English language TV station Russia Today reports:
A Georgian TV channel has caused nationwide panic with a fake news bulletin claiming Russian troops were on their way to the capital, Tbilisi – and that President Mikheil Saakashvili had been killed. Many viewers missed a short warning that the thirty-minute report was a mock-up, and rushed out onto the streets.
TV reporter Jeroen Akkermans is taking Russia to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over the country’s attach on the Georgian city of Gori last August.
Akkermans joins a number of complainants in the case, which was originally brought by relatives of those killed in the attack.
Akkermans’ colleague Stan Storimans was killed while reporting from the Russian-Georgian border for RTL television.
via Dutch journalist takes Moscow to court | Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
A picture on the Globe and Mail blog site, of Brenda Lee, who, as the AP reported is ‘a writer for a small Georgia newspaper who wanted to give President Barack Obama a letter’, being removed from near Air Force One on Thursday. Full post at this link…
There’s a live video from the Free Media conference at the Norwegian Institute of Journalism in Fredrikstad today, courtesy of Journalisten.no.
You can’t rewind the video but you could opt in at the points you want to (Norwegian time is one hour ahead UK time).
Thursday November 6
10.00
Welcome: Trine Østlyngen, director, The Norwegian Institute of Journalism
Opening remarks: Håkon Gulbrandsen, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
10.15
Strengthening media in the developing world – what does it take to ensure access for people living in poverty? Stephen King, director, BBC World Service Trust
11.15
The Muhammad Cartoons – an imagined clash of civilizations?
Opening remarks: Why I published – and how do I reflect upon my decision today? Flemming Rose, cultural editor, Jyllands-Posten
Panel discussion The caricatures as seen by the press around the world. Presentation of the new anthology summarizing the Muhammad cartoons controversy in several countries with Rose, Elisabeth Eide, researcher at Culcom, University of Oslo, and Risto Kunelius, professor and director of the journalism program at the University of Tampere, Finland
Moderator: Journalist and author Solveig Steien
14.00
Caucasus burning: The need for a free and independent media – and how to develop it? Danish SCOOP with support from International Media Support has started a program to help train journalists and develop media infrastructure in the Caucasus. The first national seminars were held last month in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. With Antti Kuusi, country coordinator, International Media Support; editor Boris Navasardian, Yerevan Press Club; and former Russia-correspondent Arne Egil Tønset, Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, who recently returned from a journey in the region. Moderator: Aage Borchgrevink , writer and advisor at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee
16.00
A Cameroonian journalist in exile: Philip Njaru and Jan Gunnar Furuly, SKUP/GIJC
Friday November 7
09.00
A thousand words – the camera as a tool. Well-known Iranian photographer Reza presents his “100 photos for press freedom”
09.45
Safety for journalists. A global overview. Sarah de Jong, Deputy Director and Project Manager INSI (International News Safety Institute).
10.30
Conflict-ridden Colombia: The role of the media
A journalist’s perspective: From death threats to a life in exile – reflections from Maria Cristina Caballero
Followed by a panel discussion where Jan Egeland, former UN Under-secretary general and the secretary general’s special adviser on Colombia, and NRK-journalist Sigrun Slapgard, will join. Moderator: Journalist and former Latin-America- correspondentHaakon Børde
11.30
Closing speech: Former presidential candidate and FARC-hostage Ingrid Betancourt
An appeal launched by Editorial Photographers UK (EPUK) has raised £1,330 for the families of two journalists killed during the recent conflict in Georgia.
The families of photographer and news agency head Sasha Klimchuk and journalist Giga Chikhladze received an equal share of the money after it was wired to them in Tiblisi, Georgia, last week.
A statement on the EPUK website read:
“The families were dependent on incomes from Sasha’s photography and from Giga’s journalism. The generosity of EPUK members means the families can begin to rebuild their lives after the tragedy.”
Friends Sasha and Giga vowed to support each other’s families should something happen to one of them in the war-torn environment. They were both shot and killed by gunmen in Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, on August 9 2008
Giga’s widow thanked the EPUK not only for the donations, but also for the many messages of support, the statement said.
Bloggers in Georgia are moving their sites to Google to keep communication channels open, as they face online attacks coming from Russia. Estonia is also hosting the website of Georgia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
According to reports, four journalists have been killed in Georgia, since the country’s armed conflict with Russia began on Friday.
Dutch television cameraman Stan Storimans, 39, who was working for news channel RTL, was killed during the Russian bombing of Gori, the Associated Press has said. Storiman’s colleague Jeroen Akkermans was also injured by blasts, which killed five.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also reported the deaths of two journalists in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali. Grigol Chikhladze, head of Alania TV, and Alexander Klimchuk, head of the Caucasus Press Images agency and a correspondent for Itar-Tas, were shot at a roadblock erected by Ossetian freedom-fighters, RSF said.
US reporter Winston Featherly-Bean and fellow Georgian reporter Teimuraz Kikuradze, who were travelling with Chikladze and Klimchuck, were wounded in the attack and later taken to a field hospital.
An as yet unnamed Georgian journalist has also died in the conflict, after a shell hit his car outside Gori.
The BBC’s Gavin Hewitt also claimed his crew were under fire from Russian forces (thanks to Daniel Bennett for flagging this up):
Sky News’ online section ‘Georgia In Depth’ is an aggregation of pictures, articles and info about the eastern European country, which borders with Russia, as part of coverage of the current conflict in the region
So that’s the Georgia between sandwiched between Europe and Asia and not the US state then?
If you’re going to use Wikipedia, at least get the right entry. Thank goodness for the disclaimer… it’s no one’s fault!
(Also, why does the site publish Wikipedia excerpts at all if, as the disclaimer suggests, Sky News has little faith in their accuracy?)