Web Portal on Human Rights in Georgia

Reporting live for the 11:00 am Kronika news during the ceremony held at the Parliament building in Tbilisi Keti Kashakashvili said "Russia engaged in armed hostilities on August 8, and brought army units and heavy equipment into South Ossetia legally."

Reporting to IPN agency Mate Kirvalidze, Head of Imedi TV’s news room pointed out that Keti Kashakashvili made the decision on her own after having made the mistake over the August war.

“The Kronika reporter Keti Kashakashvili, being very much sorry for the mistake during live broadcasting, decided to quit job. Whatever happened during the live reporting is a personal mistake of the reporter and not the stance of the news room or the TV-Company. This case is very different from another one – TV presenter having read a similar text live in another TV studio,” Mate Kirvalidze told IPN.

Media.ge was unable to get in touch with Keti Kashakashvili.

Like Imedi TV reporter a similar mistake was made by TV 9’s presenter in the 12:00-hour news outlet of August 8. Later the TV Company made a public apology. It was made clear that TV 9 referred to GHN agency when commemorating August war 2008. The material published by the agency truly said Russia legally deployed troops to Georgia. The agency made an apology and the technical error on the website was corrected on the same day. According to the agency the inverted commas were to be used with the word “legal.”

On August 8, 2012 Imedi TV aired TV 9’s mistake as a statement by the Georgian Dream coalition leader Bidzina Ivanishvli. President Saakashvili responded to the TV 9’s mistake from Poti port on August 8, having mentioned TV 9 as a partisan television.

“I would like to share my pain over the statements made by some Georgian policy makers and media outlets. Instead standing by one another during the commemoration days of our heroes and having their families now being with us mourning over their incurable wounds the TV channel of one of the political parties reports that Russian forces who intruded and devastated our cities, took lives of our citizens appear to be acting legally on the territory of Georgia.”