Freedom of the media

Activities supporting freedom of the media of the OSCE Mission to Georgia

Freedom of expression is one of the most basic human rights and is a necessary condition for the development of a stable democracy. The Mission has aimed to ensure that commitment to freedom of the media in Georgia is in line with the norms and standards accepted by the OSCE participating States.

To increase the media's capacity to inform citizens in a balanced and objective way, the Mission has supported the development of skills for professionals working in regional independent broadcast media.

The Mission has organized training sessions on aspects of professional and pluralistic reporting for journalists from South Ossetia, Ajara and other regions in Georgia. It has supported monitoring of the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act in the regions as well as in the capital.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media's annual media conferences for media professionals from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have been hosted by the Mission, most recently in Tbilisi in November 2008.

Improving information flow to ethnic minorities

The Mission has worked to improve the flow of information between regions populated by ethnic minorities and the rest of the country. In 2007, it supported the translation of the national public broadcaster's news programmes into Azerbaijani for the residents of Kverno Kartli, It organized study trips for journalists to Javakheti, home to the country's largest Armenian-speaking community.

Promoting freedom of expression in the new media

Several Mission projects have supported the use of new technologies to promote media freedom. The Mission funded an on-line publication, www.media.ge, which delivers news and analysis about media outlets and the status of freedom of expression. It supported the participation of reporters of the web-based magazines www.civil.ge and www.media.ge in Internet publishing workshops and co-funded the first-ever gathering of South Caucasus civic journalism activists and new media technology experts in Tbilisi in summer 2008.