Committee to Protect Journalists - Georgia

Embattled Kazakh weekly paralyzed by damages

2010-03-09T22:51:46Z

New York, March 9, 2010—Kazakh authorities should immediately lift their ban on the distribution of the independent weekly Respublika-Delovoye Obozreniye, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Attacks on the Press 2009: Georgia

2010-02-16T05:35:00Z

Top Developments
• TV news politicized due to government manipulation.
• Opposition-aligned broadcaster obstructed.

Key Statistic
7: Percent of Internet penetration nationwide.

While no journalists were killed or imprisoned in Georgia in 2009, press freedom in this small South Caucasus nation stagnated due to persistent state manipulation of news media, particularly television broadcasting. In a speech before the U.N. General Assembly in September, President Mikhail Saakashvili boasted of Georgia’s media pluralism, stating that the country has “27 TV stations.” He failed to mention that most stations have little reach and, notably, that his government and its allies have long sought to control television news content, most recently through aggressive efforts to obstruct the cable affiliates of a station aligned with a leading opponent.

Russian journalist faces forgery charges in Georgia

2009-09-18T19:21:08Z

New York, September 18, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Georgian authorities to drop criminal charges against the Tbilisi bureau chief for the Russian news agency RIA Novosti and allow him to work without fear of harassment. According to RIA Novosti, Besik Pipia is facing up to three years in prison if convicted on a criminal charge of document forgery.

Conquering Television to Control the Narrative

2009-02-10T05:56:00Z

Mikhail Saakashvili and Vladimir Putin used strikingly similar tactics to create uncritical television media. The one-sided, one-dimensional coverage of the conflict in South Ossetia was the product of their efforts By Nina Ognianova

Attacks on the Press in 2008: Georgia

2009-02-10T05:34:00Z

Three journalists were killed and at least 10 were wounded during a brief but bloody conflict in the disputed region of South Ossetia that pitted Georgian troops against local and Russian forces. South Ossetian separatists strengthened their position after the conflict--gaining full recognition from Moscow and the active support of Russian troops--although Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili reaped at least a short-term spike in popularity.

Polish television crew freed in South Ossetia

2008-09-10T05:50:54Z

New York, September 9, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s release of Telewizja Polska (TVP) crew members who were detained outside the Georgian village of Karaleti by South Ossetian militia members, and taken into custody in the regional capital, Tskhinvali on Monday.

Reporter Dariusz Bohatkiewicz told CPJ that authorities in Tskhinvali transferred him and his colleagues—cameraman Marcin Wesołowski and driver Levan Guliashvili—to Russian peacekeepers who turned them over to Georgian authorities and Polish diplomats. TVP crew’s equipment and car were returned undamaged.

Polish television crew detained in South Ossetia

2008-09-09T01:24:34Z

New York, September 8, 2008—South Ossetian and Russian authorities should immediately release three members of a Polish television crew detained today near the village of Karaleti in the buffer zone between South Ossetia and Georgia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Authorities confiscated equipment and cell phones from the Telewizja Polska (TVP) crew and were holding the three members incommunicado in the regional capital, Tskhinvali, according to CPJ sources.

CPJ Impact

2008-09-01T05:50:40Z

September 2008

News from the Committee to protect Journalists

After Fox attack in Georgia, CPJ renews call for protection of journalists

2008-08-14T21:28:30Z

We issued the following statement today in response to the attack on a Fox News crew in Gori, Georgia:

"We are troubled that despite the ceasefire, journalists and cameramen have come under fire once again. This is unacceptable and we call on all the parties in the conflict zone to ensure reporters' safety," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. "This conflict has already taken the lives of three colleagues and left at least 10 wounded. Commanders must remind all deployed forces that journalists are civilians and entitled to the full protection of the Geneva Conventions."

Fox released video footage of reporter Steve Harrigan and his crew under fire.

Israeli journalist seriously injured in Gori

2008-08-13T16:00:00Z

New York, August 13, 2008--A veteran reporter with the Tel Aviv-based Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth was severely injured on Tuesday in an attack in the central Georgian city of Gori. It was the same attack that killed Dutch cameraman Stan Storimans and injured his RTL Nieuws colleague Jeroen Akkermans.

Dutch cameraman killed, reporter wounded in Georgia

2008-08-12T16:00:00Z

New York, August 12, 2008--Stan Storimans, a cameraman with Netherlands-based television channel RTL Nieuws, was killed today during bombing in the central Georgian city of Gori. His colleague, reporter Jeroen Akkermans, suffered shrapnel wounds to his leg and was hospitalized in a Tbilisi clinic, Jaspir Teijsse, a spokesman for RTL Nieuws, told CPJ Storimans was 39.

Two killed, several injured or missing in South Ossetia

2008-08-11T16:00:00Z

New York, August 11, 2008--Two journalists were reported killed, at least eight were injured, and two have gone missing since fighting erupted between Georgian, Russian, and local forces in the disputed region of South Ossetia. No press-related casualties have been immediately reported in the conflict in another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia.

Attacks on the Press 2007: Georgia

2008-02-05T16:20:00Z

GEORGIA

Facing a week of massive protests in the capital, Tbilisi, President Mikhail
Saakashvili stunned Western allies in November by imposing a state of emergency, banning broadcast news reporting, closing two television stations, and deploying police to forcefully disperse demonstrators. Saakashvili defended the November 7 crackdown, saying that the protests were orchestrated by Moscow with the intention of overthrowing his government. After acceding to opposition demands for early presidential elections, Saakashvili lifted the state of emergency and the news-gathering ban nine days later. But by then, he had damaged his own reputation as a pro-Western reformer.

Georgia shuts two TV stations, blocks others from news-gathering

2007-11-08T17:00:00Z

New York, November 8, 2007—The Georgian government should immediately allow two private television stations to resume broadcasting, and it must lift a ban on news-gathering imposed on all other private broadcasters, the Committee to Protect Journalist said today.

The government shut two popular Tbilisi-based television channels shortly before declaring a state of emergency Wednesday night. Imedi, considered the main Georgian opposition television and radio broadcaster, was raided by special forces and taken off the air at 9 p.m. Kavkaziya, a small independent channel, was also shut down.

Russian officers assault journalist in Georgia

2007-06-29T16:00:00Z

New York, June 29, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalist is concerned about an attack reported by Nukri Kacharava, a camera operator for the independent Georgian television station Mze, who said Russian military officers assaulted him and confiscated his equipment as he was filming their move out of a Russian military base in Batumi, capital of the southwest Georgian republic of Adjara.