Polish television crew freed in South Ossetia
New York, September 9, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s release of Telewizja Polska (TVP) crew members who were detained outside the Georgian village of Karaleti by South Ossetian militia members, and taken into custody in the regional capital, Tskhinvali on Monday. Reporter Dariusz Bohatkiewicz told CPJ that authorities in Tskhinvali transferred him and…
Polish television crew detained in South Ossetia
New York, September 8, 2008—South Ossetian and Russian authorities should immediately release three members of a Polish television crew detained today near the village of Karaleti in the buffer zone between South Ossetia and Georgia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Authorities confiscated equipment and cell phones from the Telewizja Polska (TVP) crew and were…
Russian broadcasters blocked
GEORGIA: New York, August 19, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists today urged the Georgian government to stop blocking Russian broadcasts and Web sites. According to the Moscow-based radio Ekho Moskvy, Russian Television International (RTVi) broadcasting was cut after it aired Ekho Moskvy’s interview with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the conflict in South Ossetia…
Turkish journalists fired on in South Ossetia
Journalists came under fire in their car on August 10 near Tskhinvali. According to the Turkish Daily News, Turkish journalist Recep Öztürk was wounded. It is not clear who was shooting at them–the lines have been fluid as the Georgians and Russians battle in South Ossetia. At least three journalists have been killed and 10…
Dutch cameraman killed, reporter wounded in Georgia
New York, August 12, 2008–Stan Storimans, a cameraman with Netherlands-based television channel RTL Nieuws, was killed today during bombing in the central Georgian city of Gori. His colleague, reporter Jeroen Akkermans, suffered shrapnel wounds to his leg and was hospitalized in a Tbilisi clinic, Jaspir Teijsse, a spokesman for RTL Nieuws, told CPJ Storimans was…
News Wrap for 8/12/08
The conflict in Georgia is making headlines this morning with The Georgian Times Web site running a news brief on press casualties that quotes our alert from yesterday. RFE/RL also has a story online that quotes our coverage of the death of three journalists and the disappearance of two others in South Ossetia. The Web…
Two killed, several injured or missing in South Ossetia
New York, August 11, 2008–Two journalists were reported killed, at least eight were injured, and two have gone missing since fighting erupted between Georgian, Russian, and local forces in the disputed region of South Ossetia. No press-related casualties have been immediately reported in the conflict in another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia.
Attacks on the Press 2007: Georgia
GEORGIA Facing a week of massive protests in the capital, Tbilisi, President Mikhail Saakashvili stunned Western allies in November by imposing a state of emergency, banning broadcast news reporting, closing two television stations, and deploying police to forcefully disperse demonstrators. Saakashvili defended the November 7 crackdown, saying that the protests were orchestrated by Moscow with…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Georgia
GEORGIA Television news, which had rallied support for Georgia’s pro-democracy revolution three years earlier, suffered serious blows from government harassment, business takeovers, and, as many saw it, self-inflicted scandal. President Mikhail Saakashvili’s administration took an aggressive approach in managing television coverage by pressuring and harassing critical TV reporters. Georgia’s largest television company, with holdings that…
Attacks on the Press 2005: Georgia
GEORGIA Two years after the Rose Revolution toppled the corrupt regime of Eduard Shevardnadze and ushered in the promise of media reform, independent journalists feared the emergence of a new, subtler wave of repression. Several media owners have close ties to political leaders, journalists said, enabling authorities to exert behind-the-scenes pressure on front-line reporters and…