“If anybody thinks that media in Georgia in 2017 was in the same state as in 2009 is incompetent or mistaken,” Vasil Maghlaperidze, General Director of Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) thus commented on the report published by Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world.

Maghlaperidze said that Freedom House was a respectable organization but those, who supplied the organization with such information, did not show good faith.

“Any kind of evaluation is interesting, but any assessment needs verification… As for quality of freedom of Public Broadcaster, employees of First Channel enjoy freedom in the same way as in Europe and this can be confirmed even through the smallest details.

There are employees at Broadcaster who worked in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Any person including representatives of this respectable organization can talk to them. Employees of First Channel are independent. They have all the possibilities to reveal their abilities. They enjoy liberties likewise in Europe,” Maghlaperidze said.

Freedom House today published a report about media environment in Georgia. Based on the report, media independence in Georgia in 2017 has the same evaluation as in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.