Not for use before 7 November 2009

TBILISI, Georgia (7 November): Media freedom in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia is yet to recover from the decision of its President, Mikheil Saakashvili, two years ago today (7 November, 2009) to send in armed special forces to close down the independent Imedi TV station says the republic's former foreign minister Salome Zourabichvili.

After the assault Imedi was taken from its original owners and has gone from being the most important independent media voice in the country to “the most slavish of pro-government propagandists,” comments Ms Zourabichvili adding that “the lack of proper media scrutiny and accountability adds to regional instability as it allows political leaders to behave recklessly without any fear of a serious public backlash.”

Salome Zourabichvili continued:

“Georgia has no tradition of national newspapers, though the papers in Tbilisi do reflect a wide variety of views, and radio is under-used as it was neglected even in the earliest Soviet times, meaning television is the main source of news for the overwhelming majority of the population but in Georgia that means, principally pro-government propaganda stations:

·       Of the three national broadcasters one is directly owned by the state and is headed up by the man described as the ‘favourite’ of the President;

·       Another – Rustavi2 - is believed to be owned by a government MP but its true ownership is hidden as the holding company is registered in the Virgin islands;

·       The third – Imedi – is now managed by the man who, as economics minister, announced the state of emergency under which Imedi was stormed;

·       There are two independent cable stations in Tbilisi one of which – Maestro – used to be widely available across the country but has since been targeted by the Georgian government after it supported demonstrations calling for the president to resign – it has now been silenced everywhere outside the capital;

·       Internet TV is the latest initiative in Georgia but the internet TV station is run by the former spokesperson of regime strongman Vano Merabishvili – the station recently won an auction for spectrum in Tbilisi – it was the only bidder.

·       The one other significant independent regional TV station , Channel 25 in the Black Sea port of Batumi, has been the target of action by the authorities as a result of unpaid tax. The tax bill was run up when the station was under state control.

 

“The national TV stations’ output of propaganda is constant. In the last two months at least one of the stations has:

·       Accused the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church of being a dupe of the Kremlin because he disagreed with government policy over the ongoing territorial dispute over South Ossetia and Abkhazia;

·       Claimed that the outgoing German Foreign Minister was to be rewarded with a job with Russian company Gazprom because the German government refused to blame the Russians for starting the August 2008 conflict: this story resulted in a strongly worded demand for a retraction by the German Foreign Ministry but that appears to have been ignored by the broadcaster concerned;

·       Claimed that one of the members of the Commission established by the EU to examine the August 2008 war was paid a bribe by Gazprom;

·       Changed the date of a debate in the European parliament on the Commission’s report to make the story concerned look more helpful to the Georgian government and then broadcast only highly edited extracts of what was said;

·       Misrepresented a year old report on corruption in Georgia to make it look like a new publication and then made false claims about the report's contents;

·       Broadcast faked video to make it appear that Georgian opera singer Paata Burchuladze had sung at military concert in Moscow when, in fact he sang at a charity concert for children the following day (the regime objected to him going to Moscow at all);

·       Banned adverts from Paata Burchuladze’s charity after he went to Moscow even though only six months previously Georgian television stations had broadcast one of charity’s concerts live;

·       Continued to work with the police to broadcast videos of alleged confessions of obviously distressed suspects in criminal cases in such a way that makes a mockery of the idea of a fair trial but which adds to the idea that the police are being tough on criminal behaviour

“These are only a few examples. I am certain there are many more.

 “The donor states of the EU and the US ought now to insist that the Georgian government return Imedi to its rightful owners, depoliticise the public broadcasting channel and ensure that journalistic ethics, not propaganda needs, are what shapes TV news output.

“Two years after he sent in armed troops to smash up a TV station, rip it off the air and humiliate and intimidate its journalists and production staff, Mikheil Saakashvili needs to be shown that the west have had enough of his antics.”

ends

Notes to editors:

1.               Details of the stories mentioned her can be found at http://georgiamediacentre.com/content/media_abuse_georgia with a wider range of stories about Georgian media freedom available here: http://georgiamediacentre.com/taxonomy/term/25

2.               Salome Zourabichvili was foreign minister of Georgia (under President Saakashvili) from March 2004 to October 2005, she now leads the opposition political party “The Way of Georgia” (http://thewayofgeorgia.org/index.php?lang=ka). She talks about her party and Georgian politics (in English) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zFYq2FBPfE