Before 1991, Kazakhstan, like any other former USSR republic, had only one state radio and television system. I cannot say about other republics, but in Kazakhstan local radio and TV broadcasts were regarded by the population, authorities, radio and TV journalists as something of minor importance in relation to Central TV and All-Union Radio Station broadcasting from Moscow. In late '80s-early '90s, following and imitating the latter (mainly, VZGLYAD/VIEW, etc.) the Kazakh radio and later KazTV began to broadcast fresh ideas and new names, reflecting goings-on in that day society. This was the way CHAS DLYA VAS (AN HOUR FOR YOU - 1988-1989) radio program and TV programs MOLODYOZHNYI CHETVERG (JUVENILE THURSDAY - 1989-90) and MY (WE - 1990-91) were born accompanied by a series of similar programs produced by some regional radio and TV studios.

In 1991, in Almaty, appeared first commercial TV channels: ТАN (MORNING) and KTK (COMMERCIAL TELEVISION CHANNEL). Financed, as the rumor said, by the "left" money sources of the republican communist party, they nevertheless became first instances of non-Soviet TV broadcast for the metropolitan public. Beginning May 1991, the KTK daily broadcast - TNN (TELEVISED NON-OFFICIAL NEWS, editors in charge - Igor Denisov and Andrei Zubov) was the first independent information program, informing the audience about the actual happenings in Almaty and Kazakhstan, which remained most popular in the city in the course of five years, up to 1994-95.

In August 1991, in Karaganda, local radio and TV journalists headed by Bakhtyzhan Mukushev and Konstantin Denisov resolutely opposed GKCHP Moscow putsch participants. Local communist party authorities being at a loss and unable to cope with democratic aspirations of the after-the-putsch period, could not withstand the strive of the Karaganda regional TV journalists to achieve democratic changes in their management. The TRK general meeting, held late August 1991, elected B. Mukushev and K. Denisov as their new managers. In the following months of 1991 and 1992, radio and TV in Karaganda reached the peak of their creative activity and simultaneously became a major political force in this miner region, resulting in winter 1992-93 in a serious political confrontation of an all-Kazakhstan dimension.

In January 1993, Karaganda authorities headed by Pyotr Nefedov, then in charge of the regional administration, were sanctioned "from the above" to settle accounts with "the too self-conceived" journalists' team of the Karaganda TRK. The exemplary punitive action was headed by the "people's writer" Sherkhan Murtaza, then in charge of the Republican Radio and Television Company, a well-known national patriot and, as was later disclosed by the democrat and "mankurt" B. Mukushev, one of the tribal chiefs in the Senior Zhuz (a tribal association of Kazakhs giving rise to Nursultan Nazarbayev and playing the role of leader party in to-date Kazakhstan).

Murtaza and Nefedov's actions were actively supported by the local power structures (militia, OMON, local informers, etc.) and the united front of national chauvinists of all kinds. B. Mukushev was supported only by a thin democratic opposition, newly-formed law protectors, an independent miners' trade-union, and, which is most important, by the democratic mass media. Those were the then KAZAKHSTANSKAYA PRAVDA, EXPRESS K, CARAVAN and CARAVAN ABC, independent trade-unions' newspaper BIRLESU, TNN and RADIO MAX in Almaty, GORODSKAYA GAZETA (CITY NEWSPAPER) and PYATNITSA (FRIDAY) in Karaganda (later liquidated as mass media). "Hot spots" reports were regularly published in Moscow IZVESTIYA, NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA (INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER) and EXPRESS CHRONICLE, broadcast by RADIO LIBERTY and VOICE OF AMERICA.

The outcome of the battle was predetermined in Almaty in the Square of the Republic, in presidential administration offices, which came instead of the former Republican Central Committee. Bakhtyzhan Mukushev was made to resign from his position of Chairman of the Republican TRK, while Konstantin Denisov and some other journalists were exiled from the country, the remaining rest were made to submit. In the years that followed, not one of the official regional radio and TV studios dared to become anything different from an obeying instrument in the hands of regional governments headed by self-imposed akyms (from 1994, this is an official name of these vicegerents in Kazakhstan, supervised only by the President, who nominates, dismisses and moves them to regions in accordance with his personal whims).

