Journalists Set up Rights Group
Journalists for Freedom of Speech was set up on June 10 to, according to its founders, protect the rights of journalists and act as a whistleblower.
The group, already with up to 50 journalists, was initiated by Mamuka Glonti, head of the small Tbilisi-based Maestro TV station, which goes out on cable. Glonti is himself embroiled in a dispute with the communication regulatory commission over a political programming license for his television station.
The nine-member board of the group was elected at a meeting in the Public Defender’s Office. It includes: Mamuka Glonti; Lasha Tugushi, editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Rezonansi; Eliso Chapidze, from the same newspaper; Zviad Koridze, a journalist; Luba Eliashvili, a journalist; Nino Zhizhilashvili, a former producer of Mze TV’s news program and Ia Mamaladze, chairperson of the Georgian Regional Media Association.
The creation of the group has been greeted with some skepticism as it is not the first time such an organisation has been established for the protection of journalists’ rights. All previous attempts have proven less than successful.
The rights group Freedom House said in its annual survey that media freedom in Georgia had declined over the previous year, taking place in the context of a broader political crisis that led to a crackdowns on the media last November.
The survey notes that 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.” It also notes that the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) “was criticized by media observers for its non-transparent operations and licensing procedures.”
