The coverage of Uzbek-American relations on the Internet

Abstract. The article deals with the coverage of uzbek-american relations related to the education and English language training and teaching on the internet resources and the survey results in the methods of uses and gratification among people.

Keywords: politics, Internet, websites, gratification, survey

As it is obviously known, since Uzbekistan joined the Commonwealth of Independent States in December 1991, the republic of Uzbekistan has already established a strong bond with other foreign countries and the main goals of the foreign policy of the Republic of Uzbekistan are further strengthening of independence and sovereignty of the state, increasing the role and place of the country in international politics, creation of the most favorable conditions for ensuring national and regional security, sustainable and dynamic development of the national economy, continuing the progressive movement towards building an open democratic state, joining the ranks of developed states of the world. In the contemporary society, people all over the world are bombarded with a variety of technological devices and internet sites which provide them with news relating to various fields including politics especially  which poses a great interest among people. The Internet has already replaced the newspapers and magazines as a provider of the news not only in Uzbekistan but also all over the world. Moreover, it is possible to say that a new branch of Journalism as Internet journalism appeared and these changes, new notions can be explained predominantly by technological developments and the relation  of Uzbekistan and the USA like other foreign countries have been informed via the internet websites to the public. As it is known, The United States establishes diplomatic relations with Uzbekistan in 1992 following its independence from the Soviet Union. Since then, the United states and Uzbekistan have developed a broad based relationship, cooperating in such areas as border and regional security programs, economic relations, political and civil society issues, and English language training and the news in this field can be seen on the Internet sites of American and Uzbek journalism. Similarly, nowadays English language training has been one of the most common interests among youngsters and the office of English language programs in Washington,  D.C. provides academic expertise, advisory and consultative assistance, as well as materials and resources worldwide. All programs  are implemented by regional English language officers (RELO) at American Embassies or Consulates.   The RELOs travel throughout the region, providing seminars and other training for English teachers and supporting the work of English teacher associations according to the site of uz.usembassy.gov and this site provides the news relating to the education of the republic of Uzbekistan and the affairs by the USA. Furthermore, www.esn-teachers.org, www.state.gov, www.sciencedirect.com, www.kun.uz, www.un.int, www.tashkenttimes.uz and different internet sites provide the public with the news in the field of English language training and Education.

The “uses and Gratification”  research tradition focuses on factors influencing motives for use and outcomes for people’s media related behavior[1, 3]. This research tradition assumes that people’s use of media is codetermined by the degree to which this use of media does indeed satisfy people’s needs in journalism [2, 5]. Therefore, we have conducted a survey among the people in Tashkent. The survey covers the following questions:

• Are you interested in the relations of Uzbekistan with other foreign countries?
• Do you get the news from the internet or newspapers?
• Which sites do you use if you get the news on the Internet or which newspapers are preferable?

According to the survey results 75% of respondents are interested in the relations of Uzbekistan with foreign countries whilst  the number of people who are not interested in accounts for 25%. And, surprisingly, no one read newspapers for the purpose of getting political news and only the minority of the respondents read newspapers but for other reasons. 80% of the people read the news from the Internet sites and messenger channels. 35 % of the respondents prefer BBC  news from the site www.bbc.co.uk while 55 % of them opt for the sites in the uzbek and Russian languages such as uza.uz, kun.uz, qalampir.uz, gazeta.uz, tashkenttimes.uz, uzdaily.uz and others. The rest part of the people would rather television and youtube channels.  

In conclusion, it is conceivable to say that the internet is the most comfortable resource for most people and journalists as well. Findings suggest that the internet websites can establish the awareness of the information and news relating to the politics of Uzbekistan with other foreign countries.