Introduction

Since 2014 Media Development Foundation (MDF) has been monitoring public spendings for information dissemination. Throughout the monitoring process, MDF found that number of Ministries and their subordinated legal entities practice contracting media organizations that are known for promoting hate speech and intolerance toward different social groups[1]. Media monitoring activities carried out by MDF throughout 2014-2015[2] also demonstrated that these media organizations are repeatedly expressing anti-western attitudes. Moreover, number of Ministries[3] implements joint projects with these media outlets.

This research focuses on problems linked to above mentioned cooperation established between these media organization and state institutions.

It is important to mention, that data presented in the research is not complete due to the difficulties of obtaining information from number of legal entities of public law (LEPL) and non-commercial, not-for-profit legal entities (NNLE), as well as due to prolonged court hearings. On June 11, 2015, as a result of a Tbilisi City Court decision on MDF’s law suit, Judge Shota Getsadze made a precedent and established a standard[4] obliging all institutions carrying out public responsibilities to make public all information related to spendings whether public or private undertaken to fulfill their public duties. The court decision and establishment of the precedent created a foundation for making work and financial affairs of LEPLs and NNLEs more transparent. 

Obtaining public information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) yet remains challenging thus leaving only possibility for MDF to acquire information through addressing court of law. Obtaining complete information from the State Procurement Agency’s online database is also challenging. For instance, from the agreements signed with media-union Obiektivi only contract with National Wine Agency (LEPL of Ministry of Agriculture) is available online, while service agreement signed between the same media organization and MIA is not. Moreover, State Procurement Agency remains unresponsive when addressed to make publicly available all information related to MIA. Accordingly, due to these shortcomings public information obtained during this research is incomplete and the process of attaining them has been time consuming and linked to additional efforts.

1. Research Methodology

The proposed research is based on public information obtained from state institutions, online database of State Procurement Agency, monitoring performance of media organizations, analyzing other research findings and international practices.

Public information related to service agreements between public institutions and media organizations signed throughout 2013-2014 were obtained. In particular, contracts signed by Ministries, LEPLs and NNLEs, as well as local self government entities with different media organizations for providing information distribution, advertising and other services, were analyzed. The proposed research focuses only on media organizations that are observed to promote hate speech and practice discriminative editorial policies toward different identity groups.

International regulations providing guidelines for indiscriminative policies for public authorities, including fiscal affairs and relevant state responsibilities were also analyzed.

Alongside to 2013-2014 data, financial support provided for TV program Etaloni in 2015 is also included in the research. The TV program is aired on channel Obiektivi and is illegally funded by administrative resources. Complete data from 2015 will be analyzed in the next report. The case of Etaloni is incorporated in this research to illustrate illegal practices.

2. International Practice   

There is a straightforward answer to this question provided by European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). In particular, #7 recommendation for member countries developed by ECRI on National Legislation to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination[5] states:

9. The law should place public authorities under a duty to ensure that those parties to whom they award contracts, loans, grants or other benefits respect and promote a policy of non-discrimination. In particular, the law should provide that public authorities should subject the awarding of contracts, loans, grants or other benefits to the condition that a policy of non-discrimination be respected and promoted by the other party. The law should provide that the violation of such condition may result in the termination of the contract, grant or other benefits.

16. The law should provide for an obligation to suppress public financing of organisations which promote racism. Where a system of public financing of political parties is in place, such an obligation should include the suppression of public financing of political parties which promote racism.[6]”

3. Statistical Data

In 2013-2014 public funds were used for providing advertising services of following media organizations proved to promoted hate speech: newspaper Sakartvelos Respublika (GEL 63 923,33), media-union Obiektivi (GEL 52 167,84), Alia Holding members – newspaper Alia and Kviris Chronika (GEL 48 650 – data is not complete[7]) and newspaper Asaval-Dasavali (GEL 1 200).

Ltd Etaloni-Media received GEL 68 616.01 for producing TV program Etaloni aired on Obiektivi.

Chart 1. Public funds for media outlets promoting hate speech (2013-2014, partly 2015).

As already mentioned above, provided data is incomplete as number of Ministries and LEPLs as well as NNLEs were reluctant to disclose public information. For instance, Agricultural Projects’ Management Agency (NNLE of Ministry of Agriculture) provided only a joint figure of GEL 1 043 845, 57 that has been transferred to various media outlets[8], media unions[9] and other companies[10] throughout 2013-2014. Newspapers Alia and Kviris Chronika are listed in the document provided by the Agency, though it refused to provide copies of relevant service agreements. Accordingly at this point, it is impossible to calculate exact amount of funds transferred to separate media organizations, including newspapers that are part of Alia Holding.

On June 11, 2015, Tbilisi City Court (Judge Shota Getsadze) announced a precedential decision and approved MDF law suit against Ministry of Agriculture and NNLE Agricultural Projects’ Management Agency and obliged state institutions to make above mentioned information public.

Data related to law suits: To obtain information regarding public spendings for providing media services, MDF approached 112 public entities including: 19 Ministries, Georgian Government State Chancellery, Parliament of Georgia, Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, administration of state representatives in regions (governors), local municipalities (30), as well as 69 LEPLs and NNLEs.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia provided information only after MDF addressed court for support. 13 out of 69 LEPLs and NNLEs also declined request to disclose information. At this point 6 refusals were appealed in court and 7[11] are planned to be appealed in the nearest future. One appeal out of 6 refusals has already been revoked by the court (the case of MDF against Agricultural Projects’ Management Agency), 4 cases against Ministry of Internal Affairs and Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry were resolved during the main hearings by delivering requested public information to MDF and one case against SC “Georgian Energy Development Fund” is at the main hearing stage.

