GEORGIA: TAMING OF A REVOLUTIONARY STATION
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[03:45 pm] 09 December, 2006
Rustavi-2 television loses its fearless reputation.
The television station that was at the forefront of Georgia’s Rose
Revolution has lost audiences and its reputation for political
investigation, amidst accusations of pressure from the new authorities.
During the peaceful demonstrations against the government of former
president Eduard Shevardnadze of November 2003, the programmes of
Rustavi-2 were broadcast to crowds in the centre of Tbilisi on a huge
screen. As the revolution gathered momentum, Rustavi-2 worked round
the clock, urging people to join the rallies.
However, just a few months after the Shevardnadze administration fell
and Mikheil Saakashvili was elected president of Georgia, the media
climate began to change. Two television channels – Iberia and Ninth
Channel – were taken off the air, and the popular political talk
shows broadcast by Rustavi-2 and other companies began disappearing.
The official rationale for the closure of the two channels was
their own financial problems, while the ending of the talk shows was
explained as an internal management decision. However, the opposition
started accusing the new government of putting pressure on the media
and violating freedom of speech.
Rustavi-2, which had helped bring the new government to power, began
experiencing problems too. First the company was declared bankrupt
and the majority of its shares sold to a little-known businessmen
Kibar Khalvashi, who was a close associate of then minister of defence
Irakly Okruashvili. Two weeks ago, the day after Okruashvili resigned
as defence minister, Khalvashi again sold his controlling stake in
the company.
For viewers, the most important change has been in the content of
Rustavi-2’s news programmes. The news programme Courier has lost the
reputation for boldness, which made it so popular.
"Rustavi-2 broadcasts only the latest news from the interior ministry
or the president’s briefings, there’s nothing interesting to watch,"
Marina, 49, told IWPR.
Ia Antadze, a commentator with Radio Liberty, said the changes at
Rustavi-2 were directly linked to the balance of political forces
in the Georgian government, with two camps linked respectively to
Okruashvili and Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili.
She said Merabishvili had control over the Alania and Mze television
companies and influence over public television, while Rustavi-2 and
Imedi were associated with Okruashvili.
After the Rose Revolution, Rustavi-2 broadly continued to support the
new government. David Kikalishvili, presenter of the news programme
Courier P.S., explained, "After the revolution, the journalists
regarded themselves as revolutionaries, and, proceeding from interests
of the revolution, they agreed with the owner’s position that the
political temperature should be lowered."
The staff protested for the first time three months ago when the
authorities demanded the resignation of general director Nika
Tabatadze. The news section held a strike that lasted for several
hours. A crisis meeting was called, which staff say was attended by
Okruashvili and Gigi Ugulava, mayor of Tbilisi – although no one has
confirmed this in public.
The news team all then quit the company, but without making any
comment.
"They said nothing, because they had nothing to say," said Paata
Veshapidze, editor of 24 Hours newspaper, pointing out that they had
put up with the major changes at the station unquestioningly and it
was hard for them suddenly to take a determined stand.
However, one leading journalist, Eka Khoperia, announced live on
television that she was quitting because of "unacceptable demands from
certain representatives of the authorities", whom she did not name.
Following the mass resignations, Koba Davarashvili, a close friend of
Economics Minister Giorgy Arveladze, was appointed general director of
the company, and a former head of the press service of the governing
party, the National Movement, was put in charge of the news section.
But ratings have dropped dramatically. The Courier news programme
used to have an audience share of 50-60 per cent, but now only gets
between six and 11 per cent of the audience.
"The authorities are well aware of the power the television has,"
said Paata Veshapidze. "They do not want to have such a powerful bomb
that may explode at any moment."
The latest audience figures show that Rustavi-2 now lags behind Imedi,
a television company owned by businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili,
who is an associate of former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.
In August, Imedi signed a partnership agreement with Rupert Murdoch’s
media giant News Corporation.
Before the local elections in October, Imedi’s news programmes took
a critical line with the government and government figures boycotted
the channel’s political talk show Reaction for several months.
In its turn, the opposition has shunned Rustavi-2, saying the channel
has turned into a "branch of the government".
Experts say that the media is less independent and critical of the
government than it used to be and that is harder to obtain information
from official sources.
But, said television critic Ninia Kakabadze, "there are not enough
factual arguments to say that the authorities are directly putting
pressure on the media.
"To any question why this or that journalist has been sacked or why
this or that programme has been shut down the authorities give one
simple answer – we have nothing to do with this, this is what the
management has decided. That is why the main question is, who the
management is, how they take decisions and who influences them."
"Independent reporting is hampered by journalists’ self-censorship,"
said Tamara Shamil, a media expert with the Caucasian Institute of
Peace, Democracy and Development in Tbilisi. "Most of them are waiting
to see how their new masters will react."
By Eka Kvesitadze in Tbilisi for Institute for War and Peace
Reporting’s Caucasus Reporting Service