Kazakhstan media

According to the Law "On the Mass Media" dated July 23, 1999 No. 451-I, mass media means:

• periodical print publication : newspaper, magazine, almanac, newsletter, other publication with a permanent name, current issue and issued at least once every three months;
• radio channel;
• TV channel
• documentary film;
• audiovisual recording;
• online edition ;
• another form of periodic or continuous public distribution of the mass media, including Internet resources; means (bodies) of everyday practice of collecting, processing and disseminating information intended for mass audiences in the Republic of Kazakhstan . Media does not include all Internet resources, but only those where the owner has decided to classify his Internet resource as a network publication ” ^[1] .

Media activities in Kazakhstan are regulated by the Committee on Communications, Informatization and Information under the Ministry for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan .

As of July 1, 2016, 2763 active media were registered in the Republic of Kazakhstan . The vast majority in the overall structure - 86% are print media, 11% are electronic media, 3% are news agencies. At present, there are 1,156 newspapers and 1,269 magazines in the country. 285 electronic mass media were also registered, of which 169 were broadcasting companies (108 were broadcasting companies and 61 were broadcasting companies), 108 were cable operators and 8 were satellite broadcasting operators. The total number of news agencies was 41. 15 publications were registered as network publications; Russian and Kazakh languages. ^[2] .

Before the Revolution

A periodical appeared in Kazakhstan with the establishment of the rule of the Russian Empire . In 1870, the Russian-language newspaper Turkestan Vedomosti appeared , covering events in the Turkestan Territory and, in particular, on Kazakh lands. In the same year, a Kazakh- language supplement to the Turkestan Gazette appeared under the name “Turkistan Ulayatyny Gazeti” (“Newspaper of the Turkestan Territory”), published from 1870 to 1882; from 1888 to 1902 it was published under the name “Dala ulayatyny gazeti” (“Newspaper of the Steppe Territory”). At the beginning of the 20th century , the newspapers Serke (1907) and Kazakh (1913-1918) were published, reflecting the progressive Jadidist views of the Kazakh intelligentsia ^[3] .

The first Kazakh-language magazine was Aykap ( Kazakh. Aykap - Zerkalo), which appeared in Troitsk (now Chelyabinsk Oblast) from 1911 to 1915 ^[4] .

Soviet period

After the February and October revolutions there was a rapid increase in the number of Kazakhstan periodicals. However, most of them turned out to be short-lived, and by the 1930s the number of newspapers and magazines had fallen sharply ^[4] .

Nevertheless, in the Kazakh SSR there were many socio-political and departmental newspapers working under the guidance of city, regional committees and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. The most popular republican newspapers were Kazakhstanskaya Pravda , Lenin Shift , Socialist Kazakhstan , Leninshil Zhas , and Pioneer of Kazakhstan (subsequently Friendly Friends ). In each city and region of the republic, local print media were issued: for example, the Alma-Ata And Zhetysu Oblasts in the Alma-Ata Oblast were regional, and Evening Alma-Ata was urban in Alma-Ata. Almost every ministry, large enterprise or organization had its own specialized print publication: for example, Temirzholshy (Zheleznodorozhnik), Soviet Pilot, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan (Teacher of Kazakhstan), and Kazakh Udebiet (“Kazakh literature”), “Bizdin otan” (“Our Motherland”), “Kitap zharshysy” (“Friend of the reader”), “Efirde Kazakhstan” (“Kazakhstan on air”) and many others. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of the Kazakh SSR also issued their publications ^[5] .

Under the editorial offices of many Kazakhstani newspapers, public editorial offices, literary associations, and correspondent posts were created and had; various contests, competitions, public raids were held. In each editorial office there was a “letter department”, which received many readers' letters, including about injustice or inaction of the authorities or “violations on the ground”. To which there was an immediate reaction - the correspondent went out and made an article. Based on the published critical materials and letters, the local authorities had to “take measures”, reacting accordingly ^[5] .

Among the magazines published in the Kazakh SSR, the most popular were Kyzyl Kazakhstan (now Akikat ; published since 1922), Zhana Adebiet (now Zhuldyz ; published since 1928), Ara ( published from 1956 to 1998), Prostor (published since 1960), Zhalyn (published since 1969) ^[4] . The Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR issued the Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR (now the Bulletin of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan ) ^[6] .

Independence Period

As of 2016, 1886 print media were registered in Kazakhstan, including 1364 newspapers and 522 magazines. 76% of newspapers and 67% of magazines are non-state ^[7] .

Newspapers and magazines of Kazakhstan are divided according to the territory of distribution, frequency of publication and thematic focus and language.

Regular broadcasting in the territory of modern Kazakhstan arose in 1921 under the name " Kazakh Radio ". Broadcasting in the Kazakh language was started on March 23, 1927 ^[8] .

Currently in Kazakhstan there are 7 news and news radio stations with a republican status: Kazakh Radio, Russian Radio Kazakhstan, Retro Kazakhstan, NS Radio , Autoradio, Shalkar, Europa plus Kazakhstan.

Cable television in the Republic of Kazakhstan developed rapidly from the mid-1990s to the beginning of the 2000s. New cable operators-companies opened, competition and market relations appeared, the quality of the services provided improved, the subscription fee for services decreased. Cable television has become available to the population in many cities of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It did not last long. In 2010, the SEKATEL company ceased to exist, providing its services in Astana (since 1999), Aktau (since 1999) and Almaty (since 2005). The SEKATEL company was a leader in the field of cable TV services provided to the population in Astana and Almaty ^[9] . In the city of Almaty, the company also serviced a number of elite residential complexes (Botanical Garden, Ovation, Nurly Tau, Capital Center, Versailles, Zhailau Golf Club and Mega Towers). In October 2009, the MTV Russia television channel broadcast the scandalous Borat movie twice, during the screenings of the film, the channel’s broadcast was interrupted by all cable TV operators, but only at Secatel the second re-broadcast at 3:00 a.m. did not stop. After that, in 2010, the Secatel company rapidly ceased to exist. In the same year, a new operator company, DigitalTV, appeared.

