Recognizing the Role of Blogging as a Journalistic Practice in Kazakhstan

The blogs are a fixture in today's media industry, growing in number and influence in mass media discourse. Its technical structure provides the possibility of a complete bringing into force of the right to communicate, including the right to report and the right to receive information. The literature review investigated the blog features, the way the blogs cooperate and oppose traditional media, how they are used by professional journalists. A survey was conducted among the journalists, editors, and bloggers of the Kazakhstani most-read online newspapers and most-watched TV channels. Findings demonstrate that Kazakhstani journalism gradually accepts the importance of blogging and implement blogs into professional journalistic practice. Journalists and editors realize that along with material in mainstream media blogs socially construct an agenda and increase readership. For professional journalism, there is a need to achieve a clearer understanding of the effect of exploiting blogs as a tool to reach and influence readers.