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Check out this article on Democracy and Freedom Watch on freedom of media in Georgia based on a Transparency International report on it – mainly focusing on the advertisement market and the political ties.

Georgian media is at the mercy of a murky network of friends that extends into both government and the private sector, used for exerting political influence over what is being reported.

[...]

It concludes that there is a marked lack of competition in the sector. It mostly revolves around a small network of friends, relatives and business partners of advertisement czar Davit Kezerashvili, the former Defense Minister who led the army into the unsuccessful war against Russia in 2008.

(read more…)

However, the real question should be, now these ties are exposed: why does Georgia seem to have these tight networks which lead to a major amount of deals for ‘friends’, and secondly, how can this be changed for the better.

In any society it is not uncommon that networks exist where friends help each other out (who does not do their share of networking?), but one should not forget that it depends to which extend and which negative effects these relationships have. As many of evo’s readers know, in Georgia these networks are rather tight and social mobility within society is, as a result, rather low.

Another interesting phenomena in Georgia is the fear of critique, anyone voicing concern is being called upon as ‘against’ the person/government – emotions can run high. Any media outlet voicing their opinion not inline with the ruling opinion of the network in control of the advertisements, thus is likely to be regarded as enemy/dangerous/stupid, and therefore the network will make sure they are not receiving the contracts.

Both things combined are not bad in itself, but can have disastrous results to a democracy when spinning out of control: a monopoly on advertisements (=income for media outlets) is therefore one, as it results in a very difficult environment to economically survive in.

An interesting research would be to get to understand and grasp the cultural and historical foundations for this, in order to not only explain the phenomena, but also to make the correct policy advise in order to create a more free and fair society.

Check out the graph TI made on the dominant network:

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• Saakashvili: ‘Georgia has Freedom of Media’
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• Georgia Needs Real Education Reform
• Will Economic Freedom Save Georgia?
• Religious freedom in Georgia?