Lights, camera, fake invasion
The fake invasion report has angered government opposition
Photo: Flickr.com/bbcworldservice
Over 70 years after Orson Welles scared Americans into thinking Martians were invading, a pro-government television station in Georgia has caused an outcry with a bogus news report claiming the president had been assassinated and Russian tanks were headed for the capital city.
For Georgians, with the memory of the 2008 conflict with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia still fresh in their minds, the scenes of tanks rolling across the border proved all too realistic. Viewers were told that President Saakashvili had been killed and a new opposition government has invited Russian tanks into the country as part of its attempt to secure power.
An explanation that the report was fake and only explored a possible scenario appeared at the end of the programme. By that time panic had already gripped the nation. Mobile phone networks crashed and emergency services had to deal with a dramatic surge in calls for help.
Imedi TV is a private station run by a close supporter of President Mikheil Saakashvili. The president criticized the broadcast, but stressed that the scenario it presented was not so unlikely.
“It was a very unpleasant film but what is even more unpleasant is that the report shows quite correctly what might happen and what Georgia’s enemies are up to,” he told local news agencies.
Opposition groups claimed the authorities were behind the bogus report. “Full responsibility for the preparation and the results of the report lies with the authorities, which have practically monopolized all television space in order to inflict information terror on their own people,” the opposition Alliance for Georgia said.
Analysts see the programme as a clear swipe at the Georgian opposition. Two opposition leaders, Zurab Nogaideli and Nino Burjanadze, have been pushing for Russian-Georgian ties to be restored and controversially both recently travelled to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their attempt to rebuild the relationship between the neighbouring countries was roundly condemned by President Saakashvili, who told local news agencies: "whoever shakes hands covered in the blood of Georgians has no dignity.”
Comments
-
del.icio.us
-
Mister wong
-
digg
-
blogMarks
-
Facebook
