Politics and journalism in central Asia: the question of digital content control mechanisms

Abstract

The article analyses the politicisation of the journalism institution and the formation of the political and communication order in the countries of Central Asia. It is revealed that the process of politicisation of the journalism institution, against the backdrop of internal and external conflicts, has led, on the one hand, to the emergence of a less regulated media space, and, on the other hand, to an information space in which the authorities’ media policy is fundamentally based on horizontal and vertical control mechanisms. As a result, the features of the regional information space have been identified, within which the institution of power is granted considerable scope for political and ideological dominance. The hypothesis is put forward that the existing model of political journalism in national states is not the result of their media policy, but a consequence of the informational and ideological confrontation between internal and external forces seeking to shape new political and cultural values in the region.