Georgia grapples with restricted news coverage

Giorgi Lomsadze: 11/08/07

One day after the worst political upheaval since Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution, a national news brownout has left most Georgians struggling to make sense of the events that shook Tbilisi on November 7, and to predict what lies ahead.

With the exception of government-controlled Georgian Public Television, all television and radio news broadcasts have been ordered off the air for 15 days after President Mikheil Saakashvili's November 7 declaration of a state of emergency. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives]. The news brownout has been described as an attempt to defuse tensions.

The decree was preceded by the shutdown of one of the country's main independent news broadcasters, the pro-opposition Imedi television and radio stations, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Special Forces units took over the property late on November 7, after days of heated allegations by government supporters and the president himself that the station, allegedly working in league with the Kremlin, was encouraging political instability in the country.

In an interview with EurasiaNet, Lewis Robertson, the head of News Media Caucasus, Imedi's parent company, reported that riot police ransacked Imedi studios, destroying equipment and confiscating computers and hard drives. "They [special forces] pushed people around and used tear gas," Robertson said. "They did not present a warrant; neither did they offer any explanation." In a November 5 interview on Imedi, Robertson had earlier dismissed allegations of Russian influence on the station as "completely groundless and divorced from reality."

News anchors from rival pro-government television station Rustavi-2 interrupted a talk show late on November 7 to express support for their colleagues from Imedi, and to demand an explanation from authorities for their actions. Under Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's decree, Rustavi's news programs have also been taken off the air for 15 days.

Robertson said that he expects New York-based News Corporation, which owns a majority stake in Imedi Media Holding, to issue a statement on the November 7 takeover of its station. For now, he said, his hands are tied. "I don't know who to speak to from the government," he said.

Imedi staff was allowed to leave the station in suburban Tbilisi late last night, Robertson said. On November 8, small clutches of employees were standing outside the company's main gates, which were guarded by regular police officers. Special Forces personnel remained on the television station grounds. They claimed that no equipment had been destroyed.

Imedi founder Badri Patarkatsishvili, who recently handed over his shares in the company to News Corp., has vowed to spare no effort or money to prompt the removal of Saakashvili from power. "Let no one have doubts that all my forces, all my financial resources until the last tetri [Georgian monetary unit] will be used to free Georgia of this fascist regime," the tycoon said in a statement released by Kavkaz-Press news agency on November 7. The financier also praised Imedi journalists for their courage in responding to government pressure.

The last image broadcast by the station was an address by news director Giorgi Targamadze to viewers. "Special Forces are coming in as I speak to you... We hope no harm will be visited upon any person working at Imedi," an emotional Targamadze said, as the sound of a scuffle echoed from the background.

Targamadze then left the set and the camera was left on to show an empty studio. In a few minutes, the signal was switched off. The company's website has since also been shut down.

Following the switch-off, Rustavi 2 broadcast relatives, friends and supporters of Imedi employees trying to break through the company's gate, guarded by masked Special Forces. Speaking from behind the gates, General Director Bidzina Baratashvili told reporters that the troops forced everybody onto the floor with hands behind their heads. "Some [Special Forces] are behaving in a very restrained manner, but one of them promised to put a bullet in my forehead," Baratashvili said.

Tbilisi's local channel Kavkasia, known for its criticism of the government, has also been taken off the air. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Kavkasia representatives could not be reached for comment.

Officials, so far, have made no comment on police units' conduct during the Imedi takeover. One international human rights organization, however, has harshly condemned the move. [For background see report].

In a November 8 statement, Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia Director Holly Cartner charges that two Imedi cameramen were hospitalized, one in serious condition, after a police beating. "Beating journalists or shutting down television stations for reporting on the events can't be justified by subsequently declaring a state of emergency," Cartner said.

Georgian Public Television and Radio, left to fill the news vacuum, faces an uphill battle. Brief television reports run at the top of each hour, and are mostly made up of statements by government officials, pro-government parliamentarians with some announcements by opposition leaders. The presidential decree introducing a state of emergency and recordings of alleged phone conversations and meetings between opposition members and alleged representatives of Russian intelligence services are regularly broadcast. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

With television and radio information sources largely shut off, daily papers are in high demand. Vendors were sold out of all newspapers by noon in downtown Tbilisi. Word-of-mouth information has become the norm, disseminated by text messages and emails. The medium, however, has proven less than reliable; one early morning report that police had beaten to death opposition People's Party leader Koba Davitashvili was later disproved when Davitashvili gave an afternoon press briefing.

Access to filming or photographing Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi's main thoroughfare where protestors and police clashed on November 7, is restricted. The avenue remains closed for traffic, and is heavily guarded by security forces and military vehicles.

On the afternoon of November 8, Special Forces units asked a television crew from Russian channel ORT to leave as they prepared to do a stand-up broadcast from the street. "We were told that we can't film here," a journalist, who identified himself as a reporter for ORT, told EurasiaNet.

The deputy editor-in-chief of one pro-opposition daily newspaper, however, said that the publication had not been the target of any government pressure to date. "There were no attempts made by the government, or anybody else to affect our coverage," said Rezonansi (Resonance) Deputy Editor-in-Chief Eliso Chapidze. "We will go to print tomorrow as usual."

Tbilisi residents, for the most part, are bridling at the government's decision to impose media curfew. "This is so unnecessary, all of this," complained Tbilisi State University student Sofia Antadze. "The government has silenced the mass media, so we don't know what they are doing." As are many others, Antadze said she now relies on text messages from friends for news updates.

Some, though, say the news media is largely responsible for the situation in the country.

"Television has become an agitprop tool for both sides [the authorities and the opposition] and they have been purposefully stoking tensions," said grocery store manager Malkhaz Chiaberashvili in reference to the recent information feud between pro-government Rustavi-2 and pro-opposition Imedi. "I'm glad we can all take a break from this insanity."

Editor's Note: Giorgi Lomsadze is a freelance reporter based in Tbilisi. Reporter Molly Corso in Tbilisi also contributed reporting to this story.

Posted November 8, 2007 © Eurasianet