Transformation of the Functions of Kazakh Television in the Information Society
/Transformation of the Functions of Kazakh Television
in the Information Society
ULBOSSYN M. YESSENBEKOVA
L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University
Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
During the research, we obtained the results that substantiate the necessity to transform television in Kazakhstan which is a universal institution of public life in the information society performing political and socio-cultural functions. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that over the past 10 years the Kazakhstan government has initiated institutional measures to create and maintain the system of socially responsible television, and to improve information legislation and to reconstruct the paradigm of the state information policy.
The Kazakh society promotes and supports the idea of establishing equal relationships between television broadcasters and their audience and developing a transparent media economics and media research. In the present paper, we systematize the national legislation of Kazakhstan in the field of freedom of speech; creation, acquisition, processing and dissemination of information; and organization of activities of journalists and mass media.
The fundamental principles of socially responsible television should embrace openness and transparency. The same characteristics of television were specified in the European Convention on Transfrontier Television. The Convention also names universality, diversity, responsibility and independence.
Thus, the old broadcast schedules are being replaced with editorial policy, and social irresponsibility of media-managers’ television is superseded by a growing responsibility. Under such conditions, TV ratings and measuring TV audience will encourage institutional changes, expansion of TV audience and its transformation from a passive segment into an active participant in social and political discourse.
Modern convergence-prone television implies the transformation of passive audience into active consumers and full-fledged participants in the complicated communication process. With the emergence of interactive television, this process takes on a different quality.
In this context, we can identify the information society with the civil society, in which not only instruments of political communication, but also the major actors of these processes have been significantly changed. Thus, society and its institutions, as well as the entire audience, are becoming active participants in multilateral communication that can influence not only the program policy, but also take part in forming and administering the television agenda.
The legislative acts adopted by the Kazakh Parliament regulating the spheres of the information policy and information communications contain principal provisions on the place and the role of television in the territory of Kazakhstan, and stipulate the necessity to reconsider television as a single complex of mass media.
In the given paper, we intend to demonstrate the degree to which the legal system of Kazakhstan in the sphere of the information policy is formed and integrated. We believe that further democratic modernization of the social system, accession of Kazakhstan to international agreements on human and civil rights and freedoms, as well as on cross-border movement of information flows, will become a catalyst for further development of the information society and the Kazakh digital television.
Therefore, it is necessary to continue to implement tasks on enhancing the effectiveness of the public administration system and ensure the access to innovative infrastructure in the field of information and communication. Creation of the information environment for socio-economic and cultural development of the state and society, as well as the expansion of the Kazakh information space, also suggest pooling the effort of the state and society. Since the government program “Information Kazakhstan-2020” is implemented in two stages (Stage 1 – from 2013 to 2017; Stage 2 – from 2018 to 2020), with a view to achieving its main objectives the following key indices have been determined:
1. Availability of the information and communication infrastructure in households of the Republic of Kazakhstan – 100%; the number of Internet users in 2020 – 75%; the level of computer literacy of the population – 80%; coverage with digital television and radio services of Kazakhstan’s population – 95%.
2. The share of the sector of information and communication technologies in the country’s GDP – 4%; the share of public health organizations operating within the single health care network – 100%; the share of scientific and educational organizations operating within the single national scientific and educational network – 100%.
3. The share of electronic mass media in the total number of mass media registered in Kazakhstan – 100%; the share of Kazakhstani online stores in the total turnover of products and services with electronic payment – 40%.
4. The share of public services provided electronically – 50%; the share of electronic public services rendered in relation to the total number of services provided in the traditional form – 80%.
Official documents adopted in 2010 do not contain exhaustive answers to modern challenges, some of them are concentrated on resolving technical issues about introduction of digital broadcasting, but they lack approaches to organization of television in the digital environment.
Tendencies in the development of the global information space require the state and society to jointly search for and establish new categories of electronic mass communication tools reflecting the processes of inevitable convergence of information and communication. It is also necessary to realize the inevitability of an increase in social responsibility of television and its development in the information society which become increasingly topical in the conditions of Kazakhstan.
Nowadays, the special importance in attributable to network-based mass communication tools, online and other information and communication resources that provide open access to informational and moral values, encourage the audience to freely express their opinion, and generate a massive inflow of original ideas. The abovementioned principles are the fundamental democratic values of society.
The problems of formation of the information society in Kazakhstan are reflected in many legislative acts and government programs. In general, they are aimed at resolving political-economic and social issues about eliminating information inequality in society, as well as technocratic and technological problems.
