The Presidential Television and Radio Complex of Kazakhstan has been in the process of deep transformation for more than 2 years. Raushan Kazhibayeva - general director of the presidential television company, tells Tengrinews.kz about the changes that occurred during that time.
Raushan Zhanabergenovna, more than two years ago you told us in an interview that the presidential television and radio complex is in the process of transformation. Tell us what has changed in that time.
The changes are that the TV and radio complex has become a vertically integrated TV and radio company with a full cycle of production and delivery of content to the Kazakh and foreign audiences. This allows us to solve the task set by the head of state, namely to become an effective media company.
Today, the TV and radio complex includes TV channels, an international news agency and its own production base, providing high-quality TV entertainment for the whole family, objective news coverage of current events and promotion of national interests in international news. field.
Having its own media resource, high creative and technical potential, including a team of professionals, the TV and radio complex has become a major content factory for the president.
Continuing to implement the phased implementation of a comprehensive strategy, we do not act sporadically and do not try to replace everything, but strictly follow the plan.
How is this approach reflected in your media work? For example, what eventually happened to Kazakhstan TV?
In 2022, after assessing the state and development prospects of the media included in the structure of the Television and Radio Complex, we radically revised the approaches of Kazakhstani television to work with local and foreign audiences, whose needs and expectations are radically different. On September 1, 2022, the channel's broadcast was split into domestic and international, and each branch of the broadcast received a new name.
The international broadcast was implemented under the Silk Way brand and continued the broadcasting traditions of Kazakhstan television, which was almost 20 years old at the time of its transition to the structure of the television and radio complex. Content for Kazakhs began to be broadcast on the new TV channel Jibek Joly. We offered content to foreign and domestic viewers based on their primary preferences.
In short, for the first time in the last 10 years, Kazakhs have a new family television channel. Animation for children, movies and TV series, concerts, talk shows and, of course, news and analysis programs. Today, viewers know and watch all this on the air of Jibek Joly.
International broadcasts began airing under the Silk Way brand, reflecting the inextricable link between the on-air versions of the once single channel with more than 20 years of history.
Jibek Joly TV channel is famous in the domestic market, but how is the international broadcast of Silk Way developing?
The international broadcast of the channel, as I already said, is launched under the Silk Way brand and is broadcast in over 120 countries on 4 continents. Today, the channel has over 200 "on-the-spot" partners providing its broadcast, as well as a whole network of official distributors.
We rebuilt all this in 2 years, while conquering new markets and broadcasting environments. When the Kazakhstan TV channel moved to the TV and Radio Complex in 2022, its terrestrial broadcast network was virtually absent.
Why did we pay so much attention to this? Silk Way Strategic Task – to become a regional media center whose voice Central Asia will speak to the whole world.
Even today, the channel works to create a single information space for the five countries of the region. We have everything you need for this: national and regional content, a wide broadcast network, a range of national and international languages and, of course, reliable partners from the countries of the region.
Common information space of the countries of Central Asia - what is it? Unless it's a secret, of course.
There was and is no secret in our work. We are building our Central Asian Channel project on the principles of openness, equality, trust and mutual respect.
Our partners work with us because it benefits everyone. The television and radio complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides a ready-made media platform with a real presence and audience abroad for the effective promotion of national and regional interests.
Our Lifestyle content is aimed at promoting tourism, business, history, culture, traditions and attracting investment in the region. In this regard, the name of the channel, which refers to the deep history of the great trade route that connected the peoples and civilizations of East and West in the heart of Eurasia – Central Asia, is very symbolic.
Colleagues from Turkmenistan and Tajikistan are already actively cooperating with us. Silk Way broadcasts world news prepared by the leading national broadcasters of these countries, and broadcast programs are being prepared that can provide Turkmenistan and Tajikistan with country promotion.
We hope that our colleagues from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan will soon join the project, after which we can fully call ourselves Silk Way Central Asia.
In place of one Kazakh television, you created two new channels, two new brands. How did this affect the position of the channel in the country and the market as a whole?
This is a historic change for the channel. Jibek Joly has found its place in the native media space and competes with channels that have been operating in the market for decades.
I think its appearance has only a positive impact on the market, as we put special emphasis on our own original products.
Of course, today the main contribution to the ratings of TV channels is made by foreign TV series and films. Yes, it makes commercial sense. But this does not contribute at all to the development of its own, Kazakh production and the promotion of modern national culture. We intend to change this trend. Competition always stimulates, makes you go forward, do better and more, fight for the viewer.
This year, for the first time, Jibek Joly broadcast the main world sports event – XXXIII Summer Olympic Games. Broadcasting of the channel pleased the people of Kazakhstan with broadcasts of competitions with the participation of our athletes.
Another celebration of sports, which the TV and radio complex presented to its viewers – This is a broadcast of the World Nomad Games on Jibek Joly and Silk Way channels. Our team also filmed the opening and closing ceremonies.
