The III Uzbek-Russian Media Forum Has Begun Work in Tashkent

Third forum: from the online format of 2021 to an in-person meeting

The III Uzbek-Russian Media Forum, organized by the National Information Agency of Uzbekistan (UZA) together with TASS, began its work in Tashkent on November 9.According to Zamon.uz, the two-day event is dedicated to the development of humanitarian cooperation, the role of mass media in promoting traditional values, and current issues of the modern media landscape. UzNews.uz specifies the venue — the Hilton Tashkent City hotel — and the scale: more than 200 participants, including top managers from over 50 Russian media companies, among them TASS, NTV, RT, Gazprom-Media Holding, VK, and Yandex.

What is being discussed: four sessions and practical formats

The program includes four working sessions: on the role of mass media in developing tourism, sports, and humanitarian exchanges; on the development of the information space of both countries in the context of digital transformation, including the use of artificial intelligence; on changes in the culture of information consumption and the development of digital platforms; and on the significance of media in preserving traditional values. Separate consideration is given to the joint production of documentary and feature films, joint media projects, as well as a seminar on information security and child protection, master classes on verifying the reliability of information and content created by generative AI, and a series of bilateral negotiations.

Media sector statistics and four proposals from Uzbekistan

The central speech at the opening was delivered by the Press Secretary of the President of Uzbekistan, Sherzod Asadov. According to the data he presented, there are approximately 2,700 mass media outlets in the country, 67% of which are private; internet coverage has reached 94%, and the number of active content consumers has grown from 14.7 million in 2017 to more than 32.7 million. In 2026, the volume of production in the publishing industry doubled: 15,000 book titles with a total circulation of over 60 million copies were published; the Content Center prepared more than 26,000 media materials with a total of around 2 billion views; and the National Media Bank was launched, providing open access to tens of thousands of photo and video materials.

AI and disinformation as central themes

Asadov warned that the volume of fake content and deepfakes doubles annually, and countering disinformation has become a matter of national security. 'No national media system is capable of confronting such challenges alone,' he emphasized, calling for disinformation not to become a cause of discord between the peoples of the two countries. He presented four priority areas of cooperation: training personnel and exchanging experience (joint journalism schools, internships), joint efforts to combat disinformation (combining expert potential and establishing common standards for information verification; in Uzbekistan, 11,000 young specialists have already been trained on a specialized platform), technological partnership in the field of AI, digital platforms, and Big Data, as well as developing direct contacts between editorial offices, journalists, and bloggers.

Historical context

The Media Forum is being held for the third time. The first one took place on October 6, 2018, in Tashkent and was dedicated, among other things, to preserving the positions of traditional media amid competition from social networks and alternative media. The second was held on November 18, 2021, in an online format: discussions focused on the exchange of information and television content, training of journalistic personnel, the introduction of digital technologies, and the fight against false information. Thus, the current forum is the first in-person platform since the online format of 2021, and, unlike previous ones, it is accompanied by concrete initiatives and statistics from the Uzbek side.