Rector of the University of Journalism and Mass Communications supports closing radio liberty (video)

Recently, US President Donald Trump announced that he would suspend the activities of USAID for three months. In addition, Elon Musk also announced the closure of Voice of America and Radio Liberty. These two international media outlets also have Uzbek services. Sherzodkhon Kudratkhuja, the rector of the only university in Uzbekistan specializing in training journalists—the University of Journalism and Mass Communications—supported the closure of Voice of America and Radio Liberty.  

"Here, the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, which is our neighbor, Sadyr Japarov, also expressed his opinion. They say that the ineffective use of money in the United States should be stopped. I read this on the Internet yesterday. In particular, today there is no need for Voice of America or Radio Liberty. Because today there is the Internet. When they appeared earlier, there was no Internet. I would like to emphasize that today a different order has begun in the world.

I will answer your question later. First, in 1942, the Voice of America was founded, and in 1950, Radio Liberty was founded. At that time, in 1942, they were created as a symbol of the fight against Nazism, against racism. When Radio Liberty was founded in the 1950s, the world was divided into poles. After the collapse of the USSR, these poles changed. Today, we see that some media outlets, as Sadyr Japarov said, influence other countries and propagate them. Because these two radio stations were founded as propaganda at the time. Today, there is no place for propaganda. Therefore, I think this is the right idea, because in today's changing times, we live in a new reality after 1991," said Kudratkhuja.  

He also tried to support his opinion by saying that today's threats are more dangerous than before. He believes that over the past seven years, Uzbekistan has taken steps towards building a truly open society, a democratic society.  

"I remember that the International Press Club began its activities as a museum, preparing critical programs and making a lot of critical speeches.  

Today, there are a lot of media outlets in Uzbekistan, a lot of journalists, and a lot of mass media outlets. Their activities are no less than those of ‘Ozodlik,’ ‘Voice of America,’ or others. So why should I disagree with the words of the American President? Why should I not like the opinion of Elon Musk? Of course, I like it.

This artificially creates a very negative atmosphere in our country towards the current government. Some investigations are being conducted, evidence is based on unfounded facts and fakes, and there are aspects that do not correspond to the truth. This is causing attempts to harm mutual harmony, mutual understanding, and creativity within the country. I think that today the media should express its reaction to such situations," the rector said.

But he admitted that Voice of America and Radio Liberty say things that they themselves cannot say. However, the rector of the University of Journalism accused them of provoking people.  

"I even think that sometimes they say things that we have not been able to say for a long time. Today we accept the truth based on their point of view. But I myself feel in my interviews with Liberty Radio that for some reason they treat Uzbekistan or other countries only with one-sided criticism, only with some kind of provocations.  

Is it to please some stratum or to cause conflict among people, to arouse discontent among people, they promote various topics and always raise negative answers to the questions you are asked. As a professor of journalism, as a scientist, I understand this well. Because I did not call it propaganda for nothing. This is not a mass media, perhaps at one time these were needed. But today there is no USSR, today we live in a different era," he said.  

According to Kudratkhuja, Uzbekistan does not need other foreign media today, because the media in Uzbekistan are already developed.

"We certainly strive for democracy. We are interested in building a democratic, social, legal, sovereign state, as written in the Constitution, and Uzbekistan will strengthen itself in this regard.  

But I think that considering some things, especially those LGBT ideas, especially those that are extremely left-wing or have some provocative nature, in a way that is not appropriate for them within countries, in the eyes of other countries, is interference in the internal life of countries, and this is wrong.  

Because today we are not a colonial state during the Perov era. Uzbekistan is a country with a very long history. Uzbekistan is building its own school of democracy, in the last three or four years there have been very big changes in Uzbekistan, and Uzbekistan considers this path to be beneficial. We are not building this democracy for America or Europe.  

That's why I personally really liked the views of two people—Mr. Donald Trump and Elon Musk—on this issue, and the fact that they supported the President of our neighboring country in our region, Sadyr Japarov. I think our journalists should also draw the necessary conclusions for themselves," he said.

Adding to his thoughts, he also supported the closure of USAID due to the objections of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.  

"The coming to power of the new American President Donald Trump was associated with several sharp statements. In particular, he expressed dissatisfaction with the expenses incurred by USAID and appointed the famous businessman, billionaire Elon Musk, as the head of the Economic Efficiency Department.  

You know, billionaires know how to count money well. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk are very rich people, billionaires, and they consider saving American taxpayers' money as their first priority," said Sherzodkhon Kudratkhuja.  

In addition, he did not forget to apologize for the fact that USAID did not allocate money for a grant to him.  

"Transparency, honesty, and honesty are very important criteria in the activities of similar organizations. For example, they allocated money to Uzbekistan and many countries in our region. However, there are no reports, there is no transparency of the money allocated to some sectors. I myself am a journalism rector, and for six years we have been asking for grants to improve the skills of journalists. I have met with many ambassadors, but there has been no positive response.  

Other journalists and social activists are given money. The question arises, for what purpose is this money given to them? And why are their reports not made public? Now, as I said at the beginning of my speech, we do not interfere in the internal affairs of other states. Therefore, the issue of building democracy in Uzbekistan will be discussed.  

In fact, this highly reflects the security issue of Uzbekistan itself and, of course, Uzbekistan's aspiration for democracy. In Uzbekistan, if we look at it from one point of view, there are issues of sovereignty and integrity of Uzbekistan and security of Uzbekistan.  

I would really like it if the US or other similar organizations allocated grants to us, please, we are ready to work. We will even ensure the transparency of those reports prepared," he said.  

It should be recalled that earlier, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov also supported the closure of Radio Liberty.