Sherzodkhon Kudratkhoja was elected as the new chairman of the National of Electronic Media’s Association of Uzbekistan (NEMA). The decision was made at a meeting of the Association on February 1, UzReport TV reported.
The previous head of NEMA, Firdavs Abdukhalikov, asked to be relieved of his position, the members of the meeting unanimously voted for this decision.
In January, he was at the center of a scandal involving the Sevimli TV channel. The Anti-Corruption Agency has confirmed cases of conflict of interest in awarding contracts and distributing state subsidies between the head of the Cinematography Agency Firdavs Abdukhalikov and the management of the Sevimli TV channel, where his wife, daughter and son are listed as founders.
Firdavs Abdukhalikov had been in charge of the association since 2003. Since 2019, he has also been the head of the Cinematography Agency.
Sherzodkhon Kudratkhodzha, 47, PhD. of political sciences, associate professor. Since 2008, he headed the Department of Internet Journalism, Theory and Practice of Printing at the Faculty of Journalism of the National University of Uzbekistan, and also taught at the Singapore Institute for Management Development in Tashkent. Since April 2017 he has been the Chairman of the International Press Club, since May 2018 he is also the Rector of the University of Journalism and Mass Communications. In 2019, he was elected a member of the Central Election Commission of Uzbekistan.
