List of newspapers in Irad
This is a list of newspapers published in Irad, current and former. The press of the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ) is small. Its main titles are English-language papers founded during the US territorial administration, the Talas Herald and the Irad Times, together with Iradi- and Russian-language weeklies. Every periodical must register with the Department of Public Information, which has suspended registrations and had websites blocked, and the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR) have no newspaper of their own.[1][2] For broadcasters, online media and the regulation of the press, see Media of Irad.
Current newspapers
| Title | Language | Frequency | Based in | Founded | Publisher | Circulation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talas Herald (Talas Jarchysy) | English | Daily, Monday to Saturday | Talas | March 1993 | Herald Publishing Company | c. 34,000 weekday print copies; c. 420,000 monthly web visitors (2023) | The most widely read ISEZ paper; semi-independent; founded by Medet Orozaliev and Margaret Hendricks; editor since 2009 Elmira Beishenova; online since 1999, metered paywall since 2018 |
| Jarchy ("The Herald") | Iradi | Weekly | Talas | 2017 | Herald Publishing Company | — | Sister weekly of the Herald for young readers, with translated news, music and film pages, letters and a poetry page; carried near the line by bus and mounted courier |
| Irad Times (Irad Ubaktysy) | English | Weekly, Thursdays | Talas | 11 April 1996 | Times Staff Trust | c. 9,000 copies (2023) | Independent investigative weekly of 24 pages, printed on its own press on Printers' Lane; managing editor since 2001 Bolotbek Daniyar; its website, hosted in the United States since 2008, has been blocked inside Irad since 15 October 2026 |
| Vecherniy Nurzhan ("Evening Nurzhan") | Russian | Weekly, Fridays | Nurzhan | 1968 | Nurzhan Press House | c. 6,000 copies (2023) | Founded as Vecherniy Kobozev, the city party committee's evening paper; renamed 1993; staff-owned from 1994 and owned since 2004 by Nurzhan Press House, publisher Lyudmila Savchenko; city news, TV listings, crosswords, obituaries and football; close to the official line |
Talas also has tabloids, which have published unverified stories about the ruling family and about the supposed political plans of Kamran Bekzatov.[3] The Herald and the Times both have offices on Printers' Lane (Basmakana köchösü) in the Old City of Talas.
Former newspapers and periodicals
| Title | Language | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iradyn Chyny ("The Truth of Irad") | Russian and Iradi | Soviet period – 1991 | Organ of the Communist Party of the Iradi SSR. Under the editor Maratbek Sadykov (1986–1991) it published the first articles on the 1956 Talas Riots, the purges of the clergy and the Kobozev bread riots, and its circulation rose from about 90,000 to more than 200,000 copies; Sadykov was dismissed in October 1991[4] |
| Jañy Jol ("New Road") | Iradi | 1928–1936 | Literary monthly edited by Ernis Tashtemirov, who also compiled the first Latin-script reader (1929), illustrated by Yusup Ayyubov; Tashtemirov was shot in Talas in November 1937; the magazine was reprinted in 1989[5] |
| Vecherniy Kobozev | Russian | 1968–1993 | Evening paper of the Kobozev city party committee; renamed Vecherniy Nurzhan in 1993 |
See also
References
- ^ Eurasian Political Quarterly (2014). 'Licensing the Press in the ISEZ.' Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 300–318.
- ^ Irad Media Research Center (2023). Television and Online Audience Survey of the ISEZ. Talas.
- ^ Central Asian Geopolitical Review (2023). 'Palace Intrigue in the ISEZ: Reading the Rumor Mill.' Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 3–14.
- ^ Sadykov, Maratbek (1999). The Truth Was Printed Here: A Newspaper in Perestroika. Talas: Talas State University Press.
- ^ Talas State University Press (2011). Iradistan: A History of the Iradi SSR, 1925–1991. Talas.