Kyrgyz journalists protest against pressure on media
BISHKEK. Oct 1 (Interfax) - Journalists protested against the infringement of their professional rights near the Kyrgyz parliament building on Monday.
About 100 journalists supported colleagues from the Ferghana.ru online portal and the NTS television company whose work had been impeded by certain deputies.
A television crew was banished from last week's meeting of a parliamentary commission investigating cases of looting on April 7, 2010, and possible involvement of Ata Meken deputies in them.
"People have the right to know what is going on at the Legislative Assembly, while deputies have no right to tell us how to do our job," the action organizers stressed.
The picket "presents our claims to parliament deputies," picket co-organizer, MK Asia chief editor Ulugbek Babakulov said.
A number of recent steps, such as "dress code for journalists and limited access of NTS to parliament meetings, display the wish of parliamentarians to force the media to present the information in the desired light," he said.