4. Media-union Obiektivi

Media-union Obiektivi received funds from public institutions directly as well as indirectly for providing advertising services and producing and airing TV programs. In particular, according to State Procurement Agency web page, Ltd Etaloni-Media signed agreements and received funds for producing and airing a TV program from various public institutions in 2015, which is an illegal activity.

Below presented data is not complete as number of public institutions declined to issue relevant information (for more see pg. 8).

At the point of publication of this research, MDF gathered information that indicates that media-union Obiektivi signed various service agreements with different public institutions worth of GEL 52 167, 84 throughout 2013-2014. Ltd Etaloni-Media, on its own, received GEL 68 616, 01 from different public organizations in 2015 for preparation of a TV program that is aired on Obiektivi.

Funds allocated for these media organizations per public institution are as follows:

Table 1. Value of service agreements signed between public institutions and meida-union Obiektivi.

Table 2. Value of service agreements signed between public institutions and Ltd Etaloni-Media

4.1 Etaloni on Obiektivi

TV program Etaloni is illegally aired on Obiektivi from May 9, 2015, since according to the Law on Broadcasting, administrative authorities are not allowed to finance TV programs.

No financing

1. An administrative authority, a political party, an official and a public servant shall not finance a broadcaster, also shall not purchase its service and finance or co-finance, directly or indirectly, the production of broadcaster’s programs or/and airing thereof except in cases envisaged in Paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article.

Information available on State Procurement Agency proves that Ltd “Etalon-Media” is providing following two services to its customers: sponsorship and participation in the program.

Article 66¹ (No Financing) of the Georgian Law on Broadcasting states:

Third paragraph of the Article 66¹ allows exception only for electoral administration and the second paragraph for following services:

Exception:

2. An administrative authority may purchase a broadcaster’s service only for airing social advertising and reporting information important for society provided that such purchase is envisaged in a separate clause of its budget. In such a case, if an administrative authority is a procuring entity as specified in the Law of Georgia on State Procurements, the purchase shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure defined by the Law of Georgia on State Procurements

Moreover, first paragraph of the Article 67 of the Law on Broadcasting, clearly states that sponsorship of a TV program by an administrative authorities is illegal:

Prohibition of sponsorship

1. An administrative authority, a member of a collegial administrative authority or a public servant, a political party, a leader or an official of a political party, a coalition or a bloc of political parties or any other electoral entity shall not be a sponsor of a program.

 

It is important to mention, that almost all public institutions were purchasing services from Ltd Etaloni-Media under different coding defined by the State Procurement Agency. Only municipalities of Adigeni, Oni, Khulo and Kaspi indicated coding for TV and Radio services (CVP 92200000) as the purpose of purchasing advertising services from Etaloni. MIA Academy indicated the code for marketing and advertising services (CVP 79340000), while in other service agreements the same service is indicated as: organization of cultural events (CVP79952100), group games (CVP 37524400), educational games (CVP 37524100), market and economic research, survey and statistics (CVP 79300000), various commercial and other related services (CVP 79900000), recoding in a studio (CVP 79961350), event organization (CVP 79952000).

All above mentioned agreements foresee delivery of following services: “preparation of questions for the TV program with participation of the customer, recoding of the program, editing and airing of the program and in accordance to the program framework - presentation of high school students selected by the customer”. These services are considered illegal by the Article 66¹ of the Law on Broadcasting as it prohibits “purchasing service and finance or co-finance, directly or indirectly, the production of broadcaster’s programs or/and airing”. Moreover, the service agreements also enable public institutions to be involved in editorial and creative process that violates article 29.2 of the Code of Conduct for Broadcasters (principle that guarantees editorial independence of a broadcaster). 

It should be oted that alongside with the services indicated in agreements with local Municipalities, the agreement signed by MIA Academy has an additional service in it:

MIA Academy

• Customer’s video (8-11 seconds) should be aired at the beginning and in the middle of the program (at least once);
• Responsible persons representing the customer should be invited as guests at least twice throughout the contract period; the guest should have an opportunity to briefly present own organization, as well as implemented and planned projects;
• Students of the customer should be invited and seen during the program (at least twice throughout the contract period);
• Banners (two)  with the logo of the customer should be placed in the studio and be seen during the program;
• Customer’s messages should be read and customer’s logo should be illuminated at least once during every program.

Almost identical services are included in the agreement signed with Ltd Tbilisi Transport Company too.

The Law on Advertising states (Article 13: Sponsorship):

Sponsorship

Sponsorship As per this law the sponsorship is a contribution of a natural or legal person to the activity of another natural or legal person (in the form of money, assets, outcome of intellectual activity, rendering service or rendered service, performing the work) on conditions that the product manufactured by the sponsor will be promoted. A sponsor’s contribution is regarded as the cost of advertising whilst a sponsor and the one who has been sponsored as advertiser and advertising distributor, respectively. The sponsor has no right to interfere in the activity of the producer and distributor of advertising. Sponsorship is not allowed for persons whose product or activity is prohibited to be advertised under this Law.

