Georgia improves world press freedom index
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Georgia comes in 60th of 180 countries in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index by the international, non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders, which promotes and defends the freedom of information and the press.
Last year Georgia was 61st.
The survey reads that Georgia’s media landscape is “pluralist but still very polarised”.
The reforms of recent years have brought improvements in media ownership transparency and satellite TV pluralism, but owners often still call the shots on editorial content,” reads the survey.
The survey claims that the outcome of the continuing dispute over ownership of the opposition TV channel, Rustavi 2, “will therefore have a big impact”.
The report says that violence against journalists is less frequent although threats are often reported.
The investigation into Azerbaijani dissident journalist Afgan Mukhtarly’s abduction in Tbilisi in 2017 has yet to produce any convincing results. Mukhtarly’s mysterious abduction and subsequent reappearance in police custody in Azerbaijan was shocking for Georgians, who have traditionally offered a refuge to dissidents from neighbouring countries,” Reporters without Borders say.
Georgia was included in the survey in 2013, when it ranked 100th in the 180 countries.
Speaking about Georgia’s neighbours, the survey says that the regional “heavyweights”, Russia and Turkey, continue to persecute independent media outlets.
International, non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders, which promotes and defends freedom of information and the press, has upgraded Georgia’s freedom of press index by three points.
French-based, international non-profit organisation Reporters without Borders (RWB) has released its annual 2016 World Press Freedom Index which revealed Georgia has progressed in terms of media freedom and transparency in recent years.
Access to information underpins society’s democratic development, says PM
The values of freedom of expression and access to information underpin the democratic development of any modern society, says Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.
Georgia has scored its best rating in 15 years on the Freedom of the Press report and improved its rating from 49 in the previous survey to 47 in the current one. The country is mentioned as "partly free” but was the leader in the region.
The access to public information has deteriorated in 2018 compared to the previous year, says the report published by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI).
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir says that he is concerned by recent developments in Adjara TV and Radio Public Broadcaster of Georgia, a state-funded media outlet in the autonomous region of Adjara in western Georgia, and about ‘reported management interference’ in the channel’s editorial policy.
The 2020 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders says that ‘Georgia’s media are pluralist but still very polarized,’ adding that the reforms of recent years have brought improvements in media ownership transparency and satellite TV pluralism,’ but owners still often call the shots on editorial content.’
The Communications Commission, a regulatory body in the broadcasting and electronic communications field, has dismissed allegations that the government’s proposed changes to the law on electronic communications are a threat to media freedom.
Georgia has maintained its 60th spot out of 180 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders (RSF), with the country's media landscape called "pluralist but not yet independent" by the organisation.
Local news agency Front News Georgia on Thursday marked its 10th anniversary on the country’s Independence Day.