Government Torn Between Media Growth and Control

In order to make Kazakstan's media more competitive in the world market, the government is going to have to relax its grip on the sector. What is unclear is whether it is prepared to countenance such a liberalisation.



Government planners have issued a concept note on the development of Kazakstan’s media sector for 2006-09, as part of an overall strategy for making Kazakstan one of the 50 most competitive countries in the world. The document, signed recently by President Nursultan Nazarbaev, outlines the main principles for state policy on the media.



Making the media more competitive will, the document says, require modern management methods, the application of generally accepted standards, hi-tech information distribution systems, demonopolisation of the market, and a legislative framework that allow the media to work to its potential.



Analysts are asking how possible this is, given the government's growing tendency to exert control over the media and impose rigorous regulations on all aspects of the sector. They argue that the Kazak media are going to have a very difficult time competing on the world market without significant liberalisation, including guaranteed freedom of thought and expression, easier access to information, protections against infringement of journalists' rights, and opportunities for a truly independent editorial policy.



Not only does the concept note fail to set out concrete steps towards liberalising the laws that regulate the media, it runs counter to the actual situation on the ground. For example, many media-watchers described amendments to the media law adopted in July as undemocratic and unlikely to promote the potential of either state or independent media to compete at a world level.



Under the amended law, media outlets must re-register whenever they change their address, editor, circulation or target audience. Each registration procedure requires considerable expenditure, making it difficult for marginally profitable publications to continue. A chief editor under whose management a media outlet has been closed can no longer serve in a similar role anywhere else.



With such tight controls, the competitiveness of many media outlets could be seriously undermined, say analysts.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)