All service agreements signed by public institutions with Ltd Etaloni foresee sponsorship and accordingly violate articles 66¹ (prohibition of financing broadcasting) and 67 (prohibition of sponsorship) of the Law on Broadcasting. They also create grounds for the customer to interfere in the editorial work of service provider through the right to engage in designing questions and selecting participant students.

This practice violates local legislature as well as recommendations issued by European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI). In particular, TV program prepared by Ltd Etaloni is aired on media-union Obiektivi - the channel that openly promotes hate speech.

It should be noted that, in service agreements signed between Ltd Etaloni and public institutions, media-union Obiektivi is not usually indicated. Moreover, in number of agreements, TV program is supposed to be aired on Public Broadcaster, that hosted the program from November 2012 to April (11), 2015. April 15, 2015 agreement signed with MIA Academy, Etaloni-Media takes responsibility to deliver advertising services through media-union Obiektivi instead of Public Broadcaster.

Annex 1. Agreement between MIA Academy and Ltd Etaloni-Media on airing TV program Etaloni on media-union Obiektivi (available in Georgian).

Responsibility to address the cases of violation of principles of the Law on Broadcasting lies with Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC). According to the Article 17¹ of the Law on Advertising, broadcast advertising monitoring is carried out by the GNCC:

Control in the sphere of broadcast advertising

The sole institution responsible for controlling the timing, placement and means of broadcast advertising as well as the compliance of broadcast advertisement distributor with the restrictions in broadcast advertising specified in the Laws of Georgia On Broadcasting and On Advertising and other legislative acts, is the Georgian National Communications Commission which within the scope of its competence.

On March 26, 2015 for similar activities, in particular, for airing TV program Etaloni sponsored by public institutions: Department of Security Policy of Ministry of Internal Affairs and MIA Academy, Georgian National Communications Commission imposed administrative charge and issued written warning against Public Broadcaster[15]. This decision by the Commission was preceded by the monitoring report on the performance of Public Broadcaster prepared by the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics that expressed concerns in regard to violations by TV program “Etaloni”[16].

4.2 Obiektivi and Georgian Public Broadcaster

Giorgi Popkhadze, correspondent of European Bureau of Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) who has been known for homophobic rhetoric simultenousely serves as a co-anchor of a TV show Noon on Obiektivi.

Giorgi Popkhadze is appointed as a corrspondent of European Bureau of GPB’s news program since November 1, 2014. This appointment has been criticized by human rights activists due to his previous homophobic statements[17].

Before his employment by GPB, Giorgi Popkhadze was involved with media-union Obiektivi as a reporter based in Europe. Monitoring of the programs aired on Obiektivi proves that his cooperation with this TV channel has not been terminated. He is a co-anchor of a TV show Noon aired on Obiektivi from Mondays to Fridays at 14:30-16:30[18].

Annex 2. European Bureau correspondent of GPB works as a co-anchor of TV Show Noon aired on media-union Obiektivi (according to the anchor search engine on the web page of Obiektivi).

According to the Paragraph 6 of the Article 23 of the Law on Broadcasting that regulates interest conflicts of employees of Public Broadcaster: “An employee of the Public Broadcaster shall not be an official of or perform any remunerated work for another broadcaster.” It should be noted, that Irakli Tsilikishvili, Chair of the Board at Obiektivi explains that Giorgi Popkhadze does not receive remuneration for his work at Obiektivi and their cooperation is entirely voluntaristic. Though, in this case, there is no direct violation of the law, but conflict of interest still remains.

Giorgi Popkhadze is not listed as a correspondent among other reporters and journalists under the section “Our Team” on the web page of Public Broadcaster[19]. Public Broadcaster was reluctant to issue information about the number of reports prepared by Brussels’ Bureau arguing that reports are not archived according to the name or surname of the journalists but under the relevant event and topic.

Public Broadcaster usually sends a crew from Tbilisi to Europe to cover European Union events or other international forums, visits of Georgian Government officials to Europe and other important developments. Ketevan Kardava, former reporter of the Brussels’ Bureau is most active in covering these events. As she is currently based in Tbilisi, her trips to cover Euro-Atlantic integration issues from different capitals of European countries are linked to additional expanses. At the same time, reporter of the Brussels’ Bureau of Public Broadcaster is on air of the TV show Obiektivi on daily bases as an anchor, that creates impression that GPB is indirectly financing anchor on “Obiektivi” from its own budget. Monthly budget to cover salaries of the Bureau staff in Brussels is GEL 4 300. With the argument, of nondisclosure of private information, Public Broadcaster did not issue information regarding number of employees and salary per employee in its Brussels’ Bureau. Alongside to financial issues, concerns raised by human rights activists are also quite legitimate, indicating conflict of interests, on the one hand, with homophobic and anti-western statements made by Giorgi Popkhadze, and, on the other hand, with content related obligations that GPB should observe according to the Law on Broadcasting. In particular, according to the Article 16 (content obligations):

Public Broadcaster shall:

h) reflect ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, age and gender diversity in programs;

m) promote main directions of Georgia’s foreign policy, including the integration into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (hereinafter - the NATO) and the European Union.

