The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev sincerely congratulated the press and mass media workers and veterans of the sphere who made a huge contribution to its development, with the Press and Mass Media Workers Day, which is celebrated in Uzbekistan on June 27, and expressed his deep respect and best wishes. 

The President noted that thanks to efforts, talent and skill of thousands of representatives of this noble profession, the mass media are becoming closer to the life of people, their joys and cares, play an irreplaceable role in formation of a new, democratic image of Uzbekistan. 

In the years of independence, the number of mass media in the country has almost quadrupled and reached 1500, which indicates a consistent continuation of transformation in the sphere. 

Profound qualitative changes are taking place along with the growth of quantitative indicators. This can be seen in the example of expansion in the national media space of non-state media network, their effective activities, and accelerated development of Internet journalism. All these are important factors in civil society formation. 

– We welcome the atmosphere of openness, objective analysis and criticism in publications, television and radio programs, an increase in the number of materials coming from our journalists from abroad, – said Shavkat Mirziyoyev. 

The President emphasized that the mass media should become “the fourth estate” not in words, but in reality. This is the imperative of time, the demand of our reforms. 

In order to improve the system of training modern personnel for the mass media, we recently formed the University of Journalism and Mass Communications of Uzbekistan. 

A comprehensive study of the achievements in the field of media, scientific-theoretical foundations of journalism and modern media technologies will contribute to training highly qualified personnel at the level of international standards. 

“Undoubtedly, the large practical work carried out in the sphere will create a solid base that will allow domestic journalists to take a worthy place in the global information space”, – said the President