Mass media in Kyrgyzstan

[1][2] In recent years, the Kyrgyzstan government has strengthened censorship and implemented laws that restrict media freedom.

The state-owned media is dominant, and moves to privatise it by the opposition were blocked by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, given the political climate in the country.

Journalists in the past have been harassed and intimidated who were both pro and anti-government, and protested when the President took the role of deputy director at the state run Public Broadcasting Corporation of the Kyrgyz Republic.

[10] The growth of the Internet usage led to online media being more significant, and playing a bigger role in the political processes in the country.

The best example of that were anticorruption protests held in Bishkek in November and December 2019 after Kloop, a local media outlet, had published an investigation together with the Kyrgyz bureau of Radio Liberty and Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project about the massive corruption at the Kyrgyz customs service.