The U. S. Mission in Kazakhstan is seeking applications to strengthen Kazakhstan’s media market by addressing one of the following themes:
· Theme 1:
Innovative approaches for gathering or sharing news, particularly with younger audiences.

· Theme 2:
Promote professional

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journalism standards, particularly fact checking, verification, investigative journalism, and fact-based reporting.

· Theme 3:
Support financial sustainability of media outlets in Kazakhstan, including alternative sources of revenue, by teaching media outlets about different business models and techniques for growing their audiences.

· Theme 4:
Support the development of peer-to-peer exchanges or grassroots networks of professionals for higher quality reporting, ethical and objective journalism, etc.

· Theme 5:
Analyze trends in media consumption, disinformation/misinformation in Kazakhstan, and other biases.

Program Goal:
Strengthen media in Kazakhstan by increasing journalistic professionalism and diminishing negative impact of fake-news in Kazakhstan.

Projects’ Audience(s) should be journalists, bloggers, media-outlets, media professionals and editors.

A project should benefit directly or indirectly Kazakhstani media consumers, increasing the quality of the media content.

The programs and projects targeting news reporters, journalists and bloggers will be given preference.

The projects are encouraged to target Kazakh-speaking audiences in the regions of Kazakhstan.

Projects can focus on one or more of the following objectives:
1) Broaden access to high-quality journalism for young audiences through innovative approaches in gathering or sharing news; 2) Promote professional journalism standards across regional and national media outlets by increasing their professional fact-checking, verification, and investigative journalism skills; 3) Build capacity of Kazakh media outlets, particularly Kazakh-language outlets, to improve their financial sustainability, secure alternative sources of revenue, and adopt different media-business models and techniques for enlarging their audiences.

4) Support the development of peer-to-peer exchanges or grassroots networks of professionals for higher quality reporting, ethical and objective journalism, etc.

5) Prevent distribution of fake-news or mitigate its negative impact through effective campaign, which can include analyze of media trends, development of communities or stimulation of distribution of objective reporting.