Digitalization poses new challenges for the journalistic profession. The issue of fragmentation of information and careful work with sources is becoming increasingly important in the digital world. Also, in this world overloaded with media, modern journalism should become a kind of protective system, focusing on the quality and reliability of information. Journalism in Uzbekistan is changing in three aspects: digital transformation, content distribution and changing conditions of civil society.
Digital technologies require working in a convergent structure, which demands versatility and analytical competence. Media content is produced for one media platform and then often distributed on all channels, such as TV, radio, print, Internet, social networks, messengers, etc. Therefore, journalists are constantly improving and using a variety of media skills on the basis of convergence in the organizations that use mixed media platforms.
In this context our study looks at the Telegram Messenger App, which has been embraced nation-wide in Uzbekistan. As yet the phenomenon of the Telegram Messenger App has not been fully studied, nor have questions been asked about its impact on the audience, its methods of using media, or empirical studies regarding the advertising and marketing potential. For researchers of new media, it is an important focus on the capabilities of the service in the distribution of mass media content. In fact, instant messaging services are interesting for the media in their ability to quickly and directly communicate information to readers, and their ability to attract an audience to their instant messaging services. We have begun a study of the Telegram Messenger App media channels in Uzbekistan and will present the findings of a one year’s observation on audience reach, variety of media offerings and forms of multimedia tools used.