Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
MPs from the pro-presidential United National Movement (UNM) party have decided to boycott a meeting of parliament which will discuss the budget, in protest against the "unexpected decision" of the Ministry of Finance to initiate checks at the "Public Broadcaster of Georgia." According to the deputy of the UNM, Gigi Tsereteli, the group has returned to the capital from Kutaisi, where the legislative body is located now, "to inform the public and the diplomatic corps about the pressure being put on television by the new government." However, not everyone in Georgia agrees with him.
The bitter irony is that a year ago, the president and his team decided to move the parliament from Tbilisi to Kutaisi in order to "depoliticize" the capital, in particular, Rustaveli Avenue, where all the most important events of the past 20 years have been held. However, having been defeated in the parliamentary elections on October 1, the UNM wants to appeal to public opinion in the capital. It is possible that the pro-presidential party will call its supporters to gather in the same Avenue, in front of the building of the former parliament, which they themselves sold a few days before the election.
The public broadcaster is one of the country's most powerful media resources, headed by a member of the inner circle of the president, Georgi Chanturia. Bidzina Ivanishvili called the company "not a public, but a handheld TV of Saakashvili." However, Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri denies any "political motivation" in the case and refers only to financial regulations. According to Khaduri, the public broadcaster owes about $2.3 million in tax to the authorities. In turn, Chanturia is appealing to the international community and holding meetings with the parliamentary opposition.
Vestnik Kavkaza has talked to experts on the subject and their opinions seem to radically diverge.
Political scientist Michael Tavkhelidze
Bidzina Ivanishvili is trying to gain control over all media resources in Georgia. According to the constitution and the law, the public broadcaster is an independent organization and Ivanishvili cannot fire or appoint its staff. He also has no control over the budget of the public broadcaster, since it is written into law that the public broadcaster should receive 0.12% of the GDP annually from the budget. Ivanishvili is trying to put pressure on them with the help of the tax authorities. Judging by the behaviour of the tax officials, they are not trying to check everything, but to put pressure on the leadership. I have information that Bidzina Ivanishvili offered Georgi Chanturia through an intermediary to switch sides. Moreover, Ivanishvili has begun a systematic attack on all the media resources in the country. By hook or by crook he will try to gain control over them. Bidzina Ivanishvili is a man used to applying all methods. He acted in the same manner in Moscow, by using both gangsters and the police.
Former head of the state office, leader of the Green Party, Peter Mamradze
All this "political pressure on the media" and the violation of freedom of speech is such nonsense! There has been no freedom of speech at the public broadcaster! It was the mouthpiece of the criminal, maniacal, sadistic regime of Saakashvili. It did not pay any taxes, but everyone must be equal before the law. I do not see any politics in the financial audit. There is a debt and the debtor must pay it."
Member of the Independent Commission for Communications, Irakli Moseshvili
I can only speak on my behalf, and not on behalf of the Commission, because it has not considered this case yet. As far as I know, it is a financial audit. Of course, any pressure on the media is unacceptable. It should be no surprise that any interference in the TV business causes strong reactions. On the other hand, I can confirm that, according to international observers who monitored the Georgian media space on the eve of the elections, the public broadcaster was recognized as one of the most balanced channels.
No matter how the situation around the public broadcaster is resolved, it is unfortunate that a project, which 10 years ago was associated with huge expectations, is going to have such an inglorious end. When in 2002 the parliament passed the law "On the Public Broadcaster", journalists, and even the whole of society, hoped that the country would have an independent and objective television station, similar to the BBC. After a debate, in order to ensure the independence of the public broadcaster it was decided to make it a constitutional law that the state is obliged to allocate 0.12% of GDP to the public broadcaster annually. In addition, the board of trustees was to be recruited from non-governmental organizations with equal participation of representatives of the political world and of society. But it was all in vain. Apparently, in order to create a TV similar to the British BBC, "correct" legislation and a generous budget are not enough: it also necessary to have a strong political tradition, culture and what is most important - a strong civil society, which is absent in Georgia, despite all the reforms.