We let them blossom … and then strangulate them

The years 1993-96 became blossom period for the independent and high-quality journalistic writing and for journalists of TELEMAX (ТV М) and RADIO MAX (RDIO М). Most impressing of the then radio and TV programs were direct TV discussions DYELO (BUSINESS) by Svetlana Tarakanova, RADIO M, OTKRYTAYA ZONA (OPEN ZONE) by Segei Duvanov, daily news programs - TV EXPRESS and INFORMATION TOP TEN (digest of most important events based on daily news programs broadcast over all local, Russian and foreign channels), and TV M.

Since 1993, Almaty radio and TV broadcasting included radio and TV station TOTEM, 31-st TV CHANNEL, and later FAMILY CHANNEL (from autumn 1995, a JV with Russian TV-6). In 1994, the КТК TV channel formed a group of young and talented journalists headed by Dmitry Batsiev, author of a fascinating information-educational program BUSINESS-CLASS. In 1995, the same group of journalists began best in this class information-analytical program NEDELYA (WEEK), broadcast till summer 1996 by KTK and later TOTEM channels.

NEDELYA group later became a TV information agency LID, which in spring 1997 was made to merge with 31-st CHANNEL. Till summer 1998, LID came out with two superb television programs - daily INFORM-BUREAU and the weekend information-analytic TSENTR VNIMANIYA (CENTER OF ATTENTION). Currently, the LID agency is on an endless "creative leave", which lasts already for two and a half months. Serious observers are posed with question: what will be the contents of the programs, so favored by the critically-minded Almaty TV viewers, after 20 September, deadline for the reformation of the program - IN THE REGIONS OF KAZAKHSTAN promised by the 31-st channel. On the whole, the complex process of formation and development of independent (first of all non-public) electronic mass media in Kazakhstan regions began approximately since 1993-94. Most of them were based on half-pirate showings of American action films and the Soviet classics (TV channels) or musical pops-programs (radio stations). Later, the natural logic of further development made the regional independent broadcasters realize the necessity to invest the money from commercial and sponsor sources first of all into political and public life programs reflecting real life situations in their own regions. The independent radio and TV companies, which had chosen this direction, soon became very popular with the population, attracted advertisers, became profitable and created work places, regularly paid taxes and made other fair and unfair payments into the bottomless state budget.

They began to unintentionally perform the functions of non-existing or poorly developed democratic opposition, since in conditions of Kazakhstan province, true-to-life broadcasting of local news taken alone, to say nothing of depiction of political and public life events, is equal in essence to dissidence of '60-70s in Moscow. Not being conscientious oppositioners, but just producers of honest journalistic writing (to the same or even greater degree as some regional commercial daily newspapers), independent radio and TV channels performed the role of protectors of population against ruthless policies of the authorities, not afraid to come into conflict with them and creating in this way powerful enemies at the regional and republican levels.

This was the way radio and TV companies MARINA in Ust-Kamenogorsk, IRBIS and SMS (Concord, Peace, Justice) in Pavlodar, ISHIM TV in Petropavlovsk and ALAU TV in Kustanai, VNN in Rudny and TSPR-ETHER in Akmola (former Tselinograd, now Astana), RIKA-TV and RADIO RIPHMA in Aktyubinsk, TALAP and SOYUZ in Uralsk, LADA-TV in Aktau (former Shevchenko), YUMAKS and CARAVAN-TV (later OTY-RAR-TV) in Chimkent, ARAI and DIDAR in Taldy-Kurgan found their creative stance in 1995-96. During 1997 and first half 1998, some of them were forced to close, others were forbidden to broadcast in result of the so-called tenders for frequencies, still others could broadcast but had to accept new "game rules". To be more precise, they were old rules, as they originated in Soviet times and comprised a whole system of prohibitions to highlight certain events in life and certain demands as to the contents and coloring of highlighted events.

Speaking about history of independent radio and TV channels in Almaty, one needs to mention that local authorities continued to be more or less tolerant during the period 1993-96, perhaps being guided by foreign-policy reasons. That period was marked, if I'm not mistaken, by mere two-three major attempts on the part of the state to limit the freedom of commercial electronic mass media.

