Television and Radio Complex of the President

The Television and Radio Complex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan is a state media organisation under the President’s Property Management Department, describing itself as one of the country’s largest vertically integrated full-cycle media companies. Its institutional predecessor was created on 17 April 1995 as a television and radio complex within the President’s Press Service. On 29 December 1996 it was established as a separate state institution under the Property Management Department. It now comprises the Jibek Joly television channel and radio station, the international channels Silk Way, Silk Way Cinema and Silk Way Prime, the Kazinform International Information Agency and the Documentary Film Centre.

Media assets

Television: Jibek Joly, the republican channel; and the international channels Silk Way, Silk Way Cinema and Silk Way Prime

Radio: Jibek Joly radio

News agency: Kazinform International Information Agency

Documentary production: the Documentary Film Centre, which produces and archives documentary content

The portfolio has grown in stages. Qazaq TV joined the Complex on 1 April 2022 and was rebranded on 1 September 2022 into two broadcast versions: Jibek Joly for the domestic market and Silk Way for international audiences. Silk Way is institutionally a continuation of the international channel that began as CaspioNet in 2002. Silk Way Cinema began broadcasting on 25 October 2023 and Silk Way Prime on 1 July 2025. Jibek Joly Radio began broadcasting on 1 May 2025, replacing Radio Astana and continuing on its 101.4 FM frequency.

Kazinform is Kazakhstan’s national news agency, headquartered in Astana. It traces its origins to 13 August 1920 and the Orenburg-Turgai department of the Russian Telegraph Agency, was renamed KazROSTA in 1925 and KazTAG in 1937, and was created in its present form on the basis of KazAAG in 2002. In 2019 Kazinform was converted from a limited liability partnership into a joint-stock company and Kazcontent JSC was incorporated into it. Kazinform was then integrated into the non-commercial joint-stock company Television and Radio Complex of the President in 2022 and continued within the successor republican state enterprise from September 2023.

Ownership and governance

The Complex is a republican state enterprise operating on the right of economic management, created by government decree in 2023. The President’s Property Management Department is the authorised sector body and exercises the state’s ownership rights over it. The Property Management Department is itself a state body directly subordinate and accountable to the President, and is institutionally distinct from the Presidential Administration.

The decree defines the Complex’s principal activity as assisting with information support for the President, the Government and other serviced persons, and implementing state information policy.

Raushan Kazhibayeva has headed the Complex since August 2019. She served as Director-General under its former non-commercial joint-stock company structure and has been Director of the current republican state enterprise since September 2023.

State Media Monitor identified no independent governing board, independent appointment mechanism, external public-interest oversight body or published editorial charter providing institutional protection from state control. The Complex operates under a charter approved by the President’s Property Management Department under the 2023 decree.

The Complex has maintained a formal cooperation agreement with Al Jazeera Media Network since February 2024. Its journalists have also undertaken training at the Al Jazeera Media Institute in Doha.

Source of funding and budget

The Television and Radio Complex receives substantial direct financing from Kazakhstan’s republican budget. The 2026 budget allocates KZT 12.74 billion to the Complex under the President’s Property Management Department’s programme for conducting state information policy. The allocation is specifically described as funding services for state information policy at republican and international levels through the production and distribution of audiovisual content. The comparable adjusted allocation for 2025 was KZT 11.13 billion.

State Media Monitor could not establish from the material reviewed the Complex’s total consolidated income or the proportion represented by commercial revenue. The organisation is permitted to conduct commercial activities: its Documentary Film Centre explicitly advertises commercial production services, while earlier corporate disclosures also list information and advertising services among the Complex’s activities.

Editorial independence

Journalists in Kazakhstan interviewed by State Media Monitor in May 2024 and March 2025 said Kazinform adheres strictly to government-approved editorial lines.

Kazakhstan’s Mass Media Act formally guarantees freedom of speech and prohibits censorship. State Media Monitor identified no statutory or governance mechanism specific to the Complex or its outlets that structurally insulates editorial decision-making from the state authorities to which it is subordinated.

The institutional position is the significant factor. The Complex operates under the President’s Property Management Department, a state body directly subordinate and accountable to the President. Its statutory mandate includes information support for the President and Government and implementation of state information policy. Then Presidential Adviser and Press Secretary Berik Uali said in 2024 that the presidential press service works closely with the Complex and that the Complex provides information support for state events involving the President and his official visits. The Presidential Press Service’s published functions also include coordinating and supervising the Complex’s work in organising television coverage of events involving the President. This creates a more direct institutional link to the presidency than applies to Kazakhstan’s principal state broadcasters under the Ministry of Culture and Information.

The Documentary Film Centre describes itself as the Complex’s production base for socio-political media content concerning the Head of State and priority directions of Kazakhstan’s domestic and foreign policy.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor could not identify a published Television and Radio Complex policy governing generative artificial intelligence, mandatory human verification, model provenance or audience disclosure.

The Complex has, however, documented institutional training in artificial intelligence. In March 2025, a team of its journalists completed an intensive programme at the Al Jazeera Media Institute covering AI-assisted content creation and the practical use of tools for editing, enhancing and generating media material. State Media Monitor could not establish how extensively these technologies have subsequently been deployed in routine production or what internal safeguards govern their use.

Classification rationale

The Television and Radio Complex of the President remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is wholly state-owned and directly subordinated to the presidential institutional structure. The Complex is a republican state enterprise under the President’s Property Management Department, which exercises the state’s ownership rights over it. The Property Management Department is itself a state body directly subordinate and accountable to the President. No independent governing board, public-interest appointment mechanism or editorial governance arrangement insulating the Complex from state control was identified.

It is substantially state-funded. Kazakhstan’s 2026 republican budget allocates KZT 12.74 billion directly to the Complex for conducting state information policy at republican and international levels through audiovisual production and distribution, up from an adjusted KZT 11.13 billion in 2025. The Complex also carries out commercial activities, but State Media Monitor could not establish their current contribution to total income.

Its institutional mandate is explicitly tied to state information policy and presidential communications. The Complex’s statutory purpose includes information support for the President and Government and implementation of state information policy; the Presidential Press Service coordinates and supervises its television coverage of presidential events; and journalists interviewed by State Media Monitor described Kazinform as adhering closely to government-approved editorial lines. No Complex-specific mechanism protecting editorial decision-making from these state structures was identified.

August 2026