Journalists resign from pro-government Rustavi 2 TV channel in Georgia amid brutal crackdown on protests

Four journalists have resigned from the Rustavi 2 TV channel amid a brutal crackdown on pro-European protests. The TV channel is accused of biased coverage of events and silencing police violence.

In Georgia, several journalists have resigned from the pro-government Rustavi 2 TV company amid the harsh suppression of pro-European protests in the country, UNN reports, citing Georgian News.

Media reports that Mariam Menabde and Vano Gavasheli, as well as the couple Mariam Janelidze and Beka Paturashvili, have left the pro-government channel in the past 24 hours. The channel's management confirmed the dismissal of only the latter two.

“We made this decision based on our views … based on current events in the country,” — Janelidze said in a comment to Radio Liberty's Georgian service.

According to her, she and her husband had been discussing the dismissal for a long time, and the government's rejection of European integration and the attack on journalists covering spontaneous protests put an end to it.

Janelidze added that they had “adequate communication” with the Rustavi 2 management regarding the dismissal. The head of the TV company's information service, Nino Shubladze, in turn, said that she did not know the reasons for the journalists' dismissal.

In recent days, Rustavi 2 has been criticized, including by colleagues from other TV channels. They pointed out that the channel is covering the protests biasedly, keeping quiet about the facts of police violence. In addition, there were no words of solidarity from R2 towards the injured media workers. There are over 20 of them, some even needed surgery.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who a few days ago called on workers in various fields to disobey the decision of the “Georgian Dream”, positively assessed the processes on “Rustavi 2”.

“A journalist should not put up with the brutal dispersal of his journalist colleague… Someone must take the first step. The fortress, by the way, is collapsing from the inside. Now it's the Public Broadcaster's turn,” — Zurabishvili wrote on her Facebook page.