Mariam Nikuradze holds an unofficial record among Georgian journalists: None has racked up as many fines as she has while covering daily protests since November.
"You get a phone call. They tell you the date you are fined for and the reason," she says.
The fines, which dozens of other Georgian journalists say they also have received, are for allegedly blocking roads.
In some cases, protesters had blocked a road, and the journalists were there to carry out reporting duties. In others, the police cordoned off the streets themselves, trapping both protesters and journalists alike.
Four reporters from RFE/RL's Georgian Service are among those who have been fined, often receiving notifications of the penalties by text message.
Nikuradze, who is a co-founder of Open Caucasus Media, says the fines are just a small part of a wider strategy of media suppression in Georgia.
"I think the idea was to scare us," Nikuradze told RFE/RL ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3. "But at the end of the day, I'm going to do my job."
Nikuradze said she now owes more than $7,000 -- more than six times the average monthly salary in Georgia -- for four fines which, so far, she has refused to pay.
Georgia's Foreign Agent Law
She says that while she is not worried about the rising penalties she faces, she is concerned about Georgia's new foreign agent legislation.
OC Media receives foreign funding but she has refused to register it as a foreign agent.
"It means I could go to jail for five years…. But I have already made my peace with it," Nikuradze said.
"It has never been so unsafe to be a journalist in Georgia," she added.
Georgia appears to be at an inflection point.
Once a poster child for democracy in the Caucasus, it has been slowly drifting out of its previously pro-Western orbit and moving toward alignment with Moscow.
Last year, the European Union suspended financial aid for Georgia and also froze high-level contacts with its government, citing democratic backsliding. EU membership talks were suspended.
This led to a wave of daily protests in cities across the country, which the authorities are now effectively fining journalists for covering. Foreign journalists have also been refused entry after landing in Tbilisi to report on the protests, which Nikuradze still covers on a daily basis.
In February, parliament, dominated by the ruling Georgian Dream party and its satellite party People's Power, introduced changes to the Law on Broadcasting that strengthened censorship powers held by the national media regulator.
The amendments also restricted the vaguely defined term "foreign powers" from funding broadcasters or co-financing programs. "Foreign powers" include foreign governments, noncitizens, and foreign-based organizations.
'A Nightmare For Journalists'
The International Press Institute warned after the adoption of the legal changes that they were part of "a comprehensive government crackdown on the media" that has seen the "rapid deterioration of press freedom and of targeted violence against journalists, amid a broader democratic backsliding."
"The deterioration of press freedom in Georgia, amid rising authoritarianism, is extremely alarming-- and, if continued, will have wider implications for democracy in the region," it added.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has documented a collapse of media freedom in Georgia in recent years.
In it's latest World Press Freedom Index, released on May 2, Georgia ranked 114 out of 180 countries. Last year it was ranked 103, down from 77 in 2023.
"The Georgian Dream party has become a nightmare for journalists," RSF analyst Jeanne Cavelier told RFE/RL. "It has become impossible to work freely and safely in Georgia."
There has also been widespread criticism from Western countries of Georgia's treatment of the media.
In December, a group of media organizations including the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), PEN International, and RSF sent an open letter to European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen raising the alarm about a "brutal crackdown on the media in Georgia."
There have been many reports of journalists being attacked while covering protests. including an RFE/RL reporter.
Nikuradze said that at first uniformed police were responsible but that later it was "masked guys in black without any identification."
She herself recounts being knocked off a wall after being targeted with water canon, being slammed against a wall by a cop, and other incidents.
The cause celebre of Georgian journalism is Mzia Amaglobeli, who was arrested in January for allegedly slapping a police officer during an altercation in Batumi. A court ruled on April 28 to keep her in custody as legal proceedings continue.
Amaglobeli, a veteran Georgian journalist and the founder and director of two of the country's most-prominent independent media organizations, could face up to seven years in jail for the slap, which, according to evidence given in court by the local police chief, left "no visual damage, no bleeding."
A colleague arrested with her filmed the incident and spent eight days behind bars. When he was released, he found the video had been wiped from his phone and was no longer available as evidence in Amaglobeli's case.
Nikuradze is bleak about the way things are heading for journalists in Georgia.
"We are counting our last months of being able to go in the street and actually report the protests," she said.
