Georgia: The power of media
We examine who is shaping the country’s media landscape and why media are often the playthings of politicians.
A few years back we were tracking the battle over the media space in The Republic of Georgia, the former Russian republic in the Caucasus.
From my own experience, politicians are the worst enemies of journalism.
That story has moved on. In parliamentary elections five months ago, President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement was defeated by the new Georgian Dream Coalition led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Georgia experienced its first democratic transition of power; a bitter political struggle that was played out on the country’s television screens.
During that election the news programmes Georgians chose to watch could well have affected their votes. TV channels were that partisan.
Since the vote, the ownership of some channels has changed hands, the landscape is being redrawn, but the partisanship behind the journalism remains.
The Listening Post ‘s Flo Phillips investigates the power that shapes the media, the political players, their media playthings and the channels that are still far too close to those who are in power.
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