After the Tulip Revolution: journalism education in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution of March 2005 was expected to spur democratization. Many journalists and media experts hoped the change in regimes would lead to improvements in a university-level journalism education system that still closely followed the Soviet model of teaching and emphasized theory rather than development of practical skills and adherence to internationally accepted professional standards. A year and a half later, however, little change was evident at universities in the national or regional capitals, raising questions about prospects for rapid change in journalism education following other revolutionary changes in regime in post-communist countries with no free press tradition.