Committee to Protect Journalists demands from Georgia to unblock Russian-language TV Channels

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) asks the government of Georgia to unblock the broadcasting of Russian TV Channels and web-sites in the territory of Georgia.

The "Caucasian Knot" reported earlier that broadcasting of the RTVi Russian-language channel was stopped in Georgia after showing the interview of Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov to Radio "Echo Moskvy" concerning the conflict in South Ossetia and future Russia-Georgia relations. Then, Mr Lavrov had emphasized the sound reasons for introduction of Russian troops into Georgia.

"In such a democratic country like Georgia the public has the right to hear a broad spectrum of opinions and news, especially during the current critical period in the history of the country," said Rob Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We insist on the authorities' sanction to resume broadcasting of RTVi and open access to other Russian-language TV and radio channels and websites."

Georgiy Tsikhiseli, director of RTVi news department, said that on Monday, August 18, the Council for Cable Television of Georgia notified the RTVi representative in London that starting September 1 Georgia would stop the broadcasting of the channel because of "aggression of Russia." However, the broadcasting was stopped on that very day.

"We got an undeserved slap in the face," Mr Tsikhiseli said. "When informing about the conflict, we tried to be objective as much as possible. The information from Russia was given without comments; besides, the Russia's aggressive behaviour was emphasized. This fact (blocking the channel broadcasting, - comment of the "Caucasian Knot") is nothing more but censorship."

The edition named "Moscow Times" reports that it was on August 9 that the authorities of Georgia blocked the Russian news channels "Rossiya", "Channel One", NTV, and Runet websites.