The Khabar Agency is a major media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 outlet in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

. It was established in 1995, known originally as the National Television News Agency. It is currently one of the largest networks in the country, and broadcasts daily in Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 and Kazakh

Kazakh language

Kazakh is a Turkic language which belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic languages, closely related to Nogai and Karakalpak....

. Additionally, Khabar runs the satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

 channel CaspioNet

CaspioNet

CaspioNet is the first satellite TV channel of Kazakhstan. It is run by the Khabar news agency. Its name reflects the intention to broadcast information about the entire Caspian Sea region....

, which is potentially available across Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. It features programming in Russian, Kazakh, and English.

Khabar annually hosts the Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...

n Media Forum, which attempts to bring together journalists and political figures to “facilitate the professional development of the Eurasian media and promote international public understanding of Eurasian issues”

Ownership

The ownership of Khabar has at times not been completely clear. Dariga Nazarbayeva

Dariga Nazarbayeva

Dariga Nursultanqyzy Nazarbayeva is a Kazakh lawmaker and daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev....

, daughter of Kazakh president

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 Nursultan Nazarbayev

Nursultan Nazarbayev

Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev has served as the President of Kazakhstan since the nation received its independence in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union...

, founded and controlled the company. She officially stepped down as company chairwoman during her bid for parliament in 2004. However, she still retained close ties to the agency and continued to organize the Euraisan Media Forum. Her husband, Rakhat Aliyev

Rakhat Aliyev

Rakhat Mukhtaruly Aliyev served as the First Vice Foreign Minister in the government of Kazakhstan until February 2007 when he was appointed to his second tour as Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Austria...

, confirmed that the couple still held shares in Khabar, along with several other media outlets. He was, however, quick to deny direct ownership, and attacked those who claimed otherwise.

In April 2006, Kazakhstan’s Information and Culture Minister Ermukhamet Ertysbayev

Ermukhamet Ertysbayev

Ermukhamet Qabidenuly Ertysbayev served as the Minister of Culture, Information, and Sport in the Government of Kazakhstan until President Nursultan Nazarbayev split the Ministry of Culture, Information and Sport into a Culture and Information Ministry and a Tourism and Sport Ministry through a...

 announced the intention to gain "one hundred-percent state control over the Khabar joint-stock company." This came on the heels of a general government call for greater control of the media, brought about from the turmoil following the murder of political opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbayev.

Shortly thereafter, Dariga’s Asar party was merged into Otan

Otan

Otan may refer to:* The Fatherland political party in Kazakhstan* North Atlantic Treaty Organization , in some Romance languages.**in Spanish: Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte...

. Some observers see the near-simultaneous loss of both the political party and the Khabar network as efforts by President Nazarbayev to reel in his daughter.

On May 5, 2006, Maulen Ashimbaev, deputy head of the President's administration, was named the new chairman. The state now owns 50% plus one share of Khabar.

Political bias

As one of the primary media outlets in Kazakhstan, Khabar is often under scrutiny for its role in elections. The agency is often criticized for covering mostly pro-presidential parties, namely Otan

Otan

Otan may refer to:* The Fatherland political party in Kazakhstan* North Atlantic Treaty Organization , in some Romance languages.**in Spanish: Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte...

 (now Nur-Otan

Nur-Otan

Nur Otan is the largest political party in Kazakhstan with over 762,000 members. Since 2007 it is headed by President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev Nazarbayev's predecessor in the party was Bakhytzhan Zhumagulov.The party's predecessor, Otan was originally established on February 12, 1999...

) and Asar, Dariga’s short-lived party. During the 2004 elections, for example, half of all election coverage on Khabar was devoted to the Asar Party.

Location

Khabar’s headquarters is located on Republic Square in Almaty

Almaty

Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...

, just east of the Monument to Independence and across from the Presidential Palace.

External links

• Khabar.kz - Khabar's official website, in English, Kazakh, and Russian