In 1994 and early 1995, a certain project by Leila Beketova was in the air. She was director of formally not state-owned but in fact pro-governmental TV channel TAN, which became known after Leila Beketova (wife of the then Minister of Energetics, and now akym of Almaty Viktor Khrapunov) was unexpectedly assigned the post of Head of State Radio and TV Corporation of Kazakhstan - GTRK RK. The said project envisaged inclusion of independent radio and TV companies into GTRK RK, certainly for the sake of the independent companies themselves, certainly to achieve more rational distribution of functions and forms of broadcasting. The basis for doing this was "volantary-compulsory": the unwilling were to be separated from the state "TV tower", controlled at the time by the GTRK head administrator, i.e. Leila Beketova. Despite all secrecy, the "TV kolkhoz" project became known to non-public broadcasters and evoked a storm of protest among them and in progressive newspapers. In result, Leia Beketova lost her leader position at GTRK, while independent radio and TV channels received the Association of Independent Electronic Mass Media of Kazkhstan and Central Asia (ANESMI), created in the course of the battle.

In spring 1996, a similar project was initiated by the then vice prime minister of Kazakhstan government Imangali Tasmagambetov. This time Almaty commercial radio and TV channels were promised an empty 2-nd republican channel for their common utilization, since the latter was their long-cherished dream. The control and distributive functions were to be performed by a watchdog council, formed by independent companies and assigned by the government. The attitude on the part of TV journalists was quite ambiguous, some of them still had illusions that they will succeed in dishing out the government. In any case, the project remained on paper, while Tasmagambetov, who in Soviet times was First Secretary of Kazakhstan Komsomol Central Committee, later came down in history of Kazakhstan journalism as a "grave-digger" for independent electronic mass media, as he was an official distributor of the frequencies' tender (see below).

In 1995-96, the government made additional attempts to influence the broadcasters in the economic way, having produced a draft law on advertising, which forbade broadcasting of commercial blocks taking more than 20 percent of the general time of broadcasting. This project is still awaiting its zero hour.

 The very idea of strangling stray mass media by way of imposing these or other percent quotas is being actively realized along the so-called "pagan" line. One of the Articles of the new Law On "Languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan" (Draft Law published in November 1996, the Law adopted in July 1997) instructs all radio and TV stations independent of form of property" to provide for no less than 50 percent of broadcasting in the state (Kazakh) language. As history would have it, the independent radio and TV companies, unlike state ones financed from the budget, used to broadcast not in the language of powerful structures, but in the language well understood by the audience (people), i.e. multinational population of Kazakhstan regions, i.e. Russian language, which in fact unites all Kazakhstan citizens: Kazakhs and Slavs, Jews and Germans, Koreans and Caucasians, plus several scores of ethnic groups into a single "multinational people of Kazakhstan", as it is written in the acting Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Compulsory introduction of the 50-percent norm is being tackled, beside special language agencies, by regional akyms and prosecutor's structures. Representatives of RIPHMA independent radio station in Aktyubinsk were told at a board session of the regional akimate: if you cannot increase the time of broadcasting in the Kazakh language, reduce the time of broadcasting in Russian!

The MIOS (RK Ministry for Information and Public Accord) special commission has ruled to submit in June 1998 to the procurator's and trial organs the materials compromising OTYRAR TV channel and YUMAKS radio station (Chimkent) managers, who failed to provide for the needed percent norm, and meanwhile make them give back the previously granted broadcasting licenses.

Russian TV channels and radio stations have never been in favor with the Kazakh authorities (except rarely broadcast apologetic interviews with first persons of Kazakhstan, as had been previously discussed and possibly paid for by the Kazakh side, as political public relations programs). In rest of cases when ORT, RTR or NTV (independent Russian TV channels) broadcast honest, i.e. critical information on or from Kazakhstan, the local authorities as a rule expressed their justified indignation. At times indignation was expressed by the enthusiastic patriots listed among nationally-concerned promoters of culture and/or specific type journalists named "long-lived party handers" or "the ideological front combatants" (the latter term became characteristics of a young publicist Janybek Suleev, a most fierce criticizer of "the undermining activity of Moscow mass media and their correspondents in Kazakhstan", declared himself in November 1996 on pages of the people's-cooperative newspaper BIRLIK). Not always the response was just counter-propaganda, sometimes resolute organizational measures followed in the aftermath.

