Kazak State Tightens Grip on Media

The Kazak government has moved in to buy up all remaining shares in the country’s largest broadcasting conglomerate, in a move that media-watchers have seen as an attempt to reinstate total control over the media.



At an auction in Almaty on March 21, the state-run company Samgau bought half the stock of Khabar, which had hitherto been in private hands. As the government already owned 50 per cent of the company, it now owns it entirely.



The Khabar group includes television and radio stations with the same name, plus the El Arna and Caspionet TV channels. It was created in 1995 out of the state TV and radio broadcaster, which in the shape of Khabar TV now covers virtually the entire country.



Samgau was set up last spring by decree of Kazak President Nursultan Nazarbaev.



The identity of the vendors of the stock, which went for 12 billion tenge or about 100 million US dollars, was kept under wraps.



Seytkazy Mataev, the president of the National Press Club of Kazakstan, said that given the size of the company, the Khabar shares were sold at a snip. The sell-off of a 20 per cent stake in the much smaller Channel 31 for 55 million dollars suggested that this firm had a much higher market value than Khabar.



Media observers see this acquisition as an important milestone in the consolidation of government control over the media.



“The continuing nationalisation and centralisation of the most powerful media resources in the country is not for financial and economic reasons, but most likely for political reasons,” said Adil Jalilov, director of the Medianet centre for journalism.



“I think the process is designed to ensure that the current president’s maintenance of power, or a handover of power, is smooth and surprise-free,” the expert continued. “It’s being done to prevent the unexpected…. The sale of a powerful media resource like Khabar doesn’t get left to chance, and outsiders don’t get a look in.”



Kazak political scientist Oleg Sidorov agreed, saying, “A large media holding like this one, with a lot of public influence, can’t be left in private hands. These private owners have their own interests and might start playing political games… and as a result, the state could be left without a mouthpiece.”



Sidorov said a kind of “de-privatisation” was now under way in Kazakstan generally, with the state moving back in to take over key economic assets.



Rozlana Taukina, chair of the Journalists in Danger group, believes the Kazak leadership was jolted into action by developments last year, when Rakhat Aliev – then the president’s son-in-law and a major shareholder in the Khabar group – fell from grace. Stripped of his assets and divorced by Dariga Nazarbaeva, Aliev has since been sentenced in absentia to 20 years’ imprisonment for plotting a coup, kidnappings and other offences.



Taukina believes the authorities were getting nervous about Khabar as an autonomous force wielding a lot of influence.



“Two years ago, Culture and Information Minister [Yermukhamet] Yertysbaev said the government planned to make Khabar a state company, as it was forming its own policies and might become an opponent of the government and the president,” she told IWPR.



At a press conference after the deal was announced, the new owners pledged not to change the company’s editorial policies.



Industry insiders say that long before the formal nationalisation, Khabar had enjoyed a special relationship with the government.



A staff member at Khabar, speaking on condition of anonymity, off the record, told IWPR the sale had long been expected.



“I don’t think we will see much change, as Khabar has always been on a special footing with the government,” he said.



Jalilov agreed, saying, “Khabar isn’t on equal terms with other Kazak TV channels. “This was apparent even in terms of accreditation. Many press conferences only start once the reporters from Khabar have arrived. Khabar is accredited everywhere, by default.”



The media group’s influence is also apparent in terms of its reach. No other channel has the same reach – while Khabar TV is broadcast to all 16 of Kazakstan’s regions, Channel 31 TV, for instance, can be seen in only nine and KTK in eight.



“Despite the fact that other TV companies have regional offices, there are very many regions of Kazakstan where only Khabar broadcasts. I don’t think this is coincidental, nor is it fair,” said Jalilov.



Many viewers in rural areas miss out on alternative TV channels. As one Almaty resident told IWPR, “It’s a pity other channels are not in an equal position. My parents live in a village and whenever I visit them, I always have to watch the same thing, Khabar.”



Marina Baymukhamedova is an IWPR contributor in Almaty.