Media week starts in Tashkent

The week was organized by the National Association of Electronic Mass Media (NAESMI) in cooperation with the offices of OSCE, UNESCO, Kondrad Adenauer Foundation in Uzbekistan, Parliamentary Commission on management of resources of the Public Fund on support of NGOs and other civil society institutes under the Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan Journalists Creative Union, Kamolot, etc.

The Media Week started with two educational courses on creation of social media products for TV channels led by German expert Rene Falkner and for radio stations Birgit Vetsel.

Krista Pikkat, head of UNESCO Office in Tashkent, said that each year World Press Freedom Day has its own theme and this year it is “Media Freedom for a Better Future: Shaping the post-2015 Development Agenda”. She underlined that non-governmental electronic mass media play key role in coverage of events. She said that UNESCO and NAESMI have been cooperating fruitfully.

The Media Week will include roundtables for journalists of the regional TV stations, covering culture and education. The UNESCO and NAESMI will determine the best journalists, who will be awarded within Jurnalistlar Bahori festival. There will be a meeting with young journalists on interaction of the state bodies, international organizations and mass media, implementation of joint projects.

Public Fund for support of NGOs and other civil society institutes under Oliy Majlis of Uzbekistan allocated 650 million soums to support mass media in 2014. The special attention will be to allocation of grants to print and electronic mass media, said the director of the Public Fund Abdujalil Turaev.

Within the week, the results of Oltin Qalam international contest will be also announced. Some 181 million soums was allocated as the prize money for the contest.