Will Georgian media finally come ashore? A proposed ban on offshore corporate ownership of broadcast media may shed some light on the identities of the country's mysterious media barons
Parliament on December 7 passed in its first reading a draft law, endorsed by the ruling United National Movement party, that would bar faceless offshore companies from holding a stake in Georgia’s broadcast media. Georgia has developed a curious corporate ownership system much akin to Russian matrioshki, or nested dolls; except, in the Georgian case, the smallest doll in the set -- the ultimate owner -- opts for anonymity. The ownership chains start at the main news networks and go up to parent companies incorporated on exotic islands well beyond Georgia’s jurisdiction.
Reaching the smallest doll in a media matrioshka is impossible since laws on these islands protect the identities of owners of locally registered companies.
But Georgian media may not be out of the woods yet. The off-shore owners may be replaced by straw men, some observers fear.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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