The United Nations General Assembly declared 3 May to be World Press Freedom Day to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.

Human Rights House Tbilisi together with the member organizations marked World Press Freedom Day by conducting flash mob in front of the parliament of Georgia. Tens of students and human rights defenders gathered in front of the parliament and read the papers upside-down, for 5 minutes. By this action, participants simulated that in the country where there is low level of press freedom, it makes no different how people hold the newspaper, even if you read the newspaper correctly you can’t get the rights information.

“I think we expressed our attitude towards Georgian press and generally Georgia media in a very interesting way”- said Salome Achba, participant of the flash mob.

On April 3, 2011 Human Rights House Tbilisi also hosted public debate. The main speakers were David Chkhikvishvili – Reuters’ operator, Leli Blagonrarova, a photo journalist and Giorgi Kupatadze – editor of IWPR. Journalist Salome Jashi moderated the discussion. Participants of the public debates were students, representatives on NGOs and others. During the debates they were actively involved in experiences sharing.

The event was opened with Tim Hetherington’s Film „Diary“. Tim Hetherington, photographer/filmmaker, was killed in Libya on 20  April 2011. ‘Diary’ is Tim’s personal statement on being immersed in violence and trying to make some sense of it through the lens of journalism. ‘Diary’ was part of the programme for this year’s Human Rights Human Wrongs Documentary Film Festival in Oslo in February as well. See link to the programme for the day ‘Diary was screened, with an introduction about ‘Diary’ here. 

“Besides the fact that you work, you should stay alive and you have to remember that none of the shots are worth of your (or your colleague’s) life,” – said David Chkhikvishvili Reuters’ operator to students. He also demonstrated the equipments for a reporter covering dangerous situation and showed the footage taken during covering different conflicts in the world. He also told the auditory what are the risks war reporters face when fulfilling their professional duty.

“I have been taking pictures since 1997. During the 2008 war, I went to the conflict zone on my own initiative. I didn’t use to work for any news agency that time. With my pictures, I wanted to show the society what was going there. It is a huge stress when you cover local conflict, because you hear someone asking for help in your own language and you have to continue taking photos,” – said Leli Blagonrarova, a photo journalist.

“Our country is a good example of how the risks and dangers can increase when a journalist is not properly trained. Although, there are special courses how to work during the conflict but they are not permanent,” – said Giorgi Kupatadze, editor of IWPR.

It’s noteworthy, that a day earlier the Fredom House issued a report – Freedom of the Press 2011 Survey. The survey shows that global media freedom has reached a new low point, contributing to an environment in which only one in every six people live in countries with a free press. The report shows that comparing last year, Georgia has moved forward with 4 rates; however it still remains a country with a Partly Free media.  

The report mentions the following reasons of the country’s success: „Significant  gains were  also noted in Georgia, whose score moved from  59 to 55 due to an improved political  environment that led to a reduction in legal and physical harassment of journalists, fewer instances of official censorship, and more  balanced coverage by the public broadcaster.“

“Freedom House has probably took into consideration the fact that local elections was covered more or less balanced on Public Broadcaster and the new law that was enacted just recently (though it has not yet been implemented). However, I think, that it is not a success to take the 55th place along with Moldova and Malawi and have the status of Partly Free,” – says Aleko Tskitishvili, the editor-in-chief of the www.humanrights.ge.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) dedicated this day to focus on those risks and dangers existing in the mid of Europe regarding the press freedom. Georgian Technical University organized debates where representatives of social and print media talked about the current media situation in Georgia. Frontline Georgia made a film screening – Shooting Robert King dedicating to the press freedom day.

The 2011 World Press Freedom Day celebration is being held in Washington, D.C., USA on May 1-3. This will be the first time the United States has hosted the World Press Freedom Day celebration. The theme of this year’s event is 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers.

Article 24 of the Georgian constitution says that “Every individual has the right to receive freely and to disseminate information and to express and disseminate his opinion orally, in written or any other form.  Mass media is free. Censorship is prohibited”.

Shorena Latatia