 

During discussions around anti-discriminative law in Georgian Parliament, presented as a part of the Association Agreement with EU, Giorgi Popkhadze in his interview with newspaper Kviris Chronika (May 5-11, 2014) made following homophobic statement:

Giorgi Popkhadze: „It was Soso Jachvliani [GD MP] who introduced the term – “bottom givers”. Wasn’t he the one, who fought tirelessly against the pederasts?! Nondiscriminated Georgia, we are entering Europe with its ass?.. We did not only entered Europe’s bottom, but went so far, that we are there!.. We are stepping back and doing so with ass“.

In a conversation with Asaval-Dasavali newspaper (27 April-3 May 2015) about the NGOs, who are often depicted in the anti-Western context as hired agents promoting interests of foreign countries, the representative of the Europe Bureau of the Public Broadcaster made the following statement:

Giorgi Popkhadze: „The sources of financing of the NGOs must be studied and legally prohibited organizations living off the foreign resources, which are acting against the Georgian state. In France no one will allow for an NGO to be financed from Saudi Arabia, or even from America!“

Giorgi Popkhadze’s comment[20], regarding the U.S. State Department 2014 report on human rights, printed in the Kviris Chronika newspaper for 29 June[21] and other online outlets, points at the Public Broadcaster’s Brussels Bureau correspondent’s party connections and his advocacy for the Georgian government in Europe. The Public Broadcaster’s correspondent describes his own lobbying efforts in the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, which, according to him, is conducted on the basis of materials provided by Irma Inashvili [Secretary General of the Patriots Alliance].

Giorgi Popkhadze: „I was really upset on my way back from Strasbourg. I was sitting in a train and thinking – why do I put strain on myself, why am I engaged in this, if these people [the Georgian government] is not by my side at all. It is only us, me and Inashvili, who keep visiting Europe covering our own expenses and talk to the politicians there. What we are doing should be done by the government”.

 

According to Article 29 of the Broadcasters Code (requirements to editorial independence):

Requirements to editorial independence

7. Journalists shall not compromise broadcasters’ independence by their civic, political, economic or social activities and must avoid any conflicts of interest.

According to Article 30 (guidelines for editorial independence):

Guidelines for editorial independence

1. Broadcasters and their employees should avoid any conflicts of interest which may compromise broadcasters’ editorial independence, impartiality and fairness.

3. Journalists should not simultaneously work for such employers which may give rise to conflicts of interest.

4. Broadcasters should not support any organization, its products, actions, or services.

 

According to Article 22.1 of the Public Broadcaster’s Code of Conduct (personal activity and conflict of interest):

Personal activity and conflict of interest

22.1 Personal activity and conflict of interest The GPB’s journalists, presenters reporters, producers, and other responsible persons must not by their public, political or other non-broadcasting activity bring into question the principles of impartiality and fairness being advocated by the Broadcaster.

 

On 6 July 2015 the Monitoring Council of the Public Broadcaster addressed[22] the Board of Trustees and the Broadcaster’s Director General, calling them to study the conflict of interest in the case of the Moambe news program’s Brussels correspondent and to ensure this process is open to the public.

4.3. Obiektivi and joint projects with the government

Cooperation between media union Obiektivi and a number of ministries is demonstrated by various TV programs broadcasted by Obiektivi. For instance, in the summer of 2014, by Thursdays, the first part of Obiektivi TV program Night Studio was dedicated to the joint project of the Ministry of Agriculture and Obiektivi. The program was visited by high-level officials from the Ministry   (for instance, Deputy Minister of Agriculture David Galegashvili[23]).

According to the information from the Ministry of Agriculture, they did not fund the preparation of this program. However, the information regarding funds transferred to the media by the Ministry of Agriculture’s subordinate organization is not public yet.

Another agency cooperating with Obiektivi and denying financing of the joint projects is the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia. In spring there was a joint TV project broadcasted by Obiektivi in the Night Studio program, where the Ministry’s activities were discussed with its representatives[24].

Every Sunday at 21:30 Obiektivi broadcasts program Prime Minister’s Hour, covering the Prime Minister’s meetings during the week.

At the same time, Obiektivi radio and TV program Kulturis Saati  (Culture Hour) is anchored by the Minister of Education and Culture of Abkhazia Dima Jaiani, who has often been criticized by NGOs for his homophobic and anti-Western statements[25]:

Dima Jaiani, Ministre of Education anc Culture of Abkhazia: “Pedarasty is not Europe! And If Europe is pederasty, than I don’t want such Europe!”

 

Dima Jaiani was appointed to this position in 2013. Prior to that he had been a member of the Public Assembly – organization connected to Nino Burjanadze’s Democratic Movement.

4.4. Obiektivi and its partner media outlets and NGOs 

Research conducted by the Media Development Foundation[26] makes it clear that Obiektivi and its partner media outlets have identical editorial policy and are leaders in promoting anti-Western sentiments, hate speech, xenophobia and homophobia (see annexes, p. 35). These same media outlets rely on the Russian sources which, besides incorrect interpretations regarding values, often blatantly fabricate information and mislead the public.

The infographics below: 1. Shows Russian-language sources relied on by the media union Obiektivi and its partner organizations Georgia and the World  (Geworld.ge) and Saqinformi in their reporting (February, 2014-2015)[27]. 

Infographic 1.

Russian-language films in violation of law. Russian-language films were aired by Obiektivi with violation of the law on broadcasting. Specifically, Andrei Kondrashov’s film Crimea – The Road Back to Motherland on 22 March 2015 and Vladimir Soloviov’s film President on 3 May were aired in Russian language without subtitles in Georgia’s state language.

