Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of Parliament from the ruling party Georgian Dream, has once again attacked Georgian online media, accusing them of xenophobia, amplifying criticism of the Eagle Hills investment project, and even of criminal offenses echoing a recent report aired by the pro-government TV channel Imedi.
Just like Imedi, Papuashvili presented no evidence to substantiate his accusations.
“It’s a big scam to call these media outlets. These are NGOs that have a website and publish things on that website. In their philosophy, structure, and standards, they are NGOs with websites. They have no journalistic standards at all. How, for example, do you differentiate ‘Publika’ from Transparency International? It’s Transparency International with a microphone,” Papuashvili said, adding that he includes Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in this claim, calling it an organization founded by U.S. intelligence services and funded by the European Union.
“As for various schemes there are attempts to bypass Georgian legislation: they want to transfer money through Estonia, carry it here in suitcases, transfer it via cryptocurrencies through different countries… There is criminal energy behind this. They are committing criminal offenses, including violations of the law, tax evasion, and other crimes.
Donors are pushing organizations here to break the law. Regarding the transparency law, we already know that donors instructed them not to register. Secondly, they invent schemes to bypass the legislation. Part of this scheme involves violating criminal restrictions when money circulates undeclared. The competent authorities are monitoring these actions, and where they see signs of a crime, they will react accordingly,” Papuashvili stated.
Twenty-two online media outlets have filed a complaint with the self-regulatory body against the propaganda-driven government TV channel Imedi over a disinformation report aired on November 23, demanding a retraction of the false claims.
“For free and professional journalists, Georgia’s political environment has never been tolerant, but what Georgian Dream and its merged propaganda machine have been doing recently exceeds all legal and ethical boundaries.
We have heard false and unsubstantiated accusations many times before and once again, the community of independent online media has become the target of the authorities.
The propagandistic broadcaster Imedi labels representatives of free online media as ‘agents’ and ‘anti-Georgian’ outlets.
Through a cascade of absurd, unrelated, fabricated stories and lies, it attacks outlets whose professionalism, credibility, and reputation have never been in question.
The government is troubled by questions of public importance regarding the Eagle Hills project and the reform of the higher education system.
They want to prevent the media from covering ongoing events in the country the continuous protests, the political crisis, high-level corruption scandals, human rights violations, severe social problems, and more. This is why they attempt to discredit independent outlets and create an environment in which our existence becomes impossible.
The community of independent online media ‘Sinatle Media’ has become a target of Georgian Dream precisely because of the strong public support and solidarity it has received.
With the support of society, within three months of the campaign, 22 online outlets received nearly 100,000 GEL in donations. These funds allowed us to keep our offices, cover associated costs, pay for website maintenance, and more. Every word of solidarity and every lari donated by citizens is precious and encouraging for us.
Due to the report prepared by Imedi which mixes Russian disinformation narratives with blatant lies hastily fabricated by local propagandists we are jointly appealing to the self-regulatory body, demanding a retraction of the false information broadcast, as well as requesting live airtime so that we may respond to these absurd accusations.
We, free journalists, stand together and will continue to carry out our professional duties honestly, so that society can exercise its right to make informed decisions.”