Statement of Coalition for Freedom of Choice

Tbilisi City Hall announced next auction for the right to set up trade boxes in the city. As it turns out the auction is announced in the locations where there press boxes operate. Thus, the press boxes will have to be taken down after the auction ends.

It should be noted that the representatives of Tbilisi Supervision Service already contacted several services of press dissemination and asked them to take down their boxes though the action has not ended yet.

The abovementioned facts and the surrounding developments raise doubt that it does not happen just by accident. The past experiences intensify this doubt – for years government created problems for press dissemination. Unfortunately, the improvement of media environment was only the rhetoric. In reality the printed media and book dissemination were under pressure.

We have a reasonable doubt to think that the goal of government is to neutralize the printed media so that public receives infiltrated information which is provided to population through national channels. This leaves hundreds of small businessmen without jobs and will lead to their social devastation.

We fear that after the end of the auction, the press dissemination will have problems. This will significantly hinder the provision of magazines and newspapers for the population. Thus, we assess this decision of City Hall to be one more mechanism for pressuring the media intended to lead to its full paralyze.

Acknowledging this danger, Coalition for Freedom of Choice proposes:

1. To meet with the interested individuals and the mayor of Tbilisi so they can explain the correctness of this decision;

2. To halt all the actions before this issue is clarified and to renew them only after the solid guarantees for press dissemination are provided;

3. To immediately start discussing the draft laws prepared by media experts and initiated in the Parliament which offer the mechanisms to solve this and many others issues.