According to article 51¹ of the law on broadcasting, “films in a non-state language must be broadcasted only duplicated in Georgia’s state language”, and according to the second section of the same article, “the Commission [GNCC] can establish obligations for general and specialized broadcasters to place in the weekly schedule a film in non-state language (except series) in its original language(s), without it being duplicated in the state language, with subtitles in Georgia’s state language”. According to the Commission’s resolution from 30 October 2009, “Feature and documentary films in non-state language (all those except films in Georgian and Abkhazian languages), TV shows and series, can be broadcasted by a private (general or special) license holder and by the Public Broadcaster when duplicated in the Georgian language, and in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia – in Georgian or Abkhazian language".

On 19 May Media Development Foundation addressed the Georgian Natioinal Communication Commission (GNCC) and requested to the study the violation of the law and the GNCC’s resolution by the media union Obiektivi while broadcasting Russian-language films[28]. The GNCC launched administrative proceedings regarding this case.

Geworld.ge and Saqinformi. Besides Obiektivi, its partners - Geworld.ge  and Saqinform - relied on Russian-language sources as well. These outlets have openly pro-Russian editorial policy and, together with other outlets presented in this report, are leaders in hate speech, homophobia, xenophobia and anti-Western sentiments. The IDFI’s research “Russian Influence in the Georgian NGO Sector and Media”[29] highlights pro-Russian organizations’ and their satellite media outlets’ connections with various other media outlets, including media union Obiektivi.  According to this study, the publisher of internet portals Geworld.ge and Saqinformi is organization Historical Heritage, which is a partner of Eurasian Institute supporting Georgia joining Eurasian Union and has strongly anti-Western rhetoric.

Each Wednesday at 11:30 Obiektivi TV and radio broadcast weekly TV program “Hour of Geworld” that present overview of the newspaper “Georgia and the World” (Geworld).  This newspaper, besides its very strongly anti-Western and xenophobic sentiments, widely promotes support to the Kremlin’s policies. Online version of the newspaper published President Dmitry Medvedev’s address to its publishing organization Historical Heritage[30].

Valeri Kvaratskhelia, one of the anchors of Obiektivi talk show Night Studio, actively cooperates with Geworld.ge. At the same time, Kvaratskhelia actively participates in the events organized in Georgia by the Kremlin-connected organizations Historical Heritage and Center for Problems of Globalization[31].

Asaval-Dasavali. There is also another media outlet promoted by Obiektivi TV and radio, which is notable for hate speech and anti-Western sentiments. Every Monday at 11:30 Obiektivi airs TV program “Hour of Asaval-Dasavali”. This newspaper’s platform is more of ethno-nationalistic nature, but, as demonstrated by the MDF’s research, its content is identical to the narrative of openly pro-Russian outlets. 

4.5. Obiektivi and political union Alliance of Patriots’

One of the co-founder of media union Obiektivi is a member of Alliance of Patriots’ Irma Inashvili. According to the Obiektivi license documents, on 11 July 2013 Media House Obiektivi Ltd. and Media Union Obiektivi addressed the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) in order to transfer private broadcasting licenses #B62 and #B114 from Media House Obiektivi Ltd. to Media Union Obiektivi. Owner of 28.5% share of Media House Obiektivi Ltd., according to the public registry data from 2013, is Irma Inashvili.

According to the GNCC’s decision #511/5 (16 August 2013), it is clear that during the transfer of license, board members of Media Union Obiektivi were Irma Inashvili, Mamuka Gobechia and Regan Teloyani.  The GNCC’s decision also says that Chairman of the board Irakli Tsilikashvili confirmed in his compliance declaration that the license applicant and/or its beneficial owners do not represent a political party or any political party official.

According to the registry of political organizations, the Alliance of Patriots’ is registered on 22 January 2013. According to the party founding documents received by request from the Public Registry, the Alliance of Patriots’  held its founding congress on 19 December 2012. The congress protocol indicates that the chairman of the organization is David Tarkhan-Mouravi, while identities of secretary general and chairperson of audit commission are concealed and establishing them by these documents is impossible. The party does not have a website where it would be possible to check this data, but media union Obiektivi news call Irma Inashvili the Secretary General of Patriots Alliance[32], while Mamuka Gobechia, who at the moment of the transfer of license (16 August 2013) was board member of media union Obiektivi, is anchoring Politikuri Azri (Political Opinion) TV program by Sundays at 16:30 on Obiektivi and speaks there on behalf of the Alliance of Patriots’ („I am happy to represent this political organization“).[33] Mamuka Gobechia also spoke for the Patriots Alliance on Palitra TV[34] while assessing the local elections of 2014, saying the following: 

Mamuka Gobechia, Allaince of Patriots, Obiektivi anchor: “We [Alliance of Patriots’] are not a new organization… This is a team of people who created media-inion Obiketivi in 2003”.

Annex 3. Charter of the Patriots Alliance, the names of secretary general and chairperson of audit commission are concealed by the Public Registry.

Because the Public Registry does not fully publicize the party’s founding documents it is impossible to establish whether at the time of the transfer of license there was a conflict of interest in the media union Obiektivi, where Irma Inashvili and Mamuka Gobechia already were board members.

