Turkmen journalists and experts participate in the Central Asian Media Conference in Bishkek
The 26th Central Asian Media Conference, organized by the OSCE, is being held in Bishkek on July 6-7. The theme of the media forum is "At intersections. Protecting media freedom in the name of democracy." Representatives of the mass media and the expert community of Turkmenistan also take part in the discussions.
A high-level welcome panel with the participation of OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro, Minister of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan Altynbek Maksutov, Head of the OSCE Program Office in Bishkek Alexey Rogov and others presented the agenda and the main tasks to be considered by professionals of the Central Asian media market during a collective brainstorming session.
Director of the Center for Strategic Studies of the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Shiri Shiriyev also addressed the audience. He generally described the development of the country's media sphere, including multimedia journalism. Traditional print media have passed the stage of transformation, the purpose of which was their adaptation in the modern digital media environment.
Today, dozens of electronic publications are already operating in the country, which play an important role in the development of democratic processes, increasing the political and civic activity of the population, its active participation in all the transformations taking place in Turkmenistan.
Now users have the opportunity to participate in content creation, the blogosphere and social networks are developing, which creates high competition between professional journalists and writing users.
Shiriev stressed that the state guarantees freedom of the media at the legislative level in expressing opinions and noted the importance of cooperation with organizations such as the OSCE, which is also engaged in the development of the media, conducting training events for editors and ordinary journalists and providing them with expert support.
— Today there is a need for more active promotion in the global digital space of operational and reliable information about Turkmenistan, news reports about the transformations and achievements taking place in the country, studying the best world experience, the emergence of new formats and standards of broadcasting, printing, electronic press, - said the head of the Center for Strategic Studies.
He recalled that Turkmenistan had put forward a proposal to the Central Asian countries to protect the information space in the region and develop more active professional contacts at the level of state information bodies of all five countries for this purpose, and also proposed to organize a Central Asian media forum on security issues in order to develop approaches to creating a positive information background and promote a better understanding of the real situation in the region, efforts for the peaceful and stable development of Central Asia. And the OSCE Center in Ashgabat can play an important role in this process, Shiriev noted.
The work of the conference sessions was preceded by a survey interview, during which OSCE experts shared their views on why it is important to protect media freedom right now. In considering the main topic of this conference, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro and expert of the Advisory Group of Prominent Experts on Freedom of the Media Erica Marat answered questions such as: what is media freedom in these turbulent times and what could be the way forward to be able to guarantee security in society and the prosperity of democracy?
Then, during the first session dedicated to countering disinformation while protecting media freedom, participants discussed how to solve this international problem using a multisectoral approach to raise awareness of disinformation and increase resistance to it.
In parallel, the second session was held - "Freedom of speech in the era of algorithms and AI", in which strategic measures to protect access to reliable, diverse and of public interest information in the era of digital technologies were considered. Particular attention is paid to the impact of AI on freedom of expression.
In addition to OSCE experts, European academic and research circles, the forum speakers also include the chief editors of publications of Central Asian countries, including the ORIENT website of the Media-Turkmen news agency. During the conference, they will also speak out on the topics of protection of sources and the safety of journalists, including digital, legislative and practical issues related to these challenges and other urgent tasks of the media in Central Asia.
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