Kabar

Kabar is Kyrgyzstan’s official state news agency, headquartered in Bishkek, and the country’s oldest news agency. It was founded in 1937 by decision of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Kyrgyz SSR as the Kyrgyz Telegraph Agency, or KyrTAG. In 1992 it became the State Information Agency Kyrgyzkabar. Presidential Decree No. 33 of 2 February 1995 established the Kyrgyz National Agency of Telecommunications and Information “Kabar”, and the agency adopted its present title in 2001.

Kabar’s current institutional page confirms its establishment in 1937 and operation under its present name since 2001. The 1995 reorganisation is documented in the official presidential decree, while the current legal framework is set out in the agency’s governing regulation.

Media assets

News agency: Kabar, publishing in Kyrgyz, Russian, English, Arabic, Turkish and Chinese

Ownership and governance

Kabar is state-owned. Its governing regulation defines it as the country’s sole state information-analytical institution, formally outside the system of executive power, and as the coordinator of Kyrgyzstan’s domestic and international information policy. Its principal statutory functions include disseminating official information from state authorities and representing the country’s interests internationally. Kabar’s current institutional description similarly identifies the timely dissemination of official information from state bodies as one of its principal tasks.

The agency’s formal placement outside the executive branch does not provide arm’s-length governance. Under the governing regulation, the Director is appointed and dismissed by the President. Deputy leadership is also appointed by the President, on the Director’s recommendation.

President Sadyr Japarov appointed Mederbek Shermetaliev as Director by presidential order on 26 April 2022. Kubanychbek Taabaldiev, who had headed Kabar from 2011, was dismissed by a separate presidential order. The appointments were reported by Kabar itself and by the President’s office.

Source of funding and budget

Kabar receives the bulk of its funding from the state budget, according to local journalists interviewed by State Media Monitor in December 2023.

Published Ministry of Finance cash-planning documents identify Kabar separately as budget unit 44521, confirming continuing direct public financing. For example, the April 2026 cash plan lists a monthly cash ceiling of KGS 5.0911 million. This figure is neither an annual appropriation nor a measure of actual expenditure. Kabar also offers paid advertising services.

Editorial independence

Kabar’s editorial output is closely aligned with the government. Journalists interviewed by State Media Monitor in December 2023 and March 2025 said the agency routinely avoids critical or dissenting coverage, favouring promotional and official narratives aligned with state priorities.

Its institutional mandate supports that assessment. The governing regulation makes Kabar the coordinator of the state’s domestic and international information policy and requires it to disseminate official information originating from public authorities. Its current institutional description emphasises official state information and strengthening Kyrgyzstan’s international standing.

Kabar’s coverage of restrictions on independent media further illustrates its position. In September 2024, President Sadyr Japarov answered Kabar’s questions about the court-ordered closure of the public foundation associated with Kloop Media, freedom of speech and investigative journalism. The interview was conducted by Director Shermetaliev himself. The episode demonstrates Kabar’s privileged role in publishing presidential responses to criticism surrounding restrictions on independent media. The interview remains available in Kabar’s archive.

Some formal safeguards should nevertheless be recorded. Kabar’s governing regulation says that the agency should follow principles of objectivity and comprehensive coverage. Kyrgyzstan’s 2025 Mass Media Law, in force since 23 August 2025, generally prohibits censorship and provides that a media founder may not interfere in editorial activity except in defined managerial and corporate circumstances.

These provisions do not create institutional independence. State Media Monitor identified no Kabar-specific editorial-autonomy clause, independent governing body, protected appointment process or external mechanism capable of enforcing editorial independence against the agency’s presidentially appointed leadership.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor could not identify a published Kabar policy governing generative artificial intelligence, mandatory human verification, model provenance or audience disclosure, and could not establish the extent to which AI is used in news production.

Kyrgyzstan’s Digital Code, adopted on 31 July 2025 and effective from 6 February 2026, establishes statutory transparency requirements for certain uses of artificial intelligence.

Article 197 requires owners and users of AI systems designed or used to interact with individual consumers to inform those individuals that they are interacting with AI, unless this is obvious from the circumstances. It also requires users employing AI to produce deepfakes to disclose the artificial origin or alteration of the material, subject to specified exceptions. The provision does not impose a separate requirement for news organisations to label every item produced or assisted by AI.

Classification rationale

Kabar remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is state-owned and state-governed. Kabar is the official state news agency and the legally designated coordinator of Kyrgyzstan’s domestic and international information policy. Although formally placed outside the executive branch, its Director and deputy leadership are appointed by the President. No independent board, external oversight body or protected appointment mechanism insulates management from presidential control.

It is predominantly state-funded. Local journalists said that state financing constitutes the bulk of Kabar’s income, while Ministry of Finance records confirm continuing direct budget financing. The absence of an identifiable annual allocation, accounts or revenue breakdown remains a significant transparency gap.

Its editorial agenda is aligned with the state. Kabar’s statutory mandate centres on coordinating state information policy and disseminating official information. Journalists interviewed in two research rounds described an editorial practice that avoids critical coverage in favour of official narratives. The agency’s privileged publication of presidential responses concerning restrictions on independent media reinforces that assessment.

The general anti-censorship provisions of the 2025 Mass Media Law and the objectivity language in Kabar’s regulation are relevant formal safeguards, but they do not counterbalance presidential appointments, the absence of independent governance, state financial dependence or the reported editorial practice.

September 2026