Inhabitants in Gori desperately waiting for help in front of the City Hall in Gori. Photo: Antti Kuusi/IMS

Georgian media was caught unprepared in covering events in a war zone, when fighting broke out and developed into an armed conflict between Georgian and Russian troops. According to information gathered by IMS staffer Antti Kuusi who is currently on mission in Georgia to assess the media situation in the wake of the crisis, two Georgian media workers were killed and five wounded during the fighting

The editor of 24 Hours newspaper, Mamuka Bhatshuashvili, who was also coordinating the newsroom operations of state television, explained to IMS that in Georgia the majority of journalists are young and inexperienced lacking practical knowledge about work in difficult conditions. This is confirmed by other sources, explains Antti Kuusi:

- We were told that many of the journalists have about 2-3 years working experience and no training in how to operate under dangerous circumstances like this. But I was also told that there was no safety equipment available for many journalists, such as flack jackets and helmets to protect the journalists from shrapnel and gunshots. And this allegedly resulted in many Georgian journalists going into the battlefield without these lifesaving measures, says Antti Kuusi.

Media reports lose objectivity

He also reports that the media is flooding the airwaves and print media with reports about the fighting, and that a lot of the information remains undocumented, wherefore it is questionable to which extent the information is reliable.

Addressing this issue in meetings with the Georgian press, Mamuka Bhatshuashvili said, that the lack of experience was the main reason for inaccuracies in reporting in Georgian media. He strictly denied that government would have influenced their reporting on events during the war. However, a Georgian anchorwoman from another television channel told IMS, that they had been pressured by the government on several occasions.

Fighting over transmitters

Over the weekend, Antti Kuusi went to the city of Gori, which was under the control of Russian armed forces at the time. In a meeting with the local newspaper "The Peoples Newspaper", the editor, Rezo Kruashvili, told IMS that when the Russian forces arrived they destroyed transmitters and transponders on the mountain of Akhaldaba near by and installed their own equipment so that the Russian television could be seen in Gori. There were also reported incidents of Russian or Ossetian separatist solders robbing equipment and personal belonging of journalists, he said.

Antti Kuusi confirms other media reports about the difficulties, Georgian and international media are facing to access areas occupied by the Russians armed forces. This has made it almost impossible to verify actions going on in Russian controlled areas, thus further opening the floor to inaccurate reporting.

International Media Support is currently undertaking a mission in Georgia to assess the damage the media suffered during the war and try to evaluate the situation of media at the moment. It will also reflect on future actions that could help the media recover after the war.