Global journalism leaders denounce attempt to muzzle Georgia's press

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Press Club and the National Press Club Journalism Institute, joined by advocates for press freedom organizations from around the world, stand in solidarity with our colleagues in Georgia as they confront state-organized trolling, intimidation tactics and a political effort to silence them. 

Journalism is not a crime. Neither is support for journalism from advocates of transparency and democracy around the globe.

Yet the political majority in Georgia's parliament is attempting to stigmatize both. A new "Russian law," so called because it mirrors a similar one enacted by Vladimir Putin's government, would force news outlets that receive foreign assistance — including from NGOs with a track record of supporting the institutions of civil society — to declare themselves "foreign agents." The law took effect Thursday.

As the Media Freedom Coalition and a coalition of European press freedom and human rights organizations note, the law makes news groups and individual reporters subject to frivolous lawsuits and fines. By discouraging Georgia's news organizations from accepting outside funding, it tilts the playing field in favor of homegrown oligarchs, ensuring that they control the social narrative, and that dissent is stifled.

Attempting to choke off funding for independent news outlets and to discredit and bankrupt them with a barrage of court cases is an all-too-familiar page out of the dictators' handbook. As we have seen in other countries where these tactics have been deployed, the judicial attacks against the Georgian press have been accompanied by attempts to physically intimidate journalists. 

At least 20 reporters have been assaulted in Georgia this year, according to reports compiled by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom. 

Within Georgia, the law has set off mass public protests and triggered a legal challenge from prominent political leaders. That outrage is reflected outside the country as well: To protest the measure, The U.S. government froze $95 billion in foreign aid to Georgia.

There's a reason the concern extends well beyond the journalism community: The benefits of a free press are readily apparent to anyone who has visited countries where freedom of expression is restricted, and power is not held accountable. Without independent journalism, corruption festers and economies founder; cronyism prevails over creativity and Mafias bully aside merit. Whatever short term political gains the members of Georgia's parliamentary majority think will accrue to them by stifling the press, will be far outweighed by the long-term damage to the nation.

So, civil society is at stake and not only in Georgia. Around the world, enemies of democracy are exploiting the tools of democracy to undermine the freedoms it is supposed to preserve. The institutions of democracy, including the press, must recognize this and take measures to defend themselves.

That is why we are pledging our support to our colleagues in Georgia. If they cannot speak for themselves, we will speak out for them and we will continue to do so.

• The National Press Club
• National Press Club Journalism Institute
• International Center for Journalists 
• International Press Institute
• Global Investigative Journalism Network
• Nieman Foundation for Journalism
• Kathy Kiely, Lee Hills Chair in Free Press Studies, Missouri School of Journalism
• John Daniszewski, chair, North American Committee of the International Press Institute
• Marina Walker Guevara, Pulitzer Center
• Dawn Garcia, John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford
• Lynette Clemetson, Director, Wallace House Center for Journalists, University of Michigan
• Djordje Padejski, John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford

Contact: Bill McCarren, 202-662-7534 for the National Press Club

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SOURCE National Press Club