Georgian photojournalists and documentary photographers have accused the World Press Photo competition of emboldening Russian propaganda after the victory of Mikhail Tereshchenko, a photojournalist from the Russian propaganda agency TASS, for a series of photos covering Tbilisi protests.
This was reported by NewsGeorgia, Ukrinform saw.
“By awarding the prize to a photo reportage taken by a TASS employee, World Press Photo legitimizes an agency known for spreading disinformation. The decision undermines independent media, emboldens propaganda, and allows fake narratives to gain widespread recognition,” the joint statement of Georgian photojournalists reads.
They expressed outrage at World Press Photo’s decision.
“We are deeply outraged by the decision of the World Press Photo to award the 2025 prize to a representative of the Russian state propaganda organization TASS for a photo report on Georgian protests — demonstrations directed directly against Russian influence and occupation of Georgia. Awarding a photographer who represents the Kremlin narrative for covering anti-Russian protests is not only a blatant paradox, but also a direct insult to all those who risk their lives to oppose Russian interference in the sovereignty and future of Georgia,” the statement said.
The authors of the statement added that TASS is “distorting the truth about the war in Ukraine,” as was the case during Russia’s war against Georgia in 2008.
They recalled that Tereshchenko had also openly supported Russian aggression in Ukraine, referring to the invasion as “liberation.”
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the winners of the World Press Photo competition in the “Single Shot” category included German photographer Florian Bachmeier with a photo of six-year-old Angelina, who has been suffering from panic attacks since the war began, as well as Nanna Heitmann with a photo of a soldier wounded near Bakhmut in a Russian field hospital.
In the “Stories” category, the World Press Photo victory went to Mikhail Tereshchenko, a photojournalist for the Russian propaganda agency TASS, for his work on protests in Georgia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine condemned the awarding of a photo of a Russian invader alongside a photo of a Ukrainian child traumatized by the war.
Source: Georgian journalists accuse World Press Photo of legitimizing Russian propaganda