There is an integral legal institution developed in the country, i.e. legislation in the field of freedom of speech; creation, acquisition, processing and dissemination of information; and organization of activities of journalists and mass media. This system is constantly and actively evolving. Several objective factors have a stimulating effect on this process. Such catalysts incorporate further democratic modernization of the social system, accession of Kazakhstan to international agreements on human and civil rights and freedoms, as well as on cross-border movement of information flows, etc.
Government agencies and authorities gradually change their attitude towards mass media and create departments to deal with mass communication channels. The program of electronic government is being gradually implemented. The early 2000s were marked by a discussion about the issues of further strengthening the democratic trajectory of Kazakhstan’s development. This work culminated in the adoption of two important documents: the Concept of Civil Society Development in Kazakhstan for 2006–2011 and the Concept of Development of the Information Space Competitiveness in Kazakhstan for 2006–2009.
Later, all these changes in legislation were enshrined in the law “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan”. Under the influence of these factors, the liberal trajectory of the development of media law in Kazakhstan was approved. It was implemented by adoption of the following documents:
1. The laws “On Mass Media”, “On Informatization”, and “On Communications”.
2. The Concept of Civil Society Development.
3. The Concept of Development of the Information Space Competitiveness in Kazakhstan.
4. The Concept of Information Security in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
5. The Program for Reducing Information Inequality in the Republic of Kazakhstan (the government program “Information Kazakhstan-2020”).
The government program “Information Kazakhstan-2020” underlines a crucial role of electronic mass media in strengthening democratic institutions and society development. This is attributable to traditionally high level of coverage with conventional television which represents the most effective means of gaining information. The recent sociological research studies have shown that 88% of Kazakhs prefer watching domestic TV channels, while 53% of respondents watch them daily. Online media encompass a wide range of various resources, the most important of which are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Audience of online media projects in Kazakhstan
Indicator
Mail.ru Group
Vk.com
Ok.ru
Monthly Reach
Thousand people
4209,7
2718,2
1937,5
Population ages 12–54
80,1%
51,7%
36,9%
Average Weekly Reach
Thousand people
3635,8
1923,0
1282,6
Population ages 12–54
69,2%
36,6%
24,4%
Average Weekly Frequency
142,4
114,6
55,7
Average Daily Reach
Weekdays
Thousand people
2462,7
1027,3
681,4
Population ages 12–54
46,9%
19,5%
13,0%
Weekends
Thousand people
1922,6
925,9
566,0
Population ages 12–54
36,6%
17,6%
10,8%
Average Daily Frequency
32,1
31,8
15,7
Kazakhstani television broadcasters are represented by several binary oppositions: conventional television and innovative electronic mass communication channels; television and the environment of online and mobile television; open access to information and the problem of restricting access to data; opportunity to freely express opinions and inability to take it.
Hence, society and the sphere of electronic mass media in particular experience serious problems associated with the necessity for institutional changes. These changes are impossible without improvement and further liberalization of national legislation, implementation of the updated information policy and modernization of the system of television and radio broadcasting in the conditions of formation of the information society as an important element of civil society.
Admittedly, in practice, the development of television is hindered by the inadequacy of legal regulation in information relations within the socio-political system and by poor social awareness of the issues mentioned, which creates managerial risks.
We believe that the only effective mechanism for its construction is the introduction of the model of the public media sphere. To preserve and augment considerably the advantages of television in the Kazakhstani context, one should understand the nature of the impact of information and communication technologies on the media industry. We suppose that today’s television system in Kazakhstan can be characterized as a combination of all-Republic and regional, state and commercial, production and network companies. We assume that the need of the information society can lead to formation of a more flexible system of TV channels that will rely on solely the interests and needs of different segments of the audience.
Interactive technologies should facilitate this process due to their capability to establish the so-called “feedback” with the audience. Without them, it is impossible to achieve a qualitative programming that meets the needs of public institutions and individuals. Such an audience becomes an active social object of television communication acquiring the properties of a functional element of the political order, which means returning to a new technological paradigm – the instruments of the direct democratic public governance. Building new media relationships and game-changing content management result in increased civic engagement. And this will be an effective way of changing the social segment.
Ulbossyn M. Yessenbekova is a professor in the Department of Teleradio and Public Relations at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Republic of Kazakhstan. Her research interest is scientific direction of media such as trends in the development of modern mass communications, and human in the information society.
