Accused of bias, Georgian TV reporters face political attacks
By Ana Datiashvili and Winston Featherly
Friday, March 28
Georgian news media count themselves freer than colleagues in neighboring states, and enjoyed public demonstrations of solidarity after the government raided a leading television station last November.
But with the country set on edge by rancorous campaigning, Georgian journalists increasingly find themselves weathering political firestorms from the center, not the sidelines.
On March 24, leaders of the eight-party opposition coalition announced a boycott against leading television stations Rustavi 2 and Mze TV, both widely seen as government-friendly. The moderate New Rights, which are not part of the opposition coalition but have increasingly cooperated with it, later followed suit.
Conservative MP Bezhan Gunava, a coalition member, accused the two stations of being an “extension” of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
If that was not enough to put the opposition and television reporters at odds, a near-brawl on March 25 did the trick. A Rustavi 2 journalist, reporting live from an opposition protest outside parliament, was shoved by a demonstrator while others in the crowd hurled verbal abuse at her news team.
“We’re now a target of protestors’ aggression,” the reporter said as confused shoving broke out in the surrounding crowd. “It’s impossible to work like this.”
As the journalist was pushed about, a Rustavi 2 anchor read a pre-written statement alleging a previous assault on a Mze TV journalist and condemning the opposition’s boycott as “categorically unacceptable.”
“We call on Georgian politicians to refrain from attempting to score political points with voters at the expense of journalists,” the Rustavi 2 statement read.
Some observers see a widening gulf between voters and television networks, the prime source of news for Georgians.
“There is a growing perception in this country that the government is gaining control of the broadcast media,” says John Horan, a Tbilisi-based media analyst. “People think they’re not getting the full story and I think this incident is part of a backlash against what they see as a pro-government agenda being pushed by Rustavi 2 and Mze.”
Kakha Kukava, a Conservative MP and an opposition coalition leader, told the Messenger yesterday that his allies are refusing to speak with Rustavi 2 and Mze TV unless their comments are aired live. He accused both channels of serving the government and selectively editing opposition politicians’ comments.
Rustavi 2 and Mze TV are part of the same media holding. According to documents submitted to the Georgian National Communications Commission, 45 percent of the holding is owned by a company controlled by ruling party MP Davit Bezhuashvili, brother of former foreign minister and current spy chief Gela Bezhuashvili. The rest of the shares belong to an off-shore company with little information available.
The boycott has been condemned by the human rights ombudsman in Georgia, as well as by Matthew Bryza, the top US envoy to the region. And New Rights MP Pikria Chikhradze apologized to the Rustavi 2 journalist who found herself jostled by a hostile crowd.
“I want to say sorry to that journalist,” Chikhradze said on March 25. “I’m sure this will never happen again.”
Not all opposition leaders were as contrite. Speaking at a convention for coalition member party Georgia’s Way yesterday, former presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze said the aggression was justified.
“These people [at Rustavi 2 and Mze TV] aren’t journalists and cameramen,” he said. “These people are thieves, and when you’re dealing with thieves, it’s good to deal them a smack or two.”
Other opposition campaigners say the government set a precedent for intimidating journalists when it raided and ransacked the pro-opposition Imedi TV on November 7, 2007.
“We think that the government doesn’t have the moral right to criticize the thing it used to do against journalists,” said Christian Democratic Party member Magda Anikashvili, herself a former Imedi journalist, on March 26.
Horan said the raid on Imedi TV, which was founded by late billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, a nemesis of the Saakashvili administration, was tied to a common suspicion that Georgia’s television stations do as much propagandizing as reporting.
“In [Imedi’s] case too, there was a perception [on the part of the government] that the journalists were pushing an agenda,” he told the newspaper, adding that without Imedi TV, which is expected to resume broadcasts in April, the country’s airwaves are “a lot less pluralistic.”
