Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

With the New President, New Rules for the Media?

February 27, 2004

  With the New President, New Rules for the Media?

President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, the hero of bloodless “Rose Revolution” that  put an end to the long time ruleof Eduard Shevardnadze, has officially undertaken the duties of president.

As the revolutionary leader he promised democracy and freedom of speech, but current political actions and events concerning control of the media have given many cause for concern.

The democratic path chosen by Mikheil Saakashvili may be seriously threatened by politics that could be interpreted as pressure against the media and freedom of speech in Georgia.

How else can we explain recent events, when, on February 4,  two of  the  most popular privately owned TV stations, “Mze” and especially “Rustavi 2” (which  supported President Saakashvili during the “rose revolution”), had their highly-rated political debate talk shows unexpectedly canceled. Low ratings or financial problems cannot be offered as explanations, as both shows had high viewer ratings, and both stations are financially secure.

Neither before nor after these events were explanations given. During the reign of former president Eduard Shevardnadze, when the Ministry of Security decided to Rustavi 2, many people in Georgian society considered to be an attack against the freedom of speech, and these actions were widely condemned. Information on this issue was made available to the public and widely disseminated in the media.

During a recent phone conversation with Rustavi 2,  a station representative eventually explained (although obviously not very willingly) that the evening talk-show “Night Courier”, hosted by Eka Khoperia (who is also the head of the news department) was temporarily cancelled due to a decision to modify the format, which needed to be renewed. According to the representative, the government never pressured them to cancel the show, and it will be broadcast again beginning in April 2004..

A similar explanation was repeated by the representatives of the Mze, which have also canceled  their evening talk-show “Night Mzera”, which features political debates, and is hosted by famous Georgian journalist Inga Grigolia. The fact that Night Courier and Night Mzera were cancelled on the same day was explained as a simple coincidence.  The Mze representative offered assurance that the program, as well as the host, who was supposedly on the way to Egypt and unavailable for comment, will be back on the air in March after some technical changes are made.

Unfortunately, most of this information proved to be completely false. Inga Grigolia not only quit Mze, but also had begun work once again with her first employer, Channel 1.

The opinions of other privately owned TV companies vary. One of them, “Imedi”, has no official opinion at all concerning this particular issue, although one representative from Imedi, who wished remain anonymous, was personally convinced that the cancellations really were just a coincidence.

The TV Company “Iberia”, along with the news agency “Media News” and newspaper “Akhali Epoka” (all owned by the “Omega Group”), were recently visited by masked and armed tax police. The Omega Group is accused by the government of not paying to the state of Georgia taxes worth more than 12 million GEL.

Liuba Eliashvili, head of the news department at Iberia, and host of  “Dialogue”, the only evening political talk-show still on the air, is convinced that pressure from the government against the Omega Group, and especially against Iberia, is aimed at reducing freedom of speech in Georgia. According to her, the only reason for the actions against them is the fact that they no longer serve the interests of the current government, and has never made any deals with them, in contrast to the other TV companies, which have removed the programming seen as threatening to the current government.

“We are not the first victims of the pressure against the media, but unlike the others, we are not willing to surrender”, said Liuba Eliashvili.

The current media situation in Georgia is remeniscent of the situation which began in Russia a few years ago.

When Vladimir Putin became Russia's president, a noticeable strengthening of the state’s control on the media began. The first victim was the independent TV Company NTV, owned by media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky.

During the Chechen war, NTV was the only Russian channel that was trying to give a balanced view of its war coverage, and tended to be more open and honest about the events in Chechnya, and on social issues in Russian life.

When Media-Most and NTV were raided by armed tax police, this was considered by many Russians to be an open attack on media freedom. The final step was taken when the media arm of the partly state-owned Russian gas company “Gazprom” took full control on the previously independent NTV.

During all these events, Vladimir Putin was “convinced” that it was purely a financial affair.

Similar events took place around the last independent TV Company, TV-6, which seemed like another step towards complete state domination of Russia’s independent television network. In this case, the place of “Gazprom” was taken by another partly state-owned company, “Lukoil”. Once again, Putin claimed that changes were made purely for economic reasons.

In Georgia, in addition to these suspicious events affecting freedom of the media, recent constitutional changes have eliminated a republican-style balance of power, and created a super-presidential system very close to Russia`s model. Is it possible there is a connection between these events? Or perhaps this is just strange coincidence...

By Nino Marshania

News