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Why was Inter-Press Closed Down?

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The information agency "Inter-press" ceased work on June 2, 2005. At 2 pm on 1 June agency representatives were summoned by the Supervisory Board Members and told verbally that the agency had been liquidated and that no further discussions on the issue would follow. The financial reasons cited by the board for the closing could not, according to the editor, be real reason for the agency’s closure. 

Notice of the information agency closure came as a surprise to the organization and its employees. According to Baya Tsanava, editor-in-chief of "Inter-press," there had already been attempts to close down the agency, but no one ever said anything about its total liquidation. Four months ago, on February 1st, they received an official letter about conserving the agency which was signed by the agency’s Supervisory Board.  The very next day the agency stopped its activities and informed the public of this letter. However, after a few hours and with no explanation, management changed its decision and the agency resumed.
The June notice, however, is different. This time, members of the supervisory board – Irakli Rukhadze, manager of Salford-Georgia, and Levan Dzneladze, director of "I-media"--verbally informed Baya Tsanava, editor-in-chief, of the liquidation of the agency and added that no further discussions would be held on the matter.

The management has avoided any discussion of the specific reasons for the closure of “Inter-Press.” But officially, they say that, at this stage, the business was not profitable.

As a result, one of the most important and influential information agencies has joined a long list of information agencies liquidated after the revolution. And in this case, unlike the case of many of the others, “financial crisis” is simply not a credible reason for the closure.

Public Defender Sozar Subar is quite critical of the degree of media freedom in Georgia and does not rule out that direct and indirect pressure is being exercised. In discussion with us, he said that the owners’ interests are directly reflected in the editorial policy. In Georgian media, political interests matter far more than business interests.

In discussions with the Human Rights Information and Documentation Center, Ms. Baya Tsanava, editor-in-chief of “Inter-press,” said that the agency had real promise to become profitable soon since it had around 70 subscribers, including international organizations (UN, OSCE), embassies (USA, Russia, Israel) and other organisations and information agencies. The official version becomes even more dubious due to a steady increase in contracts which continued even up until last week.

Rumors began immediately that the closure was related to information agency’s June 2nd report that Goga Jhvania, the deceased Prime Minister’s brother, challenged Giga Bokeria, one of the majority leaders, to participate in TV debates--and that Bokeria refused. Baya Tsanava told HRIDC that she could neither deny nor confirm this connection, but she noted that except for some personal phone calls and other verbal threats, there were no serious instances of pressure on the agency. “No one ever instructed us on what should be aired and what should not,” stated Ms. Tsanava.

It should also be mentioned here that on June 3rd, the day after the agency’s liquidation, a TV debate was scheduled to occur between Goga Jhvania and Giga Bokeria on Inga Grigolia’s talk show “Reaktsia,” and that viewers also expected this debate since it had been widely announced. However, the subject of the TV program was changed unexpectedly. As Inga Grigolia, the anchor of the program said, the debate was cancelled because Giga Bokeria refused to participate in it.

The news agency “Inter-Press” was established in 1999. At that time, it was an independent entity. During the summer of 2002, the agency merged with the Media Holding “E-Media.” This company merges TV Company “Imedi”, Radio “Imedi”, and some printed media, including “Mtavari Gazeti,” that was closed due to financial reasons.

It should be noted that the management has cited the same reasons for liquidating “Inter-Press” and the “Mtavari Gazeti,” namely financial difficulties. However, according to Baya Tsanava, it simply was not too expensive for the management to support “Inter-Press” financially. The sums, she claims, were equivalent to the decoration of a TV program.

The liquidation of the agency left 44 people without jobs.

Eka Datunashvili