Pandemic reaction
Uzbek media representatives are proud of their current work during the pandemic. From the very
first days of quarantine and lockdown, a group of 72 most popular media leaders and bloggers
united and created a Telegram channel called Coronavirus.info on March 15
th
. Among them are
journalists from Gazeta.uz, Kun.uz, Daryo.uz, TV and radio channels, and popular bloggers
Khushundbek Khudayberdiev, Nozim Safari, Troll.uz, Feruzkhan Yakubkhodjaev and others. Every
day it posts important information, fights fake news and provides citizens with an opportunity to get
trusted information about the situation. The channel is supported by the Mass Media Fund, the
government and its related offices. All leaders and bloggers daily discuss a strategy and make
decisions to step up together, combining efforts. In a few weeks Coronavirus.info got 1.4 million
subscribers which is a huge number and a successful result acknowledged by many other countries
who are trying other tactics. This achievement was acknowledged by Telegram Messenger, and on
April 3
rd
they have launched a special page to gather verified Telegram coronavirus information
channels from other joining countries.
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To this day, such verified channels exist in Cuba, Georgia,
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The author is a member of the Public Council.
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This is a personal blog of the author.
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Gazeta.uz , Shavkat Mirziyoyev assured bloggers of support, August 2019, https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2019/08/27/blogers/
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The Telegram Team, Coronavirus News and Verified Channels, Telegram, April 2020, https://telegram.org/blog/coronavirus
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Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Togo, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Together with this, every day during the pandemic private TV channel Uzreport TV was able to
broadcast live briefings. More than five to six times per day officials from different offices gave
updates and answered people’s questions. These videos are immediately uploaded to the Telegram
channel too, keeping most of the population in the loop; TV and Telegram is a perfect combination
in modern Uzbekistan. However, many media outlets had to minimise their costs and let go of staff
because of the pandemic. A possible economic crisis is coming and it will hit the media if the
demand for advertisements decreases.
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8. Challenges NGOs in Uzbekistan are still facing
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By Dilmurad Yusupov
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