After a two-day mission to Georgia, the Council of Europe Journalist Safety Platform and media freedom rapid response partner organizations held a press conference where they talked about the media environment and media pluralism before the parliamentary elections in Georgia.
As the representative of one of the organizations participating in the press conference, Ricardo Gutiérrez, told "InterpressNews", the country is not only facing the problem of free media, but also the decline of democracy.
"We are here to assess the situation of media freedom. During two days we met with various organizations, media organizations, media, online media, politicians from the opposition and also from the ruling party. I am very shocked by the fact that the country is facing not only the problem of media freedom, but also a weakening of democracy, in my opinion, a strong weakening of democracy. I did not expect that. I am very disturbed by the situation in this country. We are not here to point out whether it is the fault of one side or the other. It is more a global responsibility of public actors to uphold the law in the country. Therefore, I think it is important for each organization involved in this mission to help protect democracy, free journalism; to help civil society organizations; Politicians are told that they sometimes make the wrong decisions.
Also, we had a discussion with the representative of the "Georgian Dream" regarding the "Transparency of Foreign Influence" law. I told them that if you have a media here in Georgia that is controlled by a Georgian oligarch with strong political views, that media will not be [recognized as a foreign agent]. But the media that receives some funding from abroad is recognized as a foreign agent. This is complete discrimination. Therefore, I told him that I could not agree with his conclusions. This will not improve the media polarization in the country. Therefore, my "message" to the government is that they are taking the wrong steps. It is correct not to blame the media for the fact that it receives certain funds from abroad," said the Secretary General of the European Federation of Journalists, Ricardo Gutiérrez.