DFWatch staff He scaled the 3 meter wall in the early morning dusk and bolted into the yard as effortlessly as a panther. Images from Maestro TV’s surveillance cameras reveal the athletic abilities of the man who now is in control there. The owners of the station are pushing criminal charges after the wall-jumping, which landed Erosi Kitsmarishvili … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The siege of a Tbilisi TV station is over. Producer Mamuka Glonti finally left after being holed up in a cramped studio for a day and a half, saying he was afraid of bloodshed. Exhausted and almost without a voice, the producer of an independent TV station in the Georgian capital emerged … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – The producer and core personnel at Maestro were still holding out Thursday morning, marking 24 hours of the siege of the TV station. The outside perimeter and the building’s first floor are besieged by police and members of a private security force loyal to the station’s manager, Erosi Kitsmarishvili, who says he … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – As police peeped in through his locked studio door, Maestro TV’s producer Mamuka Glonti appealed to viewers Wednesday evening to come to Nutsubidze Street 83 and stay there overnight, in order to prevent that he and the others who are hauled up inside the studios are evicted. He said that he believes … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Winner of the South Ossetian de facto presidential elections Alla Dzhioyeva has appealed to the region’s supreme court with a request to have yesterday’s decision to annul the election overturned. South Ossetian news agency RES reports that Dzhioyeva’s appeal was delivered to the de facto supreme court chairman Acamaz Bichenov. Her appeal will … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Russian news agency Ria Novosti Wednesday reported shooting on the main square in Tskhinvali, the capital of Georgia’s breakaway region South Ossetia. Supporters of the Alla Dzhioyeva, the appearant winner of the so-called presidential elections, are protesting against the region’s Supreme Court decision to annul the results of the elections. The government’s … Read more
It might sound like stating the obvious when a TV company markets itself by saying ‘we are the ones who don’t lie to you’. But in Georgia, it is not a given that TV don’t fabricate news. It is actually the easiest way to set yourself apart from the current national networks. Georgia has in … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Journalists at Maestro were pacing nervously around in the TV station’s yard Wednesday afternoon, still physically prevented by police from entering their studios to reestablish normal broadcasting. Inside the studios, behind locked doors, producer Mamuka Glonti was leading an emergency broadcast with a few other journalists and technicians, who managed to enter … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – An independent TV station in Tbilisi was taken off air Wednesday morning, the day after businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili was on live from their studios. Police have surrounded their studios and most journalists are not allowed in, but the station’s director and a few journalists are inside,broadcasting short updates. Many regard what is happening … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) supports the Press Association rally Tuesday and says Tbilisi City Hall is worsening the conditions of the print media’s distribution system. GYLA says that the organization thinks that the government has a positive obligation to support freedom of the media; which first of all is to get … Read more