“This perception, and the fact that journalists—especially TV journalists—lack real independence, has led many in society to mistrust them and treat them disrespectfully, unfortunately sometimes even targeting them in physical attacks.”
But with the country set on edge by rancorous campaigning, Georgian journalists increasingly find themselves weathering political firestorms from the center, not the sidelines.
On March 24, leaders of the eight-party opposition coalition announced a boycott against leading television stations Rustavi 2 and Mze TV, both widely seen as government-friendly. The moderate New Rights, which are not part of the opposition coalition but have increasingly cooperated with it, later followed suit.
Conservative MP Bezhan Gunava, a coalition member, accused the two stations of being an “extension” of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
If that was not enough to put the opposition and television reporters at odds, a near-brawl on March 25 did the trick. A Rustavi 2 journalist, reporting live from an opposition protest outside parliament, was shoved by a demonstrator while others in the crowd hurled verbal abuse at her news team.
“We’re now a target of protestors’ aggression,” the reporter said as confused shoving broke out in the surrounding crowd. “It’s impossible to work like this.”
As the journalist was pushed about, a Rustavi 2 anchor read a pre-written statement alleging a previous assault on a Mze TV journalist and condemning the opposition’s boycott as “categorically unacceptable.”
“We call on Georgian politicians to refrain from attempting to score political points with voters at the expense of journalists,” the Rustavi 2 statement read.
Some observers see a widening gulf between voters and television networks, the prime source of news for Georgians.
“There is a growing perception in this country that the government is gaining control of the broadcast media,” says John Horan, a Tbilisi-based media analyst. “People think they’re not getting the full story and I think this incident is part of a backlash against what they see as a pro-government agenda being pushed by Rustavi 2 and Mze.”
Kakha Kukava, a Conservative MP and an opposition coalition leader, told the Messenger yesterday that his allies are refusing to speak with Rustavi 2 and Mze TV unless their comments are aired live. He accused both channels of serving the government and selectively editing opposition politicians’ comments.
Rustavi 2 and Mze TV are part of the same media holding. According to documents submitted to the Georgian National Communications Commission, 45 percent of the holding is owned by a company controlled by ruling party MP Davit Bezhuashvili, brother of former foreign minister and current spy chief Gela Bezhuashvili. The rest of the shares belong to an off-shore company with little information available.
The boycott has been condemned by the human rights ombudsman in Georgia, as well as by Matthew Bryza, the top US envoy to the region. And New Rights MP Pikria Chikhradze apologized to the Rustavi 2 journalist who found herself jostled by a hostile crowd.
“I want to say sorry to that journalist,” Chikhradze said on March 25. “I’m sure this will never happen again.”
Not all opposition leaders were as contrite. Speaking at a convention for coalition member party Georgia’s Way yesterday, former presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze said the aggression was justified.
“These people [at Rustavi 2 and Mze TV] aren’t journalists and cameramen,” he said. “These people are thieves, and when you’re dealing with thieves, it’s good to deal them a smack or two.”
Other opposition campaigners say the government set a precedent for intimidating journalists when it raided and ransacked the pro-opposition Imedi TV on November 7, 2007.
“We think that the government doesn’t have the moral right to criticize the thing it used to do against journalists,” said Christian Democratic Party member Magda Anikashvili, herself a former Imedi journalist, on March 26.
Horan said the raid on Imedi TV, which was founded by late billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, a nemesis of the Saakashvili administration, was tied to a common suspicion that Georgia’s television stations do as much propagandizing as reporting.
“In [Imedi’s] case too, there was a perception [on the part of the government] that the journalists were pushing an agenda,” he told the newspaper, adding that without Imedi TV, which is expected to resume broadcasts in April, the country’s airwaves are “a lot less pluralistic.”
“This perception, and the fact that journalists—especially TV journalists—lack real independence, has led many in society to mistrust them and treat them disrespectfully, unfortunately sometimes even targeting them in physical attacks.”