Media in Kazakhstan

The media of Kazakhstan (Kazakh: Қазақстанның республикасы бұқаралық ақпарат құралдары, Qazaqstannıñ respuwblïkası buqaralıq aqparat quraldarı) refers to mass media outlets based in The Republic of Kazakhstan. Media of Kazakhstan are a set of public information transfer agencies in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Constitution of Kazakhstan guarantees freedom of press, but privately owned and opposition media have been subject of censorship. In 2004 the International Federation of Journalists identified a "growing pattern" of intimidation of the media, and in 2012 several opposition media outlets were ordered to be shut down on charges of promoting "extremism".

All media must register with the Ministry of Culture, Information and Sports, with the exception of websites.

A wide range of publications, mostly supportive of the government, are available. The authorities operates national language(Kazakh) newspapers and the only regular national Russian(the international language of Turkic peoples) language newspaper. There were 990 privately owned newspapers and 418 privately owned magazines. Those supportive of the opposition face harassment and lawsuits.

Online news websites include:

Respublika is possibly the main opposition publication. A number of its issues were printed as Golos Respubliki.

Increasingly, owners of printing presses refused to print the publication after a failed attempt by a government representative to buy a controlling stake in Respublika in November 2001. (One owner found a human skull placed on his doorstep.)

A mid-March 2002 court order to stop printing for three months, was evaded by printing under other titles, such as Not That Respublika.

On another occasion, a decapitated dog was hung from Respublika building with a screwdriver sticking into its side and a note reading "there will be no next time" the dog's head was left outside Irina Petrushova's home. Three days later, the newspaper's offices were firebombed and burned to the ground. In July, Petrushova was given an eighteen-month jail sentence on tax charges, but served no time after a judge ruled that the case fell under an amnesty. (Petrushova eventually left the country for Russia, where she continued to publish via the Internet, living apart from her family for their safety. In recognition of her work, she was awarded a 2002 International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists, a US-based NGO.)

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Wikipedia