OC Media

OC Media is a Tbilisi-based website founded in 2017 by journalists Mariam Nikuradze and Dominik K. Cagara and brings together journalists from throughout the Caucasus.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-11-18|title=A progressive, pro-peace voice in the Caucasus|url=https://www.democracyendowment.eu/en/our-work/firstpersonstories/915-oc-media.html|access-date=2020-11-18|website=European Endowment for Democracy}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Who we are|url=https://oc-media.org/who-we-are/|access-date=2020-05-16|website=OC Media|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=16th South Caucasus Media Conference|url=https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/436184?download=true|access-date=2020-05-16|website=OSCE}}

The site covers the South Caucasus nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, Russia's North Caucasus republics, and the disputed territories of Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia.{{Cite web|last=Narimanishvili|first=Nino|date=2020-06-21|title=OC Media პანდემიის პირისპირ, დაფინანსების ახალი გზების ძიებაში - ინტერვიუ მარიამ ნიკურაძესთან|trans-title=OC Media in the face of the pandemic, in search of new means of financing — Interview with Mariam Nikuradze|url=https://www.mediachecker.ge/ka/covid-19/rchevebi-zhurnalistebs/article/83181-oc-media-pandemiis-pirispir-dafinansebis-akhali-gzebis-dziebashi-interviu-mari-nikuradzesthan|access-date=2020-06-22|website=Media Checker|language=ka}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=How OC Media is training the next generation of freelance journalists in the Caucasus region|url=https://engagedjournalism.com/resources/oc-media-training-freelance-journalists-caucasus-1|access-date=2020-11-16|website=Engaged Journalism}}

OC Media receives funding from different organizations and institutions as well as their readers. It has received funding from organizations such as UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Open Society Foundations, the National Endowment for Democracy, the European Endowment for Democracy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

In March 2020, Georgian rights group the Human Rights Education and monitoring centre (EMC) appealed to the government after an undercover investigation by OC Media revealed poor working conditions in several textile factories in the country.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Inside Georgia's textile industry|url=https://oc-media.org/tag/inside-georgias-textile-industry/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=OC Media|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=EMC სამკერვალოებში დასაქმებული ქალების შრომით ექსპლუატაციას ეხმიანება|trans-title=EMC responds to the labour exploitation of women employed in sewing|url=https://emc.org.ge/ka/products/emc-samkervaloebshi-dasakmebuli-kalebis-shromit-ekspluatatsias-ekhmianeba|access-date=2020-11-18|website=The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre (EMC)|language=ka}} They called on the Department of Labour Inspection to immediately inspect garment factories and for Parliament to pass legislative changes to prevent future violations of workers’ rights.

In October 2020, the site was temporarily taken offline by a cyberattack. The outlet's management attributed the attack to their coverage of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.{{Cite news|date=2020-10-29|title=Хакеры атаковали OC Media методом "грубой силы"|language=Russian|trans-title=Hackers attack OC Media with brute force attack|work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|url=https://www.ekhokavkaza.com/a/30919373.html|access-date=2020-11-16}}{{Cite web|date=2020-10-29|title=OC Media-ზე კიბერთავდასხმა მოხდა|trans-title=Cyber attack on OC Media|url=https://on.ge/story/67772-oc-media-%E1%83%96%E1%83%94-%E1%83%99%E1%83%98%E1%83%91%E1%83%94%E1%83%A0%E1%83%97%E1%83%90%E1%83%95%E1%83%93%E1%83%90%E1%83%A1%E1%83%AE%E1%83%9B%E1%83%90-%E1%83%9B%E1%83%9D%E1%83%AE%E1%83%93%E1%83%90|access-date=2020-11-16|website=On.ge|language=ka}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=OC-Media|url=https://jfj.fund/jfj/oc-media/|access-date=2020-11-16|website=Justice for Journalists|language=en-GB}}

OC Media was awarded the 2023 Free Media Award.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-22 |title=Fritt Ord's and ZEIT-Stiftung's Free Media Awards for 2023: Free Media Awards to journalists and media outlets from Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus and Russia |url=https://frittord.no/en/news/fritt-ord-s-and-zeit-stiftung-s-free-media-awards-for-2023-free-media-awards-to-journalists-and-media-outlets-from-ukraine-georgia-belarus-and-russia |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Fritt Ord |language=en}}

In September 2023, OC Media revealed that the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, had contacted the site's institutional donors in an attempt to have their funding cut, after they refused to publish an op-ed he had authored.{{Cite news |title=Speaker of Georgian parliament pressured OC Media's donors after failure to place op-ed |url=https://oc-media.org/speaker-of-georgian-parliament-pressured-oc-medias-donors-after-failure-to-place-op-ed/ |access-date=2024-09-04 |work=OC Media}}{{Cite web |date=2023-09-13 |title=Speaker Complains to Donor After Outlet Refuses Op-ed |url=https://civil.ge/archives/558919 |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=Civil Georgia}} The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics condemned the speaker's actions.{{Cite web |date=2023-09-12 |title=ქარტია მოუწოდებს ხელისუფლებას, შეწყვიტოს თავისუფალი და მიუკერძოებელი მედიის დევნა |trans-title=The Charter calls on the authorities to stop persecuting free and impartial media |url=https://www.qartia.ge/ka/siakhleebi/article/95690 |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics |language=ka}}

• W[https://oc-media.org/ ebsite]

Category:European news websites