Public Register explains its decision by protecting personal information and appeals to the 1^st Part of Article 44 of Georgian administrative code, according to which “public agency must not publicize personal data without the person’s consent, or without the court’s decision in cases envisioned by law”.

Georgian organic law on Political Unions (Article 3) clarifies that creation and activities of a party are based on the following principles:

Basic principles of the foundation and activities of a party:

a) Voluntarity of membership of and withdrawal from party;

c) Elections and accountability;  

e) Publicity of the foundation and activities of a party.

Publicity of the foundation and activities of a party, elections and accountability, and general openness of political process also means openness of identities of the party leadership, which Public Registry interpreted in violation of the law and, along with secretary general and chairperson of audit commission, also concealed identities of members of the party’s 9-person executive agency, which had been elected by the party congress. The Public Registry’s decision is also questionable because the principle of personal data protection has been applied selectively and not in the case of the party’s chairman.

According to the public information available in the media, one of the anchors of Obiektivi talk show Night Studio, Soso Zaalishvili is also member of the Patriots Alliance. In the Voice of America report about the Patriots’ Alliance founding congress (22 December 2012) Soso Zaalishvili spoke as a member of Patriots Alliance and said that the goal of their political organization is the defeat of liberalism in Georgia[35].

According to Obiektivi TV schedule, various programs are also anchored by other members of the Patriots Alliance: Monday (19:30)  - „Literatura, Khelovneba, Suliereba” (Literature, Art, Spirituality) program  - party member Vazha Otarashvili; Tuesday (16:30) -  „Mebrdzol Devnilta Saati“ (Hour of Figting IDPs) – member of the party’s political council Ada Marshania; Sunday (16:30) - „Politikuri Azri“ (Political Opinion) – Mamuka Gobechia, Patriots Alliance. The Chairman of the party David Tarkhan-Mouravi promotes Turkophobic[36] and anti-Western[37] sentiments mostly through Obiektivi broadcasts:

Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, Alliance of Patriots: “Never during its existence Turkey did any good neither for Georgia, nor for any European country or anyone else in the World. For all its history Turkey was conqueror destroying states and people...  Turkey wants to occupy Georgia again and does not hide this desire”.

Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, Alliance of Patriots: “Europe actually destroyed Greece, erased its economy, trampled upon its culture, morals, orthodox Christianity… Bondo Mdzinarishvili, presenter: “In other words, this is the fight against Orthodox Christianity.” Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi: “Of course and seeing that, pro-Russian sentiments have been on the rise there because Russia is the Orthodox Christian country too”.

 

5. Other media outlets

Other media outlets notable for the use of hate speech and promotion of anti-Western sentiments also received financing from the budget for placing advertisement in 2013-2014. These outlets include: Sakartvelos Respublika newspaper (63 923, 33 lari), Alia Holding - newspapers Alia and Kviris Chronika (48 650 lari), also Asaval-Dasavali newspaper (1 200 lari).

Sakartvelos Respublika.  The largest financing has been received by Sakartvelos Respublika newspaper, which in the past was printed under the names of “Communist” and “Akhali Sakartvelo”. MDF does not conduct regular monitoring of this newspaper, but content analysis of its several issues, randomly chosen, made clear the homophobic and xenophobic character of its editorial policy. We shall bring several headlines and illustration from Sakartvelos Respublika as an example: “Does the road towards NATO and Europe go through the Georgians’ asses? (corresponding illustration is attached)“[38], "Before we have turned into Sodom and Gomorra" „France turned pederast, Vladimer “the Strong Man” and a lawyer in Nakhalovka”[39], „Will Georgia turn Chinese or Wonderful?“[40]  and others.

The following public agencies have transferred money to this outlets:

Table 3. Value of service agreements signed between public institutions and Sakartvelos Respublika newspaper.

Alia Holding. The state agencies have also service contracts with Alia Holding, the newspapers of which – Alia and Kviris Chronika – are also notable for hate speech, homophobia and anti-Western sentiments. As has been already noted, these data are not full, since as of now the Agricultural Projects’ Management Agency has not complied with the court decision and has not provided information on what funds had been allocated by the Agency for Alia and Kviris Chronika newspapers from the 1 043 845,57  lari the Agency had transferred to the media in 2013-2014.

The following state agencies have contracts with the newspapers in the Alia Holding:

Table 4. Value of service agreements signed between public institutions and Alia Holding.

Asaval-Dasavali. The least financing from the state agencies, according to existing data, has been received by Asaval-Dasavali newspaper, which is the print media leader in hate speech and homophobia. In 2013 Social Service Agency of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs signed service contract for 1200 lari for advertisements with Asaval-Dasavali.

6. Conclusions and recommendations

The following issues have been identified by the study:

• Spending of the budgetary funds in media is not transparent, especially regarding the media outlets whose editorial policy is blatantly based on hate speech and various forms of discrimination. Existing practice contradicts international norms which stipulate the states’ anti-discrimination policy.
• In the case of the Public Broadcaster we have a situation when there probably is indirect financing of an Obiektivi TV program anchor at the Public Broadcaster’s expense. There also is a conflict of interest in the case of its Brussels bureau correspondent regarding not only bias of values, but also his party affiliation.
• State agencies violate requirements of the law, according to which they are prohibited from sponsoring TV programs and interfering in editorial decisions. Such relations are often formalized by contracts between the state agencies and media outlets.
• Articles of the General Administrative Code regarding freedom of information in practice meet obstacle in the form of both non-provision of data and, in the case of legal entities of public law and non-profit legal entities, questionable interpretation of legislation.
• Public Registry’s justifications of non-provision of information regarding individuals engaged in public political process by protection of personal data contradict the fundamental principle of publicity of establishment and functioning of political parties.
• Court cases regarding provision of information are prolonged ones, which hinders timely informing the general public.

