KAZAKHSTAN MEDIA NEWS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 000295 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN (MO'MARA),SCA/PPD (JKAMP),DRL/PHD (CKUCHTA-HELBLING),INR/R/MR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KPAO KDEM KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN MEDIA NEWS Ref: 06 Almaty 2074 ¶1. (U) "Kazakhstan Media News" is a reporting series tracking events and developments affecting Kazakhstan's media. DRAFT LAW ON REGISTERING PRINT HOUSES RAISES CONCERN ¶2. (U) In December the Ministry of Information submitted to the Mazhilis, Kazakhstan's lower house of parliament, a draft law "On Publishing Activity" which would require licensing for printing presses. Media advocacy groups publicly protested the draft as an attempt to make media dependent on state structures and called on Mazhilis deputies to "show their objectivity and fidelity to principles" and refuse to pass it. The draft was part of the package of media law amendments tightening government control over media and submitted by the ministry to the Mazhilis last July (see reftel). The deputies excluded it from the package ultimately signed by President Nazarbayev on the grounds that it added a bureaucratic burden to media entrepreneurs. The draft has again been accepted by the Mazhilis for consideration, but has not yet been debated. ¶3. The package of amendments approved by the president in the summer entered into force January 1, 2007, and no media have yet been charged with violating the new law. The most controversial provisions ban anyone who previously lost a libel judgment from being a director of any other medium; allow media organizations to be closed down for technical violations; require re-registration upon any changes in editor, address, or frequency of publishing or broadcasting. LAW "ON ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT" SIGNED ¶4. (U) On January 11 President Nazarbayev signed the law "On Electronic Communication Development" and related amendments. The law provides the legal framework for the development of Kazakhstan's information technology infrastructure, the creation of electronic government at the national and oblast levels, and the introduction of a clearly defined "vertical management structure" in electronic communications at all levels. The law also regulates the creation, use, and protection of electronic information resources and systems, and access rights of individuals and legal entities to information technology resources. MEDIA CRITICIZE BROADCAST FREQUENCY AUCTION ¶5. (SBU) On January 15 the state frequency commission allocated TV and radio frequencies in a tender that drew criticism from several media representatives about Information Minister Yermukhamet Yertysbayev's handling of the auction. Astana TV, which received several frequencies during the last auction in the fall of 2005, picked up another six, Ria Arna TV received seven, and Radio NS got three. Channel 31 and Era TV wrote to the Presidential Administration Head Adilbek Dzhaksybekov asking him to annul the results of the tender and to conduct another "conforming to Kazakhstani law." They complained that Yertysbayev held the meeting without a quorum; only eight of the 17 members were present and three of them left after the first four of 18 presentations. They also said it was obvious the minister had pre-determined which companies would receive the frequencies, and that he rushed through the meeting without giving applicants a chance to defend their proposals. ¶6. (SBU) The official criterion for being awarded a frequency was a company's competitiveness in the media market and compliance with the law. Channel 31 Executive Director Nurzhan Mukhamedzhanova was at the tender and told emboff that Yertysbayev said Channel 31 did not comply with the 50/50 Russian/Kazakh language ratio required by law. She said he turned down Era TV for having "the worst news in Kazakhstan." The opposition website kub.kz and pro-government weekly Megapolis claim the allocations reflected Yertysbayev's political bias. They allege that Astana TV received frequencies to placate reputed owner Timur Kulibayev, who is supposedly allied with Prime Minister Karim Masimov, and Masimov in turn retained Yertysbayev as information minister after the government shuffle. The outlets also allege that Ria Arna belongs to Eurasia Group billionaire Aleksandr Mashkevich, who is purportedly Yertysbayev's patron. Several sources reported that Ria Arna, a small company in Pavlodar, has been charged with copyright violations by a number of Russian television stations and does not conform with the language law. MEDIA ADVOCATES PROTEST PRESSURE ON WEST KAZAKHSTAN PAPER ¶6. (SBU) The Committee to Protect Journalists, the Adil Soz media advocacy NGO, and several Kazakhstani and international media reported the week of January 29 on attempts by regional authorities ASTANA 00000295 002 OF 002 to silence Ural'skaya Nedelya (circulation 13,000),an independent weekly in Uralsk. A judge for the Uralsk special economic court ruled January 11 that the paper had to pay 300,000 tenge ($2,350) in moral damages to the Metalloizdelia company for the article "Neither Money, Nor Factory," alleging the company used government funds for an unauthorized project. Ural'skaya Nedelya filed a formal protest, but the fine was withdrawn from the newspaper's bank account before their protest could be resolved. On the same day as the court ruling, the printing company Poligrafservis canceled its contract with the paper. Editor-in-chief Tamara Yeslyamova was quoted in reports saying the printer told her that he was pressured by the oblast administration into canceling the printing contract. Yeslyamova also said the paper had aroused the "rage" of the local administration with their reports on collusion in the sales of public land in the city center and the distribution of public housing intended for low income families to government workers. Two other printing houses had previously cancelled their contracts with the paper, which is currently being printed by the Ak Zhayik printing house in Atyrau. ¶7. (SBU) The paper has a history of struggle with authorities. Yeslyamova founded the newspaper in June 2001 after being fired from her reporting job at another paper for her articles critical of the local administration. Fellow reporters quit in protest and invested with her to start publishing Ural'skaya Nedelya. In April 2002 Yeslyamova took out a 24% loan to finance a mortgage for the paper's editorial offices, after they were evicted from their previous premises. In previous conversations with emboff, she said advertisers had been scared off after being warned by security structures not to engage in business with the paper. The paper has received a series of grants from the Soros Foundation, and correspondents have participated in USAID-sponsored training seminars. Ordway