Kazakh Government Directly or Indirectly Controls Almost All Media, Except the Internet

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 20 – The Kazakh government controls directly by ownership or indirectly by having its own loyal people occupy key positions almost all the print and electronic media in that Central Asian country except for the Internet, which is generally based abroad and is beyond the control of the regime except by closing off the web there completely, Marsel Khamitov says.

            The Information and Analytic Center of Moscow State University analyst discusses the 4873 mass media channels and concludes that “in the media business of Kazakhstan, there are no accidental people. Only the Internet media represent if you will an exception to the rules” (ia-centr.ru/experts/marsel-khamitov/kto-vladeet-smi-kazakhstana/ and ia-centr.ru/experts/marsel-khamitov/kto-vladeet-smi-kazakhstana-chast-2/).

            Khamitov points to the ways in which the authorities have inserted people they can count on in all the major electronic and print media and shows that the Kazakh government’s control is far greater than many have typically assumed given the existence of nominally private media outlets.

            He also highlights the way in which Russian media, both Russian-owned and Russian-language plays a disproportionate role in the information scene in Kazakhstan. Of the 267 television and radio stations in Kazakhstan, 194 are Russian; and dual language media (Russian and Kazakh) dominate the media scene: only 587 are Kazakh language only.

            Khamitov’s two-part article thus represents a guide to the official presence in all the media of Kazakhstan.