“Couldn’t Imagined Restrictions on the Freedom of Speech Would Affect Student-News”

Maka Malakmadze, Batumi

The Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University journalistic faculty students accuse the University administration of pressuring and oppressing them. The editor-in chief of the student’s newspaper Student-News was threatened that his student’s status would be terminated and the newspaper issued by the sophomore students.

“Student-News is very popular among the University students. One of the reasons for this is that our newspaper covers the problems other newspapers of Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University have never covered before (two more newspapers and one magazine is being issued by the University). This newspaper enables the students to express their opinion publicly,” states Khatia Ghoghoberidze, journalist of Stud-News.

The pressure on the sophomore students of the journalistic faculty of the Batumi State University is considered to have some connection with the fact that the newspaper covers the problems facing the university: “The university’s administration did not wish to publicize the fact that lecture-rooms were tidied up once in a week. This was when several cleaners worked in the University and those who only received a very small salary. We wrote on this problem and we also distributed information on lecturers reading lectures from their note-books and not in a spontaneous way, and with the help of notes. 

We knew that the freedom of speech was restricted in Georgia. However, we have never thought that the restrictions would affect Stud-News,” notes Ghoghoberidze.

Tariel Tsetskhladze, the editor-in chief of the newspaper Student-News recalls the meeting of Aliosha Bakuridze, the new Rector of the Batumi State University with the students. He threatened them afterwards: “After a meeting with Aliosha Bakuridze, the new Rector the students expressed their discontent with the oncoming changes regarding abolishment of scholarships, joining of the university newspapers. We wrote about these problems in Student-News. Soon afterwards I was invited to the University press department and warned that I should not have criticized the rector; they told me that not everything must be written in the newspaper. I was warned if I did not stop I might lose my student status.”

“The young journalists of Students-News do not receive any salary and the University administration creates many problems for them. We can not use the recorders and computers from the journalism department. No other University newspapers had covered the themes we liked to read about. Student-News echoes the students’ interests and needs. However, the University has not supported us unless there was a three-month funding a while ago,” states the newspaper editor-in chief.

The representatives of Student-News talked about their problems with Sozar Subari, the Public Defender of Georgia on the meeting in Batumi. Subari promised he would help them. The newspaper was first issued in March, 2008. The newspaper has been published once a month and costs 50 Tetries. Normally 500 copied are published. The first three issues were funded by the students’ self-governing body. The newspaper has been counting on a sponsor since September, 2008 which they haven’t found yet: “We hope the newspaper Student-News will find a sponsor. If the University administration does not help us it won’t have at least some levers for restricting us.”