(19 February 2026 | Source: response of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan to a request from deputies of the Senate of the Parliament)
The Government of Kazakhstan is working on the creation of a "Unified Media Platform", which is intended to ensure the systematisation of and access to archives of newspapers and magazines. This was stated in the response of Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov to a parliamentary request from the Senate.
The project is being implemented as part of the digitalisation of the information sphere and is aimed at organising the storage of materials from print media.
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE PLATFORM
According to government data, the relevant ministry is developing the system. The platform will be used for storing mandatory copies of printed publications and providing access to them.
The project provides for:
- integration with the "Kazakhstan National Electronic Library" system, whose collection exceeds 80,000 units;
- the development of unified rules for the accounting, digitisation of, and access to materials;
- the formation of unified digital access to archives of newspapers and magazines.
HOW MANY MEDIA OUTLETS ARE REGISTERED
As of the current moment, 5,029 media outlets are registered in Kazakhstan. In 2025, a further 515 new media outlets were registered.
HOW ARCHIVES ARE STORED IN THE REGIONS
According to government data, archives of newspapers and magazines in the regions are preserved in libraries, editorial offices and archival funds.
In some cases, materials have already been converted into digital format. For example:
- in the North Kazakhstan Region, 48,683 units have been fully digitised;
- in Almaty, the archives of the newspapers "Almaty aqshamy" and "Vecherniy Almaty" are more than 50–60% digitised for the period from 1970 to 2021.
In a number of regions, archives continue to be stored primarily in paper form.
WHAT IS PLANNED NEXT
In the future, the "Unified Media Platform" will be integrated with the National Electronic Library. As part of this work, it is planned to develop and approve unified approaches to the accounting, storage and digitisation of materials from print media.
It is expected that this will allow archival funds to be systematised and user access to them to be simplified.