Working Conditions for Representatives of Critical Media in the Country is becoming Dangerous
The facts of the attacks on the employees of the media and in this particular case, the representatives of TV company "Formula" became an alarming trend. We call on the authorities and law enforcement bodies to act within the law, to investigate immediately these incidents and to inform the public in a timely manner about the results of the investigation.
According to the statement of TV Formula, two incidents took place on April 9. At three o'clock in the morning, during the curfew, the car of the TV driver with the logo of the broadcaster was damaged. The car windows are broken, but the items were not stolen from the car. In the second incident, the driver of the "Formula" was also beaten, who suffered physical injuries.
This is not the first time that the employees of TV Formula became the subject of the attack. On February 25 of this year, Vakho Sanaia, the anchor of the station was attacked and physically assaulted. The journalist relates the incident to his journalistic activities.
The following incidents relating to the TV "Formula" clearly show how difficult and dangerous it becomes for the media to work in the conditions of deep political polarization in the country. The fact is that the government fails to create a safe working environment for critical media representatives. The issues such as the aggressive rhetoric of the ruling party towards the critical opinion, the politically motivated cases against owners and managers of the pro-opposition media outlets, the cases of uninvestigated incidents of illegal interferences with journalistic activities or assaults clearly encourage the violence in the country against the media representatives and people with different opinions in general.
We call on the authorities to timely investigate other cases of the incidents against the media representatives. It is crucial that the ruling party radically changes its attitude towards dissent and critical media in general.