Central Asia: Nov-Dec '08

An IWPR report on controversial changes to Kazakstan’s media law formed part of a campaign to engage local journalists and encourage them to offer their input and recommendations when parliament comes to debate the bill at the end of January.

The legislative amendments have been seen as an attempt to address concerns that Kazakstan has not done enough in the area of media freedom to merit the chairmanship of the Organisation for Cooperation and Security in Europe, which the country has been awarded for 2010.

The article, Kazak Reform Bills Offer Little New, published on November 21, was followed up at a round-table meeting intended to be the first in a series of discussions involving representatives from television, radio and print journalism.

The December 10 event was hosted jointly by IWPR and its local partners, the MediaNet centre and Internews Network Kazakstan. Journalists and media lawyers from Almaty and other parts of Kazakstan centres took part in the meeting, whose title was “Rules of the Game in the Media: Legislation, Drafts and Predictions”.

In a joint statement, the three organisations explained that the idea was to provide media actors with a platform to articulate their views and recommendations on the forthcoming legislation.

One participant, Internews lawyer Gulmira Kujukeeva, said, “This is yet another reform of our long-suffering media law which, over the period it has existed – close to nine years now – has been changed seven times. This will be the eighth time.”

She said that unfortunately, while media development organisations had commented on these serial changes, “journalists themselves have been passive”.

Participants in the discussion said it was useful to have a report to work from as a starting point, and an opportunity to air the issues it threw up at a public forum.

“A new platform has emerged where we can exchange views on specific issues and find common ground where the interests of audiences, media outlets and the authorities can be brought together,” said MediaNet head Adil Jalilov.

Rozlana Taukina, who heads the Journalists in Danger group, added that such events are particularly important when “very important amendments to legislation are discussed in a narrow circle without wide debate”.

“We need to consolidate our efforts and express vocal disagreement with the proposed amendments,” she added. “A round table affords us this opportunity.”

In a report the day after the meeting, Internews Kazakstan said, “For the first time, journalists have a unique opportunity to lobby actively for change and make a real contribution to shaping the legislation that governs their industry.”