Georgian Journalists Protest Government Meddling

A row has broken out between the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili and Georgia’s independent media, with journalists complaining that critical voices are being squeezed out under a state campaign to control the flow of information.

Critics cite the recent cancellation of the popular television show Archevanis Zgvarze (On the Verge of Choice), which had long criticised government policy, as the latest example of the press crackdown.

Among other topics, the show cast doubt on the official version of prime minister Zurab Zhvania’s accidental death by gas poisoning, and questioned the investigation process.

The government has denied any connection with Archevanis Zgvarze’s demise, but observers point out that a close ally of Saakashvili, parliamentarian Giga Bokeria, appeared on the show before it was cancelled by independent Mze TV. He used his appearance to lambaste the show as unprofessional and sensationalist.

Bokeria ridiculed the show’s presenter, Irakli Imnaishvili, who had compared a recent clash between police and about 100 supporters of a group of wrestlers accused of extortion with the bloody suppression of Georgian pro-independence demonstrators by Soviet troops in 1989, during which 19 people died.

The wrestlers’ supporters – among them anti-Saakashvili campaigners from opposition parties – were injured when security troops broke up a rally in July, triggered when the wrestlers were ordered into three months pre-trial detention.

Saakashvili’s critics argue that the government did not need to give a formal order to shut down critical voices like Archevanis Zgvarze, because the often clannish ties between the Georgian media and the political world guarantees the latter has influence over the former.

Parliamentarians David Bezhuashvili and Vano Chkhartishvili are co-founders of Mze TV. Bezhuashvili’s brother is Georgian National Security Council secretary Gela Bezhuashvili, while Chkhartishvili is the head of the pro-government parliamentary faction and was economics minister under ex-President Eduard Shevardnadze.

Imnaishvili, Archevanis Zgvarze’s former host, said pressure from the authorities on journalists is subtle, but definitely exists.

“No ministers or prosecutors phoned me, but the channel policy changes immediately when some certain unpleasant topic becomes real for them. We witness ‘twisting of the hands by telephone’,” he said.

Other Georgian journalists say they have faced more direct intimidation with some being told they will not be given access to government officials, because they are not deemed loyal enough.

Koba Liklikadze, a defence affairs reporter for the Georgian service of United States-funded Radio Liberty, was denied an interview this week with a defence ministry official.

“I was told by the ministry press secretary, Nana Intskerveli, that I was considered a ‘problematic journalist’ and was no longer welcome,” Liklikadze told IWPR.

A newspaper in the eastern Kakheti region, Spektr, said copies of its last print run had disappeared from stores after it published a series of articles critical of the local government. The Kakheti administration denied any connection with the incident.

Geli Mtivlishvili, one of Spektr’s reporters, also said unknown assailants had later thrown a grenade into his yard.

In another case, Rezo Okruashvili, the editor of Gori’s main newspaper, was charged with allegedly distributing narcotics. Okruashvili believes the charges, which were later dropped, were retaliation for his critical coverage of the local authorities.

“The very same processes that Russian television companies underwent are developing in Georgian TV companies,” Tamar Chikovani, head of Radio Liberty’s Tbilisi bureau, told IWPR.

“The print media has been more or less free, but lately state officials have been unable to hide their irritation because of its activity, and they will increase the pressure. In short, everything is leading to the establishment of [the] so called ‘managed democracy’ that we witnessed in Russia”, Chikovani said.

Bokeria, however, denied that the government had taken any steps to censor or control the media, though he accused some outlets of being irresponsible.

“We’ve dropped all restrictions on the media. All legislative regulations that oppressed media for years have been abolished.

“But the media owners and most journalists do not comprehend that great freedom means great responsibilities. You may be unethical, you may be even ignorant but it does not relieve you from responsibility. Of course, I mean moral responsibility first of all,” said Bokeria.

Bokeria was the founder and the public face of the Liberty Institute – a leading non-government group which helped mastermind the 2003 “Rose Revolution” that brought Saakashvili to power.

There have recently been a series of closures of both newspapers and television stations in Georgia, few of which have been explained by their owners.

Two television channels, Channel 9 and Iberia, have already stopped broadcasting – though their owners did not cite government pressure. Channel 9’s owner gave no reason for shutting down in April, while Iberia said it was closing due to financial problems.

The newspapers Dilis Gazeti and Mtavari Gazeti also stopped printing. However, the Georgian print media sector is almost completely unprofitable and requires deep-pocketed sponsors to keep operating.

In light of recent events, some observers believe media owners are now afraid of falling foul of the authorities for fear their financial affairs will be investigated, so they actively practice self-censorship.

They say many regional media outlets have turned loyal to the government or passed into the hands of people close to the Saakashvili leadership.

At Rustavi-2, the TV outlet that worked as a cheerleader for Saakashvili’s “National Movement” during the Rose Revolution, businessman Kibar Khalvashi now controls 90 per cent of the station. Khalvashi has close ties to the powerful defence minister Irakli Okruashvili, who was his lawyer for years.

However, some critical voices remain. TV channel Imedi [Hope] – owned by tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili, a former close confidant of exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky – is staunchly critical of Saakashvili’s government in its news programming.

A group calling itself the Georgian International Media Club, backed by more than 70 media representatives, has also formed. It has written to Georgian officials and to foreign embassies in Tbilisi denouncing the government’s hostile attitude to the media.

According to the media club’s head, Magda Popiashvili, “When the state authority that came to power with much help from the media oppresses it by every means possible, and tries to pass this oppression off as merely a reaction to unethical and unprofessional media behaviour, it becomes clear that it regards as superfluous the existence of independent media which uncover all the errors, suspicious machinations and criminal activities committed by officials.”

Revaz Sakevarishvili is a freelance journalist based in Tbilisi.