journalists and will start sharing hands-on journalism skills and tips with peers from other regions, including the Caucasus. A second OSCE grant will allow IATP to train young journalists from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia to apply this model in their region, and will expand this network of open-minded and young reporters to bring together advanced technology with investigative techniques to improve their societies.  

By building towards international journalism standards, these promising youths are helping improve the media’s role in promoting participatory democracy in the region, as well as addressing local issues. Their new skills have lent a voice on the often underreported issues facing the region’s youth to both local and international audiences.

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