The project works to promote access to information by assisting the regional public broadcaster Yntymak and national public broadcaster OTRK to deliver accurate and impartial news.

MAJOR FOCUS AREAS

Since June 2016 the project has focused on Yntymak to improve the quality of news and diversify revenue to ensure long-term sustainability of the broadcaster. The project assists Yntymak through targeted consultancy, mentoring, and training on strategic planning, audience research, and broadcaster’s multimedia and online presence.

While working with OTRK, the project based its interventions on technical, financial, and functional audits. Internews trained OTRK staff on legal issues, reporting and technical skills, news program presenting and scheduling, public broadcasting principles, and management, while improving the channel’s technical capacity and expand its reach to diverse audiences.

EXPECTED IMPACT AND RESULTS

SUPPORT TO REGIONAL PUBLIC BROADCASTER (YNTYMAK)

• Journalists from Yntymak improved their professional knowledge and skills through a series of trainings  on management, speech and presentation techniques, social media marketing, and coverage during elections, business correspondence, camera operation, as well as news production.
• After consultations with experts on strategic planning, marketing, sales and management, Yntymak developed a three-year action plan to identify and fill in management and performance gaps, improve financial practices in order to achieve long-term sustainability.
• Yntymak’s new website has improved functionality and design, so that visitors can easily access the information they want.
• New modern newsroom software enabled Yntymak to digitalize the production process and improve the quality of the station’s broadcast news.
• The project helped to further strengthen Yntymak as an organization through consultations on HR and management practices. The project also enabled Yntymak to hire and train financial, PR, IT and HR managers.
• Yntymak is now able to customize its products according to audience interests due the new research commissioned by Internews. The research covered Osh and Jalal-Abad.

SUPPORT TO KYRGYZSTANI PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTER (OTRK)

• Internews helped organize fourteen town hall meetings and other public outreach events for OTRK, including audience reaction surveys; OTRK’s advisory board regularly met with citizen activists from outlying regions of Kyrgyzstan to hear from them on public service broadcasting development.
• OTRK went through financial, management and technical audits, as well as organizational functional analysis to identify issues to be addressed. Trainings that followed the audits empowered OTRK to lead its own financial, organizational, and technical reforms.
• A media expert invited by Internews designed a concept for a 24-hour news channel including a schedule of programs. OTRK launched the new channel, Ala Too 24, on September 12, 2016.
• The project helped OTRK to streamline its external communication efforts by assisting in development of a communication strategy and training of staff on public outreach and social media marketing.
• OTRK strengthened its new production capacity with new software and live-streaming devices provided by the project. New management software improved the work of the financial department.
• Increased server capacity improved the work of OTRK’s website, enabling it to receive more than 5,000 simultaneous page views. The broadcaster also has its own mobile application.
• The project conducted an audience survey, media monitoring and content analysis of seven prime-time TV programs to help improve and customize content.
• OTRK’s newsroom staff went through training on analytical journalism to improve the quality of its weekly programs, while commercial and website departments were trained on active sales and marketing.