Tamar Kintsurashvili's work for press freedom requires a lot of courage, says DW's Director General Peter Limbourg. With its Freedom of Speech Award, DW wants to ensure those who are fighting for values like democracy and freedom of expression are not left alone.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00All right, let's hear more about this DW Award and its latest recipient now from the head of DW.
00:05Peter Limberg is the Director General of DW and we call him boss around here.
00:10Glad to have you in the studio, Mr. Limberg.
00:13So undoubtedly there were a number of remarkable nominees in consideration for this award.
00:18What made Tamar Kinsurashvili stand out?
00:21I think Tamar is a very impressive person.
00:23I've met her last year in Georgia and she's doing a lot for press freedom and media freedom.
00:31All the nominees were really good.
00:34But I think it's also an important sign that we don't leave people alone who are fighting for the values.
00:42Also DW stands for, that's democracy, that's freedom of expression.
00:45And Georgia is in a very difficult position with a government which is really working against free press,
00:55which is trying to control everything and bring it into a sense which is a pro-Russian directive.
01:03So I think it's somebody who is really working for a long period.
01:08She's doing this, media literacy, her work, she's doing this for a lot of years and I think it's worth recognition.
01:17How significant would you say is courage in this award and in the way the Freedom of Speech Award was granted?
01:23I think courage is essential and it's admirable to see how people, because it's sometimes for us,
01:31we are sitting in a relatively safe place and we can talk about press freedom and freedom of expression.
01:38But these people, and Tamar also, she gets threatened regularly.
01:44She risks a lot, her family.
01:47And we see this around the globe.
01:49Journalism is getting more and more under pressure by autocrats and by other forces, criminals, clans, whatever.
01:56It's getting more and more dangerous for journalists and it takes a lot of courage.
02:00And I think it's important to show that we recognize also this courage.
02:05And I do want to talk about that.
02:06But let's talk a bit more about Tamar first, because beyond her role with Georgia's Media Development Foundation,
02:12something that DW supports financially, she is also head of something called Myth Detector.
02:17How important is something like that in the times that we live in?
02:20I think it is very important to do fact-checking and to bring in the discourse which is dominated by social media
02:32and a lot of fakes and falsifications and propaganda disinformation is around.
02:41It's important to have institutions who are really working on this.
02:46And we as DW do this, also with a fact-checking unit.
02:49But it is very important that this happens also locally.
02:54And it's not only international media doing it.
02:57It's important that it happens locally, because there's also a lot of trust into local organizations.
03:01And I think this is something which is important.
03:05And I think it's also important to see it's not the question that we think we should oppress some kind of opinion.
03:13It's the question that we have to stick to facts.
03:17And facts are not something which we can just dispute on and say,
03:23well, I don't believe in this fact.
03:25Facts are facts.
03:26And I think this is important in this discourse.
03:29Going back to something that you were mentioning earlier, this clampdown on journalists and freedom of the press globally,
03:35especially for Tamar in our home country of Georgia and, dare I say it, arguably in what was once the beacon of press freedom, the United States.
03:44How important is such an award in this year?
03:48It is, I think, always important to cherish people who are working for the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press.
03:57And yes, it is getting more and more difficult, especially within the United States.
04:04But also that the United States is retiring, obviously, from its international media scene,
04:11like the presumably shutdown of Voice of America and the danger Radio 4 Europe is in.
04:17So I think these are also moments where we as Europeans must try to step in and also we cannot do all of this.
04:27But I think we have to get our act together and see that press freedom is worldwide so much under pressure that we have to invest more.
04:36We are talking here, of course, also about authoritarian governments, which are clamping down even further on the press freedom.
04:41And these times seem to make the job easier for some of these governments.
04:44What does that mean for journalists moving forward?
04:47What is it that they are up against?
04:49I think they are up against a worldwide phenomenon where autocrats who are working together,
04:58who are also working together in trying to block freedom of expression,
05:03trying to block, for instance, international media like DW or the BBC or France Media Monde.
05:08And I think it's a worldwide phenomenon.
05:12And the most important thing, I think, is to interconnect the journalists who are working in this field
05:21and to show that they are not alone.
05:24And this is also why we have this award, the Freedom of Speech Award,
05:30to especially show a light into maybe areas where not everybody is looking the whole day.
05:36Is there a light at the end of what sounds like an increasingly dark tunnel?
05:41I mean, do you see more people like Tamar standing up and putting their beliefs and their faith in their work on the line?
05:49First of all, I'm an absolute optimist.
05:52So I think there's always light at the end of the tunnel and it's not always the train coming.
05:57So don't worry.
05:58I think it's something where we have to invest.
06:01If we just hope it won't change, but we also have to invest in free journalism.
06:07We have to support people like Tamar.
06:09And I think at the end, I'm absolutely convinced that the freedom of expression
06:14and freedom at itself will prevail.
06:17Peter Lindbergh, DW's Director General.
06:19Thanks so much for coming into the studio.