Media freedom must be ensured in South Caucasus, says OSCE media freedom representative, in Georgia

TBILISI, 11 November 2013 – More progress in media freedom in South Caucasus is needed in order to fully comply with OSCE commitments, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said today at the opening of the 10th OSCE South Caucasus Media Conference in Tbilisi.

Her speech followed welcoming remarks by Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maja Panjikidze.

“Over the past ten years we have achieved a certain amount of progress, but the old challenges to media freedom remain and we see new ones emerge,” Mijatović said and mentioned problems such as threats to safety of journalists, lack of pluralism, deficiency of regulators’ independence, and undermining the integrity of public service broadcasters.

Mijatović also said that the upcoming process of digitalization is an opportunity to strengthen media freedom in the region.

The 10th South Caucasus Media Conferences conference entitled “Reflecting on OSCE media freedom commitments” addressed both progress and challenges in South Caucasus during the past decade. It brought together journalists, governments and civil society representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia who discussed media freedom developments in the region.

The two-day conference concludes tomorrow with a master class on digital switchover and a round table on self-regulation of traditional and online media, both led by international experts.

The conference participants will adopt a declaration that will be available at //www.osce.org/event/scmc13