The new media law may also cover the activities of bloggers. Deputy Minister of Culture of Kyrgyzstan Chyngyz Esengul uulu announced at the presentation of the bill.
He noted that in the revised, sixth version of the draft of the law, the term «blogger» is not mentioned and their activities in Kyrgyzstan are not regulated by special regulatory acts, since there is no definition of this concept in the current legislation.
«However, the bill contains a definition of «journalist», which can cover bloggers involved in the collection, analysis and dissemination of information, which implies the application to them of the rights and responsibilities provided for journalists,» Chyngyz Esengul uulu said.
At the same time, the official believes that the adoption of a law on bloggers and determining of their responsibility is necessary for the country.
«We are far from developing a bill on bloggers. But in the future we have to come to this,» Chyngyz Esengul uulu said.
On March 13, spokesman for the president Askat Alagozov announced that, on the instructions of the head of state, the bill on mass media, which was adopted in the first reading by a parliamentary committee, was withdrawn.
The bill developed by the presidential administration was submitted to the Parliament in early January. This is the fifth version of the document; it was finalized by members of the working group created by order of the head of state Sadyr Japarov in December 2022. However, the draft law was not finalized, agreed upon or approved by all members of the working group. There was no clause-by-clause discussion.
The working group on the new media law included five people from the presidential administration: the head of the Legal Support Department Murat Ukushev, a department expert, representatives of the Legal Department, the press service and the Ministry of Culture, as well as 15 media representatives.