In May 2013, the DIGITAL TV operator company was acquired by Kazakhtelecom JSC, and ceased to exist in 2014 ^[10] . In October 2015, the cable network of the ICON operator switched to Alma TV ^[11] .

As of July 2016, 108 operators of cable-television networks providing cable television services were operating in the republic. The scope of their activities is usually local in nature. Moreover, the channel package ranges from 14 to 130 television programs. Major players in the cable TV business market are companies like Almatel Kazakhstan (with the trademark ALMA TV) and Kazakhtelecom (with the trademark ID TV). Almatel Kazakhstan and Kazakhtelecom are currently the only major cable TV operators in such large cities as Astana and Almaty.

The infrastructure of cable and ether-cable television has been developed in the largest cities, such as Almaty, Astana, Karaganda, Kostanay, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Pavlodar.

According to the information of Kazteleradio JSC, out of 4 million households in the Republic, 1.6 million are covered by cable television - this is about 5-6 million people.

Currently, 270 foreign television and radio channels are registered with the authorized body. Of them: Russian - 185, English - 24, French 16, American - 11, Turkish - 7, Ukrainian - 6, other - 18 (Netherlands, Korea, Hong Kong, Chechen Republic, Republic of Dagestan, Belarus, Estonia, Cyprus, Switzerland, Germany, Duchy of Luxembourg, Azerbaijan). ^[2]

Problems with broadcasting Russian TV channels

Since 2012, major Russian television channels began to regularly encounter problems hindering their broadcasting in cable networks in Kazakhstan.

In 2012, the operator Alma-TV announced that it was stopping the retransmission of the RTR Planet, Russia 24 and Russia K channels due to the inability to reach mutually beneficial conditions for cooperation with the copyright holder ^[12] . However, VGTRK reported that the information was untrue ^[13] . Then the issue was settled and Russian television channels continued their broadcasting in cable networks of large operators in Kazakhstan.

An interesting fact is that the copyright holders of the Russian channels in Kazakhstan are two Kazakhstani companies, Eurasia Media Distribution LLP and Kazakhstan Center TV LLP. In order to get the right to relay Russian television channels, cable operators are obliged to conclude copyright agreements with them, paying a fee, and not directly with the owner and producer of the channels ^{[14] [15]} .

In 2017, the same situation arose as in 2012, Alma-TV and Kazakhtelecom announced the suspension of retransmission of four Russian television channels - NTV-Mir, RTR-Planeta, Russia-24 and Russia -Culture ”from December 11, 2017 ^{[16] [17]} . The reason for the suspension of broadcasting is called the requirement from the copyright holders for the next increase in the cost of rights for relaying these television channels.

Also in Kazakhstan, people called experts and experts in the field of media are constantly raising the issue of a threat to the country's information security emanating from Russian state television channels, which, on the basis of their personal observations, consider that public opinion in Kazakhstan is mainly formed by the Russian media. According to their observations, from the beginning of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, Kazakhstani society was divided into two camps that were at war with each other. Moreover, they believe that pro-Russian sentiments clearly dominate in the majority of the population of Kazakhstan ^[18] . In particular, Armanzhan Baitasov, who opposed the signing of the Eurasian Union Treaty in April 2014 ^[19] , complained about people who were “pumped” by Russian ideology who are extremely unfriendly to a different point of view. According to Baitasov, the pro-Russian orientation of a significant part of the Kazakh population is a consequence of the information policy pursued in the country ^[18] . It is known that in 2014 Baitasov’s television companies unexpectedly shot news, a program and a film about events in Ukraine, which showed a completely different point of view on what was happening ^{[19] [20]} . Another expert, Yerlan Askarbekov, suggested in 2014 that it was urgently needed in Kazakhstan to limit the broadcasting of Russian state channels showing political news and talk shows. This emergency emergency measure is necessary for our country for at least three years, and should apply to all repeaters without exception ^[18] .

Ban on cable network advertising

From the end-beginning of the 2010s, large cable TV operators began to place (by tapping) on ​​the air of Russian TV channels (Channel One, Russia, NTV, RenTV, MuzTV) local Kazakh advertising, receiving financial rewards from Kazakhstani advertising companies. After that, the issue began to be circulated in the print and electronic media that allegedly it was precisely because of Russian TV channels that Kazakh TV channels were falling ratings and their own national television production and channels were suffering from a lack of financial resources, which supposedly went to Russia because of advertisements on cable channels. In 2016, interested parties amended article 34 of the Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting, according to which television and radio broadcasting operators, when relaying foreign television channels and radio channels on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan, should not allow the dissemination of advertising ^[21] . Now cable TV operators are not only not entitled to place Kazakhstani advertising on foreign television channels, but are also obliged to cut out foreign advertising broadcast personally by the channels themselves. This law is valid only in Kazakhstan, nowhere else in the world is there such a ban on showing advertisements on relayed television channels in cable networks.

Freedom of the media and the absence of censorship in the Republic of Kazakhstan is guaranteed by the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated July 23, 1999 No. 451-I “On Mass Media”. ^[22]

• Ministry of Information and Communications of Kazakhstan
• Media of Alma-Ata
• Communication in Kazakhstan
• Media companies in Kazakhstan
• List of regional, district and city newspapers of Kazakhstan

• Media law
• Information Access Act