May 1993 was marked by the Almaty-Moscow TV bridge devoted to problem of migration of Russian-speaking population from Kazakhstan to Russia. In the course of discussion, two of its high-ranking participants, the then Minister of Print K. Sultanov and his deputy S. Kuttykadam (who later moved to democratic opposition), did not like something in the contents of talk or the manner of discussion at the Almaty end of the bridge, led by VESTI RTV (Russian news program) correspondents Andrei Kondrashev and Alexander Svyazin. Next day, following the decision of the Minister for Print and Public Information, VESTI correspondents' department was thrown out of the GTRK building, while technical services were strictly forbidden to send to Moscow any video tapes prepared by the said correspondents.

Some time later, the journalistic department of the Kazakh University, where Kondrashev and Svyazin finished their education, received an order to remand these two students for "academic lagging behind in studies" or, which was still better, for "professional inadequacy". Owing to the principal position of the then dean Yuri Krikunov (whose early death in November 1995 was mourned by practically all generations of journalists in Almata), young correspondents were transferred to a correspondence department of Moscow State University and successfully finished it.

Five years later, in January 1998, the same Kondrashev and Svyazin together with their TV operators were unlawfully arrested by local militia in Western-Kazakhstan and Jambul regions, as they were trying to send to Moscow video tapes about court trial over three neo-Komsomol members and "hungry revolts" of workers in Zhanatas. Two years have passed since December 1996, when Russian TV stopped broadcasting to Kazakhstan. The channel was taken over by ORT radio, while ORT TV, freely accepted on all the territory of the republic, was transferred to KHABAR, National TV Information Agency.

Now we can watch ORT broadcasting for 5-6 hours a day (which is great!), while TV viewers in Uzbekistan and Turkmenia cannot do even this. But what we are shown by RT (Russian TV) is not an original TV production but "canned programs", i.e. programs recorded from satellites broadcasting from Moscow to eastern Siberia and Far East by the Kazakh Republican TV Transmission Center (subordinate to MIOS - Ministry for Print and Public Information). It is not very difficult to select programs there which would be enough for 5-6 hours of broadcasting. Naturally, not a single critical story about Kazakhstan or from Kazakhstan will be selected to be shown on local TV. This is not censorship, this is legitimate activity of the Kazakhstan-Russian JV ORT-Kazakhstan, substituting among other things Kazakh commercial blocks for the Russian ones and gaining profit, quite enough to provide for the living, not counting the state bonus paid for the effort never spared in fights at the "ideological front".

As far as NTV broadcasting to Kazakhstan is concerned, it is partly retranslated by some commercial TV channels. In Almata before January 1997, they were TOTEM and RAKHAT-ATB. The former was liquidated in the course of the frequencies tender (see for details below), the latter was advised by the tender commission to sharply reduce the time of NTV broadcasts.

The author of this article, as he was in July 1977 the leading man of PRESS-BUREAU program on the RAKHAT channel, saw with his own eyes how the notorious instruction was realized. In the course of the day, the operators recorded on video tapes the morning, afternoon and night issues of SEGODNYA (TO-DAY) news program. The room was entered by director of RAKHAT and some other people, they closely shut the door and began watching the previously prepared video tape. It goes without saying that critical and other stories about Kazakhstan are shown rather rarely on NTV (this channel, unlike RTV, does not have its own correspondents, it has only stringers, with LID information agency among them for some time). Consequently, not only stories about Kazakhstan were censored but everything which could provoke any parallel or allusion. News programs SEGODNYA UTROM, SEGODNYA VECHEROM (TO-DAY IN THE MORNING, TO-NIGHT) shown in Russia for 10-15 minutes, are broadcast in Almata for just 7 minutes.

Coming back on events of 1995-96, it is worth mentioning the only, as far as I remember, attempt of the state to fight with independent broadcasters on their own battle field, in other words, to compete with them.

In October 1995, in one of the Kazakh TV departments, KHABAR National TV Informational Agency was formed (Literal translation of KHABAR is "news", while literature knows other translations: in "Decade" by Lipkin, it means "rumor, gossip", in "The Bell" by M. Simashko - "bribe", in "Picnic at the Roadside" by brothers Strugatsky and in Tarkovsky's "Stalker", khabar is the name of contraband gadgets from other planets carried away from the Zone by stalkers.) NTIA KHABAR was supervised by Dariga Nazarbayeva, a historian by education, graduate of Moscow State University and daughter of the Kazakhstan President.

