On improvement of the media legislation

On improvement of the media legislation

Cooperation of the Ministry of Information and Communication with the media and non-governmental organizations in its work on the draft law "On amendments and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on information and communication" was close like never before. All proposals of the civil sector were included in the comparison table and were repeatedly discussed at the meetings of the working group and published in the public access.

The apparent advantage of the project is unanimously supported proposals to exclude sanctions in the form of suspension of the media for errors in publication of imprint and the provision of mandatory copies, expanding the grounds for exemption from liability for publishing false information, strengthening the protection of minors.

Other innovations are debatable, for example, turning journalists’ right to verify the accuracy of the information into their obligation. Litigation on defamation still do not have a statute of limitations of actions. At that that three days period proposed in the draft law for media to collect the documents and other evidence of old publications is  clearly insufficient to determine the fair attitude to the demands for a retraction. Moreover, the requirement for mandatory verification of all the published information, combined with the tightening of conditions of retraction may lead to self-censorship of the press and the avoidance of discussion of acute and topical issues.

It is hardly appropriate to include ethical standards of the media, detailed regulation of the activities of press services of state bodies in the law. A number of amendments can still remain subjects of discussions but all efforts to improve the existing law "On Mass Media" by making additions and amendments are as fruitful as attempts to upgrade an old-fashioned wooden plow and use it in modern agriculture.  

The purpose of the current media law, declared in the preamble, is regulation of social relations in the field of media, establishing state guarantees of their freedom under the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan. But it has almost no reflection in the provisions of the draft law.  Guarantees of freedom of expression is actually replaced by distribution, supervising and punitive functions of state bodies. Instead of being a notification procedure, registration of media became an authorization-based procedure long ago that does not match any one of the recommendations of authoritative international bodies. How is the demand to publish imprint only on the last page related to public relations and freedom of speech? The current law was originally written by officials of the post-Soviet era for their convenience, and it still  perceives media not as the most important social institution of a democratic state, but as a press organ of government agencies of various levels.

State support of mass media adopted in most civilized countries as a guarantee of pluralism and the free flow of diverse information for public ends has become a tool of not very successful propaganda in our media law. This form of support hinders creative growth of domestic journalism.

It is recognized that it is necessary to guarantee absolute transparency over ownership and healthy economic competition in order to strengthen public confidence in the media in a democratic state. The latter should include not only legal measures to restrict concentration and unfair competition, but organizational measures to facilitate market decentralization as well. However, existing law does not contain any anti-trust restrictions.

The vain attempt to include internet-recourses into the existing media law failed. Internet is a specific means of media distribution and not the media itself. The same registration requirements as for print media, in particular, editors’ obligation to indicate territory coverage cannot be applied to online media in the absence of any territorial restrictions.  

The law, born in the last century by Soviet standards, should be fundamentally revised in accordance with the realities and prospects of development of information and communication systems, in the spirit of the requirements of the international democratic community, where independent Kazakhstan is an equal participant. We hope that the work planned by the Ministry of Information and Communication will begin soon in close and equal partnership with the civil society.