Keeping up with the news in Kazakhstan

Something that you need to understand about the media in Kazakhstan is that the government pays newspapers, websites and television station to publicise its own policies and achievements ... and pays only those that will print the "good news".

About 75-80% of media organisations in Kazakhstan receive funds via the state order ...

Any media attempting to be independent and that is critical of the government will eventually be closed down, either through charges against them of fraud, or disseminating false information, libel ... anything that the powers that be want to use to shut down discussion ...

Being a journalist in Kazakhstan is a very fraught profession ... as one journalist said recently ... "There is a system of self-censorship. We know from experience what to report, and what not to report.”

So, purely for amusement, I tend to read the local rag in my city, YK-news (Ust-Kamenogorsk news) and Tengri News ... some of the things printed in there are unbelievable, but the bulk of the population believes them ... often I will pass comment on the more outrageous claims, but my Russian language is not good enough to get into a debate about them.

For actual news, I rely on The Guardian (the UK based newspaper with Australian, UK and US editions), Tages Anzeiger (the daily Zürich newspaper) the BBC website and for an Australian take on news, The Conversation (mostly academic articles from universities covering politics, medicine, social issues).

Eurasianet.org is an interesting read for analysis across the former CCCP-era Central Asian states and the Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists covers areas of my particular interest.

I also subscribe to a number of professional lists and journals that are not really germane to general news.

Hi
Nice to meet you

I need setup one gmail in Kazakhstan, anyone can help me? Thanks you very much! I am from Viet nam

Oh, just one other point on media in Kazakhstan ...

Reports from Kazakh media on August 12 noted that the Information and Communications Ministry has launched a new website. "Dear friends, literally in the last few days on the website of our ministry a complaints section has been launched, where any citizen can inform about information on the Internet that violates the laws of Kazakhstan," a statement from the ministry read.

Given that many of the laws in Kazakhstan are opaque in the extreme and can often be turned into whatever the authorities want them to be, it would perhaps not be surprising to see more blocking of international as well as local sites in Kazakhstan.

Whilst this is understandable regarding sites promoting religious or ethnic discord or terrorism, one suspects that excuse will be used as a catch-all ... this is, after all, a country that says that books published before 1961 are prohibited, as is a children's book, Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexi Sayle (Stalin was the name of the child's dog) among many other items that, in their words and I quote, "... any information which can cause harm to politic, economic interests of Republic of Kazakhstan, its state security, health and morals ..."