Private TV channels suspend broadcasts to protest draft media law. Further discussion of that draft was scheduled for 31 January but has been postponed. Seven TV companies protest media law amendments. The 20 percent air-time limit on retransmission of foreign mass media is of particular concern since most of Kazakhstan's independent TV stations cannot afford to produce enough of their own material. Such a limit, it is feared, would lead to loss of advertising revenue and likely closure of the stations.
Journalists are also worried about the requirement that websites register as media outlets.
For more information, contact Oleg Katsiev . Journalists criticise new draft media law. They object specifically to articles of the draft law that introduce limitations on transmissions by foreign media and stricter controls on publishing Internet newspapers. Norway relaxes anti-pornography movie rules. Norway's film censors lifted a ban on a controversial erotic Japanese movie Monday, relaxing some of the strictest anti-pornography laws in Europe.