Our young channel brought additional ad inventory to the market and managed to capture the attention of advertisers. This undoubtedly has a positive effect on the Kazakhstan advertising market and emerging trends in it.
Tell us what are your future plans for the development of TV channels?
We develop the leading brand Jibek Joly/Silk Way. As part of this project, in 2023, in September, the Television and Radio Complex launched the Silk Way Cinema channel. It is an international channel, an ambassador of Kazakh cinema and the creative industry abroad. Its broadcast consists of Kazakh cinema and TV series.
The channel is now available in 16 countries, mostly neighboring countries, broadcasts in Kazakh and Russian and acts as a kind of showcase of the achievements of modern Kazakh cinema.
Kazakhstan today has a huge library of film and serial production, scattered across various media companies and not fully realizing its potential.
My colleagues and I have aggregated in the TV and radio complex platform the majority of film and serial content produced by the state or on its behalf in different years. We now have a library of thousands of hours of content that will provide unique exposure to the Silk Way Cinema channel for a long period of time.
I, of course, remember that you are not secret agents, but we are indeed having a very detailed conversation...
Yes, yes, we're not secret agents yet, but we're making movies about them. In 2023, our Documentary Film Center filmed a unique project about the work of State Security – people guarding the president and senior government officials.
This year we are preparing a special project – 100 Serbaz. This is a reality show where the best law enforcement fighters in the country will compete in strength, speed, agility, endurance and ingenuity.
The original projects of the TV and radio complex are broadcast not only on our TV channels. The high interest in them from both regional and republican TV channels is due to their relevance, uniqueness and, of course, performance quality.
In addition, this year the TV and radio complex is working on its first three series - "111" Juz na bir", "Tamasha" and "Divan batir" - with a total duration of 66 episodes. Traditionally for the film industry, our series reflect the main interests of the Kazakh society, and in some places are also its mirror.
This year, the president signed legislation aimed at toughening the liability and penalties for domestic violence. The premiere series "111", planned for the new TV season of Jibek Jolie "Juz on bir" raises this acute question for the Kazakh society.
It is no coincidence that the series has the name “111“ – this is the current contact center number of the Family, Women and Child Rights Support Office.
"Kazinform" is more than 100 years old. What key changes have occurred at the agency in recent years?
International information agency "Kazinform" was and remains the property of the country. Next year, the agency will be 105 years old. During more than a century of history, it has experienced many moments, ups and downs. Remember how the KazTAG brand was lost – a very annoying circumstance, by the way…
Nevertheless, for more than a century, Kazinform has remained at the forefront of information coverage of events in the life of Kazakhstan and the whole world, preserving attachment to centuries-old traditions.
Each day, the agency's editors create over 1,000 news content in 5 languages on news feeds and other platforms. Our foreign channel, already represented in 12 countries from such regions of the world as Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Europe and North America, helps with this.
In a short period of time, we rebuilt our partner network with 30 of the world's leading media, strengthened our staff, increased the volume of news production, improved the quality of information and radically changed our editorial policy, focusing on the English version of the website and social networks .
"Kazinform" has an ambitious but very realistic goal – to become one of the continent's leading video news agencies.
Did you manage to achieve everything you planned for the past few years?
Not all, because our planning horizon is far from limited to a 3-year period.
It is possible to turn into a full TeleRADIO complex, but not so quickly due to the specifics of the legislation. We are solving this problem together with the Ministry of Culture and Information. As for the operational level, there are probably no deadlines. There's no limit to perfection, right?
Last year, the presidential television company launched its international school of journalism on the basis of MNU. This year he brought a team of professional Al Jazeera trainers. How, in your opinion, does the new generation of Kazakh journalists differ from the “old school“?
Yes, in 2023 the Television and Radio Complex, together with Maksut Narikbaev University, launched the only International School of Journalism in Central Asia. And this is just one of those projects where the planning horizon is much longer than 3-5 years.
We intend to raise a new generation of high-quality media workers for the Kazakh media, able to work fluently in Kazakh, Russian and English. Media workers, not just journalists, are the ones who will drive our industry and the creative economy forward.
The school's top 20 students study for free thanks to subsidies provided by the Television and Radio Complex and the Dara Foundation for Presidential Initiatives.
Regarding the Al Jazeera case, a mutual agreement has been reached on the future partnership. The trainings held in Astana for students and industry professionals are just one point in the program of interaction with Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera Media Institute, we have many joint projects ahead.
As for the development of journalism in Kazakhstan, the television and radio complex, using the advanced international experience, included in its transformation program a project to introduce the principles of convergent journalism based on compact editing.
Taking the best of classic journalism and the best practices of modern media, we transform our media journalists into multi-tasking professionals capable of being a correspondent, cameraman, editor and mobile writer at the same time.
Raushan Zhanabergenovna, thank you for the interesting conversation.
This is news published on the basis of a news exchange agreement between Fakti.bg and Kazinform