Georgia: Media Battles Make It More Difficult to Separate Fact from Fiction

A call for a referendum on early presidential elections. A claim that Russia wants Turkey to take control of the Black Sea region of Ajara. It is all in the news, but Georgians put little faith in media outlets to help them discern fact from fiction.

Mirroring the country's political scene, Georgian media outlets have split into two diametrically opposed camps, with little room left for neutrality, balance or in-depth coverage. Media consumers face a choice between pro-government outlets' rose-colored perspectives and the gloom-and-doom of their opposition-aligned competitors.

Media analysts complain that, as a result, most Georgians are left to guess their way to the whole story. "To get an idea of what's really going on, you have to glean bits and pieces of information from a variety of sources and then puzzle it all together," said media expert Lia Chakhunashvili.

As a result, voters cannot make truly informed decisions based on media coverage, agreed Tbilisi State University political scientist Marine Muskhelishvili. "You simply don't have enough quality information and, therefore, the media drags Georgians into a narrow debate."

As elsewhere in the South Caucasus, television dominates what debate there is.

Privately owned Rustavi-2, the country's most watched news channel, according to Nielsen Media Research licensee TV MR GE, is generally seen as reflecting the viewpoint of President Mikheil Saakashvili's administration. The news channel was once seen as instrumental in toppling Eduard Shevardnadze's government. It now seemingly tries to sugarcoat the news: Reports that portray officials embracing children and pensioners, or chatting merrily with reporters at home are regularly seen during news shows.

On the other side of the political fence stand two television stations whose reach does not extend beyond Tbilisi. News on Kavkasia (Caucasus) comes from a daily show hosted by Kavkasia founder Davit Akubardia that is mostly devoted to criticism of the Saakashvili administration. Another station, Maestro, has gained popularity for a reality show that features pop singer Utsnobi (The Stranger), brother of former presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze, in a makeshift prison cell meant to symbolize Georgia under Saakashvili.

"Today television is but a political platform," commented Shorena Shaverdashvili, editor of Hot Chocolate, a glossy news monthly. "Television frames people's views and channels them towards a specific goal, such as toppling the government. But no meaningful discussion about where we will go from there is taking place."

That has made some viewers resent national TV broadcasters Rustavi-2, Imedi and Georgian Public Broadcasting for relying heavily on the government for information.

One Tbilisi homemaker cites as a case in point Parliamentary Speaker Davit Bakradze's August 2008 call for Georgians to use whatever they could to fight against the advancing Russian army. "This person is telling me to grab a rolling pin and to fight Russian soldiers, and the television didn't even bother to question the credibility of his statement," fumed Naira Isakadze.

A recent Rustavi-2 report, made "with absolute certainty," that the Russians will invade Georgia again this spring further fueled Isakadze's irritation. "I started frantically checking newspapers and calling friends in the government, but a few days later it turned out that some guy in Moscow blurted this out, and the government now is saying that another war is unlikely," she recounted, calling the coverage "absolutely irresponsible."

Initial high hopes for balanced news coverage after a recent overhaul of Georgian Public Broadcasting have also fallen flat, other viewers say. Despite slicker visuals and snappier text, the flagship 1st Channel, describing itself as "the channel for a good mood," now offers entertainment as its programming staple.

Archil Grigalashvili, a professor of economics at Tbilisi's Georgian Technical University, puts more confidence in newspapers, but still notes that "it is hard to tell facts from fiction."

Hearsay reigns in the print media, agrees journalist Zurab Koridze, whose radio program is often featured on Tbilisi's pro-opposition Maestro TV station. "Newspapers offer rumors, then they legitimize it by putting together comments by different people and finally fob it off to readers as a fact," he said.

Pinpointing the facts can pose a similar difficulty for broadcast journalists. On the February 8 broadcast of Georgian Public Broadcasting talk show Politikuri K'vira (Political Week) host Inga Grigolia could offer no facts to support a charge brought against her guest, former privatization tsar Kakha Bendukidze, that he had "sold Georgia's rivers." Thirty minutes of fierce verbal sparring ensued.

"Did anyone get what Grigolia and Bendukidze were arguing about?" asked journalist Koridze. "Viewers ended up watching a personal exchange, while real questions about the economy remained unanswered."

Some media consumers say they end up taking in as much as possible in hopes of getting the story straight. "Both facts, if any, and the perspectives of different news outlets are worlds apart, so you have to listen to everything, read everything and then take the mathematical mean to get somewhere close to the truth," commented Natia Akhveldiani, a home electronics store manager in Tbilisi.

Others rely on word-of-mouth. "You never know whether what is said on TV is true," said grocery store clerk Gulnara Tavadze. "They [the government] tell you whatever they want you to know, so the only way I can double-check television news, or find out whatever is not being said on television, is to ask buyers what they've heard or what they know."

The situation grows murkier the farther away from Tbilisi one gets. While the capital enjoys a "polarized pluralism" of media sources, the regions are reliant on news from national broadcasters Rustavi-2, Imedi and Georgian Public Broadcasting. Print media is likewise scarce, and accessing the Internet is usually difficult.

In its 2009 World Report, the New York-based Human Rights Watch described Georgia's media environment as "mixed," with a "vibrant" print sector, "but increasingly limited television news broadcasting, apparently due to government pressure."

Chances that current media conditions will change significantly appear slim, commented political scientist Muskhelishvili. "Media is as underdeveloped as any other field, so changing the system or laws won't help," she said. "The country has to grow up naturally."