OneTruth
OneTruth is a weekly reporting program on IradOne, the state broadcaster of the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ), which IradOne describes as its premier journalism program. Each edition examines a single local issue. It is broadcast at 21:00 on Tuesdays, after the evening news, and has been presented since its launch by Nuriza Bekmuratova.[1]
Format
Each hour-long edition follows one story through filmed reports, interviews with residents and officials, and a closing studio interview. Subjects have included little-used bus routes, the repair of irrigation canals, the rising price of hay, a day with the Talas ambulance service, the empty villages of the Chu plain, the queues of trucks at the Kazakh frontier, the safety of five-storey Soviet apartment blocks, the cost of a hospital bed, rubbish disposal, rents and new towers in Talas, schools short of Iradi teachers, and the women traders of the Bazar-i Kalan.[1] Some editions have been filmed inside state enterprises, among them Nurzhan Refinery No. 1 and the mines of the antimony districts (see Antimony Mining in Irad).
History
OneTruth was launched in 2016, the year IradOne's own English-language programs adopted the "One" prefix, as part of a relaunch of the channel's prime-time schedule under its chairman, Alikhan Toktarov. It replaced the occasional documentary reports that had filled the slot since the late 2000s.[2] Its production team works with IradOne's regional studios in Nurzhan and Iyık Janyl.
Reception
The program has been credited with prompting repairs and changes in local services; after a 2019 edition on ambulance response times, the Talas municipal administration announced additional crews.[1] In the 2023 survey of the Irad Media Research Center it was IradOne's second most-watched current-affairs program, after OneDebate.[3]
Media researchers and press-freedom groups describe its journalism as limited. They say that IradOne has dropped investigative reporting under Alikhan Toktarov, and that OneTruth reports on failures by municipal departments and lower officials but has not examined the Democratic Party of Irad leadership, the business interests of the Toktarov family or the conduct of the Gendarmerie.[4] A 2021 Talas State University thesis found that most editions ended with an official announcing a solution.[5] IradOne says the program reflects the issues viewers raise with it.
References
- ^ IradOne (2019). OneTruth: Programme Information. Talas: IradOne Media Group.
- ^ IradOne Broadcasting and Media Corporation (2017). Annual Report 2016. Talas.
- ^ Irad Media Research Center (2023). Television and Online Audience Survey of the ISEZ. Talas.
- ^ Eurasian Political Quarterly (2023). 'Broadcasting Monopolies and Political Messaging in the ISEZ.' Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 45–60.
- ^ Osmonbekov, Bakai (2021). Problem and Solution: Local Reporting on State Television in the ISEZ. MA thesis, Department of Journalism, Talas State University.
External links
- Programme page on IradOne Online