TV channels targeted, media outlets harassed, journalists criminalised

Television channels are among the most violently targeted media outlets, particularly TV Pirveli, whose crews have been attacked more than 80 times in the past year. Several newsrooms have documented police tactics aimed at disabling cameras or preventing journalists from setting up their equipment in elevated places to film police operations.

The online media outlets, Publika — which focuses on public policy — and Batumelebi, co‑founded by the imprisoned journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli, are among the most frequent targets of repression. Fiscal and administrative inspections, police pressure on reporters, and smear campaigns orchestrated by pro‑government officials… the Batumelebi newsroom — based in Batumi, on the Black Sea coast — continues to face particular pressure from local and national authorities. Mzia Amaghlobeli remains arbitrarily detained following an unfair trial and a two‑year prison sentence upheld on appeal on 18 November 2025, raising fears around the growing use of legal proceedings against media professionals.

Foreign journalists are now also targets. The Franco‑German freelance reporter, Maxime Hannak, told RSF that he had recently been harassed, followed and prevented from filming by police — a new phenomenon that demonstrates the growing spread of intimidation tactics. Entry bans targeting international reporters have also multiplied, restricting independent documentation of the ongoing democratic backslide.

Orchestrated suffocation of the media landscape

The ruling Georgian Dream party has sped up the adoption of laws that restrict press freedom over the past year, which are largely inspired by practices used in Russia. Since spring 2025, a new version of the “foreign agents” law, as well as  amendments to the laws on grants and broadcasting, have been directly threatening media outlets and NGOs funded by international donors, further increasing their potential criminalisation. The anti‑corruption bureau has opened abusive investigations into at least six independent media outlets. Private companies are being discouraged from buying their advertising. The public broadcaster Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), already under the influence of the authorities, has become a mouthpiece for the ruling party and sidelines journalists it deems insufficiently aligned with its values. GPB’s lack of independence and biased editorial line were highlighted by the European Commission in its enlargement report published on 4 November 2025.

At the heart of this strategy is oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili — recently named by RSF as one of the 2025 press freedom predators — who plays a decisive role in determining the nature of political and economic pressure and in cultivating a climate of impunity. The Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, has sought to minimise the problem and discredit RSF’s alerts by calling the NGO a tool of the “deep state”. This attack on independent journalism forms part of a broader policy of repression. Georgia has dropped 37 places in two years in the RSF World Press Freedom Index, falling to 114th out of 180 countries and territories.