Democracy requires free and credible media. This is among the critical messages the U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary for Global Public Affairs Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau recently delivered to Uzbekistan, Washington's strategic partner, and Kyrgyzstan, which the Biden administration sees as "the light of freedom" in Central Asia, despite continuing setbacks. Trudeau stressed that her tour to the region was "not to preach" but to have candid and open conversations with leaderships as well as civil society. She talked with Voice of America's Navbahor Imamova at the State Department.