PRESS COVERAGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS IN KYRGYZSTAN AND THE ROLE OF ECO-NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Keywords:
environmental journalism; Kyrgyzstan; environmental NGOs; media coverage; public relations.Abstract
This article explores obstacles and conditions that environmental nongovernmental organizations face in interacting with media outlets in Kyrgyzstan. It also examines the limited scope of environmental journalism and the resulting limited ability of news outlets and eco-NGOs to help set the public agenda for discussion of policy and issues in the country. Even if such public relations interaction occurs, it is rarely effective and rarely generates influential eco/environmental articles in the media. The study is based on a content analysis of the news agency 24.kg and the newspaper Vecherniy Bishkek. It includes results of a survey and interviews with eco-NGOs representatives.
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References
See: M.E. McCombs, D.L. Shaw, “The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media,” Public Opinion Quarterly, No. 36 (2),1972, pp. 176-187; G. Stone, M. Singletary, V.P. Richmond, Clarifying Communication Theories: A Hands-on Approach,Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa, 1999.
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D. Weaver, S.N. Elliott, “Who Sets the Agenda for the Media? A Study of Local Agenda-Building,” Journalism Quarterly, No. 62 (1), 1985, pp. 87-94, 88; S. J. Moon, J.C. Shim, “How Environmental Activists Built a Media Agenda and Its Attributes: The Saemangeum Project in South Korean,” Korean Social Science Journal, Vol. 37 (2), 2010, pp. 51-80.
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See: S. J. Moon, J.C. Shim, op. cit.
Ibid., p. 74.
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Ibid., p. 673.
See: E. Freedman, “Barriers to Coverage of Transborder Environmental Issues in the Ferghana Valley of Central
Asia,” Applied Environmental Education & Communication, No. 13, 2014, pp. 48-55; idem, “Environmental Journalism in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan: Reporting Scarce Amid Environmental and Media Problems.” Applied Environmental Education & Communication, No. 10, 2011, pp. 16-134.
See: A. Pugachev, Cooperation between Government and Health NGOs in Kyrgyzstan, Lecture at American Univer-sity of Central Asia Social Research Center, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 2007.
See: S.N. Hesse-Biber, P. Leavy, The Practice of Qualitative Research, 2nd ed., Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2011.
See: G. Toralieva, “Environmental Reporting in Kyrgyzstan,” Problems of Post-Communism, No. 58, 2011, pp. 58-66.
A. Karsymbek, interview, 9 December, 2010, Bishkek.
E. Shukurov, interview, 13 December, 2010, Bishkek.
I. Jakipova, interview, 12 January, 2011, Bishkek.
D. Sulaimanova, interview, 25 February, 2011, Bishkek.
I. Chistyakova, interview, 15 March, 2011, Bishkek.
A. Kirilenko, interview, 4 May, 2011, Bishkek.
University of Twente, “Agenda-Setting Theory.”23 R. O’Leary, R F. Durant, D.J. Fiorino, P.S. Weiland, op. cit.
R. O’Leary, R F. Durant, D.J. Fiorino, P.S. Weiland, op. cit.
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