Vol. 3 No. 3 (2025)

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Browsing Vol. 3 No. 3 (2025) by Subject "Kazakhstan"

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    How Kazakhstan’s Media Covered the Nuclear Power Plant Referendum Campaign: A Comparative Study
    (SDU Journal of Media Studies, 2025) Dariya Zulfukharkyzy; Yelnur Alimova
    In October 2024, Kazakhstan announced its intention to construct a nuclear power plant, a decision that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev described as “a choice for the country’s future.” The debate surrounding the project extends beyond energy policy, reflecting deeper questions about how public opinion is shaped through the media. This study analyses the coverage of the nuclear power plant issue in Kazakhstani media during the period preceding the referendum to examine how reality was constructed and which frames dominated public discourse. It compares representations in state and independent outlets, identifying whether narratives of government endorsement or critical perspectives prevailed. Through this analysis, the study evaluates the extent to which coverage met international journalistic standards and explores how language, structure, and the absence of alternative viewpoints contributed to a constrained media environment. The findings provide insight into the framing of national policy debates and the implications for pluralism, journalistic ethics, and public deliberation in Kazakhstan.
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    Understanding the Dynamics Behind the Nuclear Referendum in Kazakhstan
    (SDU Journal of Media Studies, 2025) Zhanel Sabirova
    Along the interest of understanding motivations behind non-constitutional referendums, Kazakhstan contributes to the debate with its latest nuclear referendum held in October 2024. The paper argues that the nuclear referendum in Kazakhstan reflects national factors echoed in country’s nuclear memory, and internal political dynamics, including governmental control over public opinion and security concerns. Despite official claims of transparency, comparison with the 2022 referendum and media reporting raises doubts about the vote’s credibility. Therefore, the qualitative research method required analyzing media coverage of nuclear referendum news including headlines from state owned and independent media sources of Kazakhstan. Thematic and framed analysis was done through Taguette software to identify recurring themes and discrepancies between official narratives and public discourse. The result of the analysis demonstrated that the government owned media strongly propagating on the benefits of NPP on the economic, social, and environmental development of the country, independent media significantly focused on opposing state narratives and bringing counter arguments in the pre-referendum public debate. Overall, the 2024 referendum illustrates how the government uses controlled participation to legitimize nuclear policy while limiting genuine democratic processes. The qualitative media analysis of state controlled and independent news agencies of Kazakhstan were evaluated to assess transparency and motivations behind the referendum.