In order to fix these problems the following is important:

• The government of Georgia and its specific agencies must take into account ECRI recommendations #7 on the national legislation and refrain from signing contracts with the organizations that have discriminatory editorial policy.
• On the basis ECRI recommendations they must work out regulations which make compliance with and support of anti-discrimination policy by the other side a pre-condition for making contracts.
• State agencies must publicize the funds transferred to media for advertisements and publishing of information. They should publish this data on their websites proactively.
• The Public Broadcaster should react on the basis of the Monitoring Council’s recommendations and study the case of conflict of interest.
• Georgian National Communications Commission must effectively monitor compliance with the advertisement legislation, so that all media outlets have equal conditions; particular attention should be paid to the sponsoring of those programs in the cases of which administrative violations have already been found.
• State agencies should not sign contracts that contain obligations which contradict the law and in some cases constitute interference in the editorial activities.
• Public Registry must fully publicize and make accessible online the data on political parties, just like it is in the case of other legal entities.
• The Parliament should review the part of the article on freedom of information of the Administrative Code which regulates access to public information, and decrease the timeframe of hearings of such cases in courts in the interest of timely obtainment of public information.

Annex 4. Tables and charters from annual media monitoring report (February 2014- February 2015).

Attached files:

• Public Funds for Media Promoting Hate Speech and Anti-Western Sentiments

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Introduction

The Media Development Foundation (MDF) conducts monitoring of budget amounts spent on the release of information. The monitoring is aimed at studying how and why the budgetary funds are allocated to separate media outlets.

On the first stage of the research, the MDF applied to 19 ministries and the State Chancellery of Georgia asking for the information on the amounts these state entities transferred to media outlets for the latter to release information and render advertising and other services, and the nature of services delivered by media outletsin 2013-2014.

Of these 20 public institutions only one – the Ministry of Internal Affairs – failed to supply the requested information within the terms established by the law. An administrative complaint was filed against this violation.

This preliminary report reflects amounts allocated from budgets of the ministries to news agencies for the preparation and release of information as well as the delivery of other similar services and does not reflect similar services delivered to legal entities in public lawsubordinated to these ministries.

We will analyze the distribution of advertising among other types of media outlets, including instances of surreptitious advertising and programs sponsored by state entities, in the next research.

Method

The research involved the analysis of the information obtained from public entities. In particular, the following information was requested:

1. The aggregate amount transferred to media outlets in 2013-2014 as well as amounts transferred to individual media outlets by the ministries and State Chancellery;
2. Copies of contracts (2013-2014) requiring from media outlets to release information, advertise for and deliver other services to ministries and the State Chancellery;
3. Documents certifying the delivery and acceptance of services specified in the contracts (2013-2014).

Findings of research

• The Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection refers to Prime Minister’s order (#727) as the basis for the contracts with four news agencies (IPN, PIA, GHN, medianews.ge) signedin the pre-election period, which provides the ground to assume that the subsidizing of news agencies from the budget is coordinated on the government level;
• The majority of ministries (11 ministries) and the State Chancellery of Georgia have contracts with Akhali Ambebi LLC – InterPressNews agency (IPN); the second by the number of awarded contracts is PirWeli LLC – news agency PIA (five ministries);
• The leader among news agencies by the size of budget funding in 2013-2014 is IPN (101,539.8 GEL), followed by GHN (48,690 GEL) and PIA (43,033.8 GEL). According to the available information, the total value of contracts signed with news agencies makes up 254,774.2 GEL over the same period. The highest number of contracts with news agencies is signed by the Ministry of Defense (eight news agencies);
• Criteria for the selection of news agencies are unclear, including the budgetary financing for such news outlets which publish homophobic materials on their websites (for example, PIA reprinted the article published in Asaval-Dasavali newspaper titled “Conchita Hosted at Avlabari Residence”);[1]
• By financing eight news agencies from the budget and supplying them with information in advance, the state places other news agencies in unequal conditions, especially considering that it deals withthe public information which must be equally available for everyone;
• The majority of these ministries (13 out of 18) and the State Chancellery pay the news agencies for such services which include the coverage of activities in accordance with the requirements of these state entities and the release of information supplied by them, which is the infringement of editorial independence of media outlets;
• The contracts of the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection with three news agencies (PIA, GHN, medianews.ge) contain additional requirementsaccording to which the ministry determines the newsworthiness of supplied information (obliging news agencies to publish supplied information as special, or second and third category news) and the speed of publication of supplied information (within 30 minutes and, in special cases, within 10 minutes of receiving information); also, the ministry obliges the news agencies to send ministry’s short text announcements to editors and producers of other media outlets, which represents a responsibility of entity’s press service, and to promote its statuses, photo, video and other materials via social networks;
• Services procured by other ministries include: the attendance of events and news briefings by journalists; the coverage of events in accordance with the requirements of purchaser; the conduct of interviews on agreed topics; the selection of photos of the day, and other services that fall within the realm of journalistic autonomy;
• Those materials that are financed by purchaser do not represent artical or independent coverage. By essence, such materials are promotional publications and therefore, must be clearly separated from editorial materials and sign posted as advertisement, something that news agencies fail to do. Providing advertisement and editorial materials in the category of news misleads audience because it is not given an opportunity to distinguish between the materials financed by ministries and the materials produced independently by media outlets;
• Documents certifying the delivery and acceptance of services reflect the monthly amount of services provided by news agencies without specifying the types of services, which might be misused;
• Public opinion polls published on the website of IPN does not indicate who commissioned them, thereby making it difficult to establish which particular polls have been financed by the State Chancellery;
• From existing 18 ministries only five (those of Justice, Education and Science, Energy, Regional Development and Infrastructure, and Finance) do not procure the service of news agencies and some of them applies advertising in interaction with public.
•  

