The Media in Kazakhstan
Development, Condition, Perspectives
Assel Nazarbetova, Zarema Shaukenova, Beate Eschment
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Since independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has seen the emergence of a media system that shows many similarities to media systems in consolidated democracies. The constitution guarantees freedom of expression and the press, the media market is dominated by diversity, the Internet is gaining in importance at the expense of the print media, and television reaches almost every household. But the situation is in fact different. The state controls and censors the media, freedom of the press is limited, the media have almost no access to information. Furthermore, institutions of self-restraint and a professional association for journalists are lacking. These structural deficiencies should be rectified. What is needed is a free media that provides objective and comprehensive information and enables the citizen to form an opinion regarding Kazakhstan’s domestic and foreign policy. The power of the state would also profit from this.
(Osteuropa 11-12/2016, pp. 181–195)