Saakashvili on Media Freedom

President Saakashvili said freedom of expression had no problems in Georgia, but there was a lack of “democracy culture” and much was needed to be done to tackle the problem.

Saakashvili’s remarks followed a question from a reporter from Kavkasia TV at a televised news conference late on June 27 about what he thought about freedom of media. “You know what kind of problems the television stations have been facing in the last four years,” the journalist told the president.

Saakashvili asked in response: “What kind of problems? What kind of problems does Kavkasia TV in particular face?”

“In November we were closed down,” the journalist responded.

“In November there was a state of emergency and all television stations in Georgia were closed down for several days; but after that Kavkasia TV started to develop,” Saakashvili replied. Three TV stations – Kavkasia, Imedi and Batumi-based Channel 25 – were closed down, while others were only banned from airing news.

The Kavkasia TV journalist then told President Saakashvili that now some firms were forced to withdraw ads from the television station after pressure from the authorities. Saakashvili responded that he knew nothing about this.

“But one thing is absolutely clear,” he continued. “All the illusions about restriction of freedom of expression or apparent taboo issues, have disappeared… We have no experience of democracy culture and we should work much on this.”