News media feel limits to Georgia's democracy

News media feel limits to Georgia's democracy : The cameras at Georgia's main opposition broadcaster, Imedi, kept rolling Nov. 7, when masked riot police officers, armed with machine guns, burst into the studio. They smashed equipment, ordered employees and television guests to lie on the floor and confiscated their cellphones. A news anchor remained on screen throughout, describing the mayhem. Then all went black. The pretext for the raid — which silenced the channel — was a government claim that Imedi was fomenting unrest after it broadcast a statement by one of its founders, Badri Patarkatsishvili, promising to topple the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili. Earlier that day, riot police lashed out with clubs and fired rubber bullets at unarmed antigovernment protesters. A nine-day state of emergency followed. Now,... [read full story]