Georgia cuts access to Russian websites, TV news

Georgian authorities have blocked most access to Russian news broadcasters and websites since the outbreak of the conflict with Moscow. Russia's television news is tightly controlled by the Kremlin. Coverage of the war has heavily emphasized official statements from Moscow and the suffering of ordinary people in South Ossetia, with little coverage from Georgia proper. Georgia's Interior Ministry said his country's action was not anti-democratic, but Russian broadcasts could not be allowed to "scare our population." Georgian media, private and state-owned, are generally under the sway of President Mikheil Saakashvili, who promotes his country as a Western-style democracy. However, the country's main opposition television station was shut by the Interior Ministry at gunpoint in November and some of its equipment was smashed up. Human rights groups have criticized Saakashvili's approach to media freedom.