Press Scanner

International press criticises Georgia’s government

The influential American newspapers The Washington Post and The New York Times have published articles critical of the new Georgian government. Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili thinks that the Western press articles were written by journalists paid by Saakashvili lobbyists.

Recently The Washington Post published an article claiming that Mr. Ivanishvili has demanded President Saakashvili's resignation and that a harassment policy is being implemented against media outlets sympathetic to the former administration.

Similar articles have been published in the French newspaper Le Figaro and in the British-based publication The Economist.

"Do you believe that these articles were written under the orders of a Saakashvili lobby?" Resonansi asked.

Mikheil Tavkhelidze (journalist): It is funny to talk about a Saakashvili lobby paying for an article to be written in The Washington Post. That is ridiculous! Let's start from the fact that the President does not have lobbyists. The Prime Minister has lobbyists. Perhaps the Prime Minister should think that. In fact, the entire western press wrote that after five weeks of the new government there are there are no signs of genuine democracy. Apparently, Bidzina Ivanishvili has achieved his campaign goals."

Lana Gogoberidze (Director): I think the articles were paid for but we should not pay attention to that we get on with running the country. Ivanishvili has to prove to the world that he is right.

Merab Kokochashvili, (Director): I believe that this was done by lobbyist companies hired by Saakashvili and his supporters. I think it is possible to order articles there. In my opinion Georgian Dream should become more active in the international arena and provide the Western media with proper information. The West should understand what is really going on in Georgia.



Prosecutor’s office begins investigation of rally dispersal

Rezonansi reports that the Prosecutor General’s Office has begun an investigation into the brutal police dispersal of a rally on May 26, 2011. Two reporters from the newspaper Asaval-Dasavali, Beka Sivsivadze and Giorgi Mamatsashvili, were asked to come to the Prosecutor’s Office to give a deposition on the incident. 18 months ago Sivsivadze and Mamatashvili requested that the Prosecutor’s Office begin an investigation into the incident but the process has only just begun.