It would be unfair to state that KHABAR's information programs did not present a noticeable progress as compared to KazTV previous production (which does not refer to production of RADIO KHABAR and EVROPA PLUS KAZAKHSTAN of the same agency, which appeared in 1997-98). In early 1996, however, more discriminating observers, and among them Seidakhmet Kuttykadam, who was first to forecast that NTIA KHABAR first steps will result in the future "COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF TELEVISION ACCOMPANIED BY DISTRIBUTION OF POWER" (this was how his article, published in ARGUMENTY I FAKTY-KAZAKHSTAN newspaper, was called).

Our state could not and/or did not want to honestly compete with independent radio and TV companies, even if it had showered NTIA KHABAR with countless finance and material benefits, which allowed it to buy over capable but unscrupulous journalists and technical workers. It was exactly at that time that for the sake of establishing the information monopoly of the President-daughter-owned KHABAR (though this was not the only reason), the notorious broadcasting frequencies tender was organized and officially declared on 13 December 1996.

The tender was preceded in early November 1996 by mass "switching off" of all commercial radio and TV channels under the pretext of various kind jams. As President of the FAMILY CHANNEL Irina Katsieva wittily remarked, it was a real round-up, when everybody was first arrested and then some of them (who were taken on false pretext or just I order to shock the public) were released (broadcasting was "switched on" again). Those who were really caught, were never "switched on" again: we mean first of all TV M, "switched off" forever on 15 November 1996, following the associated press-conference of leaders of all-Almaty independent TRK, shown directly by the OPEN ZONE program and intermitted (also during direct show) by a TV tower security man, who played the role of sea-man Zheleznyak.

In mid-December 1996, some days before the tender was officially announced, two higher state officials on ideology ZH. Basurmanov and E. Ertysbayev publicly declared political reasons for closing TV M, accusing journalists S. Duvanov and S. Tarakanov of undermining activity aimed against stability of the state (Е. Еrtysbayev, former head of department of History of the USSR Communist Party, compared Duvanov with Vladimir Lenin and Tarakanova with Kollontai, explaining why it was not possible to allow them to take over the post and telegraph, now it would mean radio and TV, of course).

On 7 January 1997, American journalist and defender of freedom of the press in Kazakhstan, Christopher Josef Gering, Director of Internews Network international office was savagely assassinated in Almaty. In his reports on CNN he provided information on the Kazakhstan frequencies tender, and our TV journalists received from him the actual data on the amount of payments for licenses taken in USA. The rates for rights to broadcast for one city or region established in Kazakhstan exceeded the American fee for the right to broadcast to the whole US territory several times over. We learned that from Chris Gering.

The assassination was immediately declared kitchen-sink killing by the Kazakh authorities, who simultaneously with that started a campaign aimed at discrediting the assassinated. The prosecution "hanged" the assassination on three street juvenile bandits who were also caught on drugs. Results of independent investigation conducted at the same time by LID journalists were directly opposite to the official version. Memory of Chris Gering was marked by a minute of silence broadcast by the yet not "switched off" radio and TV companies, members of ANESMI.

In result of winter 1996-97, politically one-sided and predatory frequencies tender, TRK M, TOTEM and the FAMILY CHANNEL were "switched off" from broadcasting. During 1997, a similar tender took place in some other regions, including Eastern-Kazakhstan and Kustanai regions, cutting off VNN (Rudny) and MARINA-TV (Ust-Kamenogorsk) channels. (The latter became subject of three court cases, which were immediately suspended after the channels ceased to broadcast.)

All these actions on the part of authorities, were filed as suits against the Kazakhstan Government as contradicting to Constitution and signed by 30 Kazakhstan radio and TV companies; the complainants' associated action is coordinated by jurists hired by ANESMI. All suits were accepted for consideration by the RK Supreme Court; but the proceedings are still going on.

In early May 1998, General Prosecutor of Kazakhstan Yuri Khitrin came forward with a request to start a criminal case in relation to all Kazakhstan mass media, for the alleged abuse of freedom of speech. It is noteworthy that in his request all indignant accusations were more addressed to the newspapers than to electronic mass-media, which by that time had nothing to be punished for, humiliated and suppressed as they were.

Meanwhile, on 26 June 1998, RK President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed an RK Law On "National Security", allowing the General Prosecutor's and the National Security Committee to stop out of court any mass media activity "undermining national security of the country". Such was the presidential present for the 28 June, Day of Kazakhstan Press.