OSCE Media Chief Calls for Journalists’ Free Access to Conflict Regions

Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, has called for journalists to have safe access to Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and has urged unbiased reporting on all sides.

“Now that the armed conflict is over, it is time to grant full access for journalists to the crisis regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. All undue limitations on entry for the media should be lifted,” Haraszti said on September 22.

Haraszti referred to reports that access to South Ossetia and Abkhazia remains selectively restricted for the media. Georgian and international journalists are still not able to enter the crisis regions, he said.

He also commented on mutual blocking of Georgian and Russian Internet sites and television channels during the conflict. “The blockage has naturally stopped now that the conflict is over. More problematic is that television on all sides seems to still be imbued with guided or biased information.”

Haraszti emphasized the need for unbiased, independent reporting on the situation, saying: “The post-Yugoslav wars have demonstrated what devastation propagandistic coverage and hateful comments can cause between nations. Investigating claims of genocide, reporting on the plight of civilian victims, documenting demolished villages and visiting refugees are best done by independent reporters, and what they need is not guided tours but free and safe access.”

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