EU puts pressure on Georgia for more media freedom

Georgia, which beats Turkey when it comes to press freedom, according to an index published last month by Reporters Without Borders, had a major incident in 2007 when government riot police raided the opposition channel Imedi and revoked its license although it was later allowed to broadcast. The pretext for the raid was that the channel was fomenting unrest and creating havoc in the country. The Saakashvili government received a harsh rebuke from both the US and EU countries for the flagrant violation of the rules of press freedom.

Two years after that incident, the government still feels the heat from the EU and the US administration when it comes to an environment of media freedom in the country. Freedom House, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, ranked Georgia poorly in its annual survey, and a report by the State Department said respect for freedom of speech, the press and assembly had worsened during the 2007 crisis and that there continued to be reports of “law enforcement officers acting with impunity” and “government pressure on the judiciary.”

The EU is also taking steps to ensure press freedom not only by exerting pressure on the government but also by providing funds for the development of media freedom in Georgia. Last week, the head of the European Commission delegation to Georgia, Per Eklund, said a new center for legal support to the media will be opened. “The Georgian media will be unable to perform its function unless it is free,” he said, stressing that the EU will promote media freedom in Georgia.

The seminar on media freedom funded by the EU Commission last week dealt with a number of issues in media freedom in Georgia. The most pressing issue, many had said, was that the information about media owners in Georgia “is not transparent, and often journalists and reporters do not know the real owner of the media company for which they work.” Some also lashed out at government representatives who attended the seminar. They emphasized that the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) needs to be more transparent in its operations and licensing procedures.

The results of a new public survey were also discussed at the seminar, revealing that Georgia’s media are more trusted than media in neighboring countries in the Caucasus. Forty-seven percent of Georgians partially or fully trusted the media, as compared with 43 percent in Azerbaijan and 39 percent in Armenia.

The Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC), a network of research and training centers in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, undertook an in-depth study into the Georgian media landscape between August and November of this year. The study consisted of a comprehensive survey of the Georgian public’s attitude toward the media, a series of focus groups with citizens, interviews with top media officials and a media monitoring project to analyze the current state of Georgian TV news.

The Georgian media landscape has been the subject of an intense debate. The media freedom figures are high on the agenda of the European Union’s neighborhood policy program with Tbilisi. Georgian officials say a free media is one of the most fundamental tenets of a democratic society and admit more needs to be done to expand freedom of the press in Georgia. International observers say Georgia has the best law in the Caucasus safeguarding media freedom, adding that despite economic hardship, the press is free but warns that polarization of the media must be overcome. According to the survey, the results of which were announced at an international seminar in Tbilisi, television is very important in Georgia. It revealed the Georgians are avid consumers of news, with 84 percent of respondents watching TV news every day, most for between half an hour and two hours.

Although TV is the most important source of information, 86 percent of respondents read a weekly paper and 80 percent read a news magazine at least once a month, it was revealed. There is an ongoing divide over access to different sources of TV news in Georgia, the survey disclosed. Most of the country can only access Rustavi 2, Imedi TV and Channel 1 of the state-funded Georgian Public Broadcasting. These stations are considered pro-government by 51 percent of respondents. Tbilisi is also served by two channels, Maestro and Kavkasia, widely considered to be supportive of the opposition. Sixty-eight percent of Tbilisi residents believe Kavkasia represents opposition interests, and 50 percent say Maestro is also supportive of the opposition.