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Abstract

This article examines the evolution of investigative journalism in Kazakhstan since 2019, when first president Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned after thirty years of rule. Based on an expert survey of journalists working in the country’s leading mass media outlets, it finds that two contradictory processes have been underway since 2019. On the one hand, there has been a growth in critical, investigative publications, specifically in digital media, which the state tolerates to a certain extent. On the other hand, there has been a notable increase in state repression. Accordingly, the paper argues that investigative journalism in Kazakhstan should be understood through the prism of networked authoritarianism, whereby investigative reporters have carved out limited autonomy in digital media due to digital activism, political emancipation, and the state’s desire to present an image of political liberalization.