The main source of information, or who misunderstood something

The chiefs of the information and social development department of the Pavlodar region (the former department of internal politics) offered  local reporters of the republican media to contact them and not the relevant departments on all urgent issues.

The initiative of the officials aroused indignation of Pavlodar journalists. Salauat Iglikov, the Khabar TV channel’s own correspondent, wrote on his Facebook account on January 29: “Several colleagues were informed that since today all requests for information on sensitive topics should be sent strictly through domestic politics  department.I guess we've hit rock-bottom. We guess that such type of marhing orders can originate only from the offices of the new administration of the region. It was not like this even at the times of the ex-mayor Bakauov, who is in jail already. No one in Pavlodar ever dared to shut  journalists' mouths. And here are the new trends”.

Censorship-like innovation is being actively debated in collective journalism chats and facebook. Many associate it with the recent change of the heads of the region - on January 16, akim (mayor) of the region Bulat Bakauov was detained by Comittee of the National Security officers on suspicion of committing a corruption crime, then he was arrested and placed in the temporary detention center. On January 21,  Abylakir Skakov was appointed akim of the region by the decree of the president.

Meanwhile, the head of the information and social development department, Baurzhan Kapenov, said in a telephone conversation that the Pavlodar journalists did not understand the initiative. According to the official, the department proposed to contact them only when the media need information regarding spread of the coronovirus. He said that journalists mistakenly seek the necessary information from the health department, while the department of consumer protection (that includes the Sanitary Inspection Service) is responsible for the epidemiological situation in the region. The department heads did no ask journalists to agree other social, economic or political issues with them.