Economic and political pressure in Georgia and Azerbaijan
Reporters Without Borders included Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in its 2026 list of 33 individuals and organisations accused of targeting media. This list, released Monday to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, divides offenders into political, security, legal, economic, and social categories. Ivanishvili, a billionaire oligarch and former prime minister, sits in the economic category and uses his influence to maintain a "tight grip" on the Georgian media landscape via channels like Imedi TV and Rustavi 2. Ivanishvili first appeared on this list last year, while Aliyev has appeared on it since 2010. This assessment identifies Georgia as 135th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index.
RSF reports that Ivanishvili uses economic resources and state institutions to stifle independent media through financial pressure, repressive laws, censorship, and legal action. The organisation notes that independent journalists face intimidation and stigmatisation. In Georgia, the co-founder of Batumelebi/Netgazeti, Mzia Amaghlobeli, remains in detention after the Supreme Court rejected her appeal and denied her application for early release. New laws in Georgia also criminalise certain forms of foreign funding, while the broadcasting regulator sanctions channels such as Formula TV and TV Pirveli. A growing number of legal proceedings and restrictions on parliamentary accreditation affect journalists, and Georgian Dream parliamentary majority leader Irakli Kirtskhalia called the report "another speculation" while arguing that Ivanishvili paid a price for refusing to surrender sovereignty to the "Global War Party."
Repression in Azerbaijan and other leaders
Azerbaijan ranks 171st out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, and RSF describes the country as a "news desert" where 27 media professionals currently face detention. The report notes that Aliyev suppresses all voices critical of the government, uses a Media and Broadcasting Council to tighten state control, targets exiled figures like Mahammad Mirzali, and silences critical voices. This includes increasingly severe sentences, such as prison terms of up to 14 years handed to Toplum TV journalists in July 2026. Azerbaijan also targets exiled figures like Mahammad Mirzali, a refugee in France.
The political category includes US President Donald Trump, who RSF says has intensified attacks on the press through verbal attacks, legal intimidation, administrative reprisals, and access restrictions since returning to the White House in January 2025. Trump appears alongside Aliyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenka, and Nicaraguan leaders Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. The list also includes the Israeli armed forces and Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
