Abstract:
This paper explores the mass media perception of the European Union (EU) in Kazakhstan
by utilizing the content analysis of the major mass media outlets. The authors examine news
reports and periodical articles from four major national Kazakh newspapers using three
measurement points. The first measurement point covers the early 1990s when Kazakhstan declared independence and began to establish its foreign relations. The second
measurement point covers the periods before and after introduction of the EU Strategy for
Central Asia (2006–2008). The third measurement point covers the years (2011–2013) associated with implementation with the EU Strategy and assessing its results.
Our main findings suggest that Kazakhstan’s mass media positively perceives the role
of the EU in the region. Moreover, they tend to portray the EU mainly as an economic powerhouse. Our findings support some suggestions by similar studies of the EU’s external
perception.
Copyright Copyright © 2017, Asia-Pacific Research Center, Hanyang University. Production
and hosting by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
