Newspapers to Saakashvili: ‘Don’t Kill Press’

Several large newspapers on Monday run on their front pages a slogan-type appeal in the Georgian and English languages, “President Saakashvili, Don’t Kill Press!”, as part of their joint protest campaign against the Tbilisi municipality’s ongoing plan involving removal of old kiosks in the capital city.

Kviris Palitra; Rezonansi; Versia; Akhali Taoba; Kronika and Asaval-Dasavali have joined the campaign against what they see as a threat to distribution of the print media in the capital city.

In October the Tbilisi Mayor’s Office announced about the launch of a new project with a goal, as it put it, “to promote small and medium business.” It said that the plan was to replace “old and ugly kiosks” in the capital city with new ones through carrying out online auction for small plot of lands on which new kiosks would be installed. The online auction, the Mayor’s Office said, was an opportunity for the stakeholders to compete in equal conditions to lease plot of land for running kiosks; there are no limitations set what should be sold in the kiosks.

In November removal of dozens of kiosks, selling newspapers and other stuff, ran by firms like Planeta Forte and Matsne, started in parallel to launch of online auction in which starting price for annual lease is GEL 1,000. This process of removal currently applies only to those kiosks, whose permits issued by the Tbilisi Mayor’s Office years ago have already expired – Planeta Forte and Matsne kiosks are among them. Representatives of these firms, which have ran the newspaper kiosks in Tbilisi for years, complained that they were not able to compete in the auction because lease prices were jumping to the levels unaffordable for them, especially on kiosks in the central parts of the city. There have been reports in the Georgian press recently according to which several food companies won some auctions, which further increased many print media outlets’ fears that the new kiosks would not sell newspapers and magazines. Several auctions were won by a press distribution firm from the Palitra media holding, but those kiosks were located in the suburbs where there was less competition thus requiring less annual lease price.

On November 28 the Georgian Press Association released a statement saying that the initiative of the Tbilisi Mayor’s Office was “directed towards destructing the existing system of print media distribution and poses a real threat to freedom of speech.” It said that the newspapers had already felt negative consequences of ongoing removal of kiosks in a form of declining circulation.

The Tbilisi Mayor’s Office said, that it was “incorrect to politicize” this issue which was about “healthy competition, business development and job creation.” It also said that the municipality had created equal conditions for all the stakeholders and putting some firms in beneficial conditions by allowing them to run kiosks without participating in the auction would harm other businesses also wanting to have kiosks in the capital city.