Caucasus: Jun ‘09

Georgian journalists have spoken of the important journalistic lessons they’ve learnt at an IWPR workshop set up to help them develop their investigative skills.



Investigative journalism techniques, the principles of bringing public information to light, and examples of successful investigative reports were all examined and discussed at the event in May.



“Before the workshop, I’d believed that a journalistic investigation only meant looking into a killing or a robbery,” said Lika Shonia, a freelance journalist who is a refugee from Abkhazia. “Now, I see how erroneous my views were.



“I learned a lot of new things at the workshop. The impression it made on us was so strong that at one point we even started applauding our trainer.”



Twenty-two journalists – from various regions of Georgia, as well as Tbilisi – took part in the two-day workshop on May 15-16 in the Georgian capital.



“In Georgia, an exposé by a journalist can lead to a criminal investigation,” said Omar Jorbenadze, a judge at Tbilisi’s appeals court, who spoke at the event.



“That’s why reporters working in the field should have a clear idea of what they do. I tried to help the trainees understand that non-professionalism and deviations from ethical norms by an investigative reporter may result in harm to an utterly innocent person.



“It is absolutely necessary for those who wish to specialise in investigative journalism, to take this kind of training. A reporter should not embark on an investigation unless he is legally knowledgeable and has taken into consideration an experienced trainer’s recommendations.”



The trainer, Ukrainian media expert Yuri Storozhuk, said that in post-communist countries investigative journalism often takes the form of invented or deliberately distorted smear campaigns.



”Falsified ‘investigative’ findings are often published in order to smear the reputation of a rival, an individual or an organisation,” he said.



“That is why a journalist who wants to specialise in the discipline ought, first and foremost, to faithfully observe the norms of journalism ethics.



“Otherwise, he will end up merely following someone else’s orders.”



While explaining to the journalists the techniques of investigative journalism and what skills they needed to possess to effectively work in the field, Storozhuk told them about how he had been part of a group of journalists investigating the poisoning of Ukrainian president Viktor Yuschenko – then the opposition candidate – in the run-up to the presidential election in 2004.



“I’ve learnt a lot of new things about how investigative reports are produced,” said Irma Zoidze, a journalist from Batumi. “The knowledge will make my future work easier.”



“In my opinion, the first thing a reporter should do when launching an investigation is to check the background of those he considers approaching for information. This will help him avoid being misled by his respondents and unfairly harming someone’s honour and dignity.”



“It was how our trainer told us, in detail, about the investigation into the poisoning of the Ukrainian president, how he retraced the whole process back to the beginning that helped me understand all the theory [about investigative journalism] we’d listened to during the training session,” said Dato Liklikadze from Kutaisi.



“This workshop is nothing like any of the training sessions I’ve ever taken part in.”



Later in the workshop, the journalists were each given a copy of a digest of several Georgian laws, intended to make it easier for them to obtain public information from officials and to cooperate with government structures.



“After the workshop, investigative journalism has got all of my attention,” said Nino Chibchiuri from Shida Kartli. “Investigative journalism is not what you will meet often in today’s Georgian media, and the reasons for this include the journalists’ laziness and ignorance of investigative methods, as well as fear.”



There have been attempts to set up groups of investigative reporters, but these have done little to improve the situation in a field that has remained underdeveloped for years.



That is why IWPR’s Georgian office has decided to create a special training programme for investigative reporters, which will largely be based on real cases.



“At first, a complex training programme teaching journalists how to produce investigative reports should be worked up,” said Nino Gerzmava, the IWPR Georgian office’s radio projects coordinator.



“The next stage is honing the programme as a set of methods and publishing it as a manual that will then be adopted as a teaching tool by local higher education establishments.”



Storozhuk said he would be happy to work with IWPR in the fulfilling these plans and is now busy drawing up the theoretical component of the training course.



Jorbenadze, who is regarded as one of the country’s best lawyers and whose tenure as chairman of the Georgian parliament’s investigative committee ended two months ago, also said he would be happy to work further with journalists.



He said judges would try to put all the existing rules and principles of obtaining public information, now somewhat scattered, together in one training programme, and add useful comments.



IWPR is also negotiating with the Georgian police academy to enlist the participation of professional investigators and criminal experts, who could teach journalists to properly conduct themselves on an incident site and understand the conclusions of state investigators.



“During each of the training workshops to be held under the new investigative journalism programme, journalists will examine real cases and write investigative reports, as well as study theory,” said Gerzmava. ”This way we’ll be able to see how fruitful and effective our work has been.”



The workshop training was supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the US State Department.