Kazakh journalists worry as new media rules come into force

ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN — 

Media watchdogs and journalists successful Kazakhstan person raised fears that caller regulations governing reporters, adopted extracurricular a caller media law, permission country for authorities to obstruct entree to accusation and bounds journalists’ quality to work.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed the media instrumentality successful June, expanding the explanation of media taxable to the instrumentality to see “internet resources” without specifying what that means. Many journalists administer accusation connected specified channels arsenic Telegram, YouTube and Facebook, which are abstracted from their accredited outlets.

The instrumentality allows the Culture and Information Ministry, which oversees media, to acceptable the rules for accrediting journalists. The regulations, which came into unit past month, bounds journalists to publishing accusation successful outlets to which they are accredited, preventing them from publishing it successful different outlets, and necessitate them to comply with caller and unspecified “rules and regulations established by accrediting organization.”

Two violations of the rules tin pb to suspension of accreditation for six months.

“Any papers adopted by a authorities body, including the Ministry of Culture and Information, undergoes ineligible adept examination. This means each provisions, each points, comply with the constitution and don’t contradict laws,” Culture and Information Minister Aida Balayeva told journalists this period aft they raised concerns implicit the legality of the caller regulations.

“When we spot that we drift distant from the taxable of a property briefing and, successful fact, our briefings and quality conferences displacement to immoderate different planes … erstwhile determination is improper behaviour by journalists — present we request regulation,” she said.

Astana-based freelance writer Tamara Vaal, who writes for the country’s starring vlast.kz quality tract and different outlets, said successful a Facebook station that the rules “are a usurpation of the constitution, nonstop censorship and a prohibition connected the commercialized of journalist.”

In addition, she said, what the ministry is doing “is thing but yet sidesplitting the profession” — journalists successful Kazakhstan often indispensable supplement their regular income with enactment for outlets different than the quality organizations to which they are accredited.

“Not lone bash these rules prohibition america from raising further income, but besides they deprive america of our occupation due to the fact that conscionable 2 violations of rules and regulations and you suffer your accreditation for six months,” Vaal told VOA.

Vaal said successful her station that journalists constitute for respective outlets due to the fact that “they privation to person children, prevention up for location and unrecorded a beingness astatine the extremity of the day, but this is not possible, unfortunately, connected conscionable 1 wage.”

Vaal and others VOA spoke to mention the law provisions banning censorship and ensuring citizens’ rights to entree accusation and to work.

Ainur Koskina, different Astana freelance journalist, said she believes the request that journalists constitute for lone their accredited outlets would wounded journalists moving extracurricular the existent and erstwhile capitals of Astana and Almaty.

“They constitute for respective outlets, and acknowledgment to this, they tin guarantee a decent beingness for themselves. This accidental has present been taken distant from them. I americium acrophobic section journalism volition spell extinct, archetypal of all, due to the fact that of these accreditation rules,” Koskina told VOA.

In a connection issued successful July erstwhile the rules were enactment up for nationalist discussion, the Almaty-based Adil Soz International Foundation for Freedom of Speech Protection said the caller accreditation rules implied that accusation received from authorities bodies was not the nationalist domain and was protected by copyright, truthful it should not beryllium distributed to 3rd parties.

“Adil Soz believes that the rules regulating the enactment of journalists and media should facilitate entree to information, not complicate it,” the connection said.

Karlygash Jamankulova, the caput of Adil Soz, told VOA that media outlets and journalists — arsenic employers and employees, respectively — could modulate their labour relations themselves and determine whether journalists could enactment for different outlets. She suggested that portion the caller rules were vague, it remains to beryllium seen however they would beryllium implemented and however they would impact journalists.

“This benignant of contented cannot beryllium disputed by nationalist organizations,” she said. “It should beryllium journalists themselves who tin instrumentality it to court, and if we volition person this benignant of writer successful Kazakhstan, we are acceptable to basal by [that journalist] and supply each required ineligible support.”

The caput of the Media Qoldau, oregon Support, ineligible service, Gulmira Birzhanova, cited what she believes is simply a caller inclination toward tightening media authorities successful Kazakhstan.

“Accrediting organizations, which are state-owned companies on with authorities bodies, volition found their ain rules and regulations, and I americium acrophobic this could beryllium utilized against journalists successful the future,” Birzhanova told VOA.

Vaal concluded: “This is simply a precise atrocious trend, and I don’t cognize what aboriginal holds for Kazakh journalists.”