The order #727 of Prime Minister of Georgia

On 30 April 2014, the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection signed contracts with four news agencies - the InterPressNews (IPN), PirWeli (PIA), GHN and Medianews. All the four contracts refer to the order #727 of Prime Minister of Georgia, dated 23 April 2014, as the basis for the procurement of information service.

The mentioned order, signed by Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili, envisages the purchase of the service of news agencies with the total value of 19,720 GEL for ensuring the unimpeded conduct of events of state and public importance by the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection within limited time frames.

A subject of contract in the case of three news agencies (PIA, GHN, medianews.ge) is almost identical and include such obligations that infringe a journalistic autonomy and run counter to the principle of separation of advertisement from editorial materials:

• Service provider shall publish or/and if need be, produce and publish (announcements/information about the activity of and events conducted by the purchaser, photos, record interviews, et cetera) news supplied by the purchaser on a webpage….;
• Service provider shall release news supplied by the purchaser via various means of media;
• Service provider shall ensure the placement of information as the second and third category news in the amount as supplied by the purchaser;
• Service provider shall publish news of special importance in the place assigned for and on conditions of the first category news (the special importance of news is determined by the purchaser);
• After two hours, the first category information may be downgraded to the news of second and third categories;
• Service provider shall send short text messages of announcement to editors and producers of media outlets maximum four times per month;
• Service provider shall ensure the publication of materials supplied by the purchaser within 30 minutes, also in case of urgency, within the shortest possible time, but no later than within 10 minutes of receiving the news;
• Published information shall be available for the purchaser at any time (with or/and without relevant authorization).

According to the contracts, two agencies (PIA, GHN) are obliged to additionally promote the materials produced in agreement with the purchaser and about the purchaser in the form of photo album, video or Facebook status on the Facebook pageof news agency.

PIA: “Service provider shall, upon prior agreement with the purchaser, place a paid advertisement conveying information about events and novelties of the ministry in various possible formats (photo album , video, status, et cetera) on the Facebook page of the service provider (862 GEL per month).”

In case of GHN, a monthly fee for advertising on Facebook comprises 300 GEL.

It is worth noting that on 4 November, on its own Facebook page, PIA news agency placed the information about Prime Minister firing Defense Minister as a form of such advertisement; on 5 November, the same Facebook page published the information of Daijesti.pia.ge[2] about accusations of Chairman of Association of Human Rights Defenders Nikoloz Mzhavanadze against the former Defense Minister and a quote from the article titled “Alasania is having fun with his girlfriend in Paris on the account of money allocated for our soldiers,”as an advertisement.

Documents certifying the delivery and acceptance of services show costs of services rendered monthly without specifying those materials which the ministry paid for, thus making it difficult to examine whether contractual amounts where spent as intended.

A contract with InterPressNews (IPN) is different in that it also envisages the coverage of the activity of the purchaser:

• Service provider shall ensures the preparation of announcements/information about - and the coverage of - the activities of the purchaser and events held by it, also to communicate this information to other media outlets, maximum 10 times a month. Service provider shall ensure photographing of events maximum twice a month.

That 19,720 GEL allocated on the basis of Prime Minister’s order was distributed among news agencies in the following way:

All the four contracts are entered into for the term from between 1 May 2014 and 31 December 2014. It is worth noting that both the issuance of the order of the government (23 April) and signing of the contracts (30 April) took place in the run up to local elections held on 15 June, which might be evaluated as the use of administrative resources.

Distribution of amounts by ministries

The procurement of services of news agencies, which mainly involves the coverage of ministries’ activities by agencies, is practiced in 13 ministries out of existing 18 ministries (we lack the data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs at this stage). However, in contrast to the Ministry of Culture, other contracts do not refer to the order of the Prime Minister as the basis of contracts.

The majority of ministries (11 in total) and the State Chancellery have contracts with InterPressNews (101,539.8 GEL); the second by the number of signed contracts (with five ministries) is GHN (48,690 GEL).

Defense Ministry has contracts with eights news agencies with the total value comprising 129,840 GEL in 2013-2014.

According to contracts signed with news agencies for 2013 and 2014, amounts were distributed in the following way:

Subject of contracts

Apart from services specified in contracts awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection, the contracts of other ministries envisage the following types of services:

• Attendance of journalists on events/news conferences and coverage thereof (Ministry of agriculture and IPN; the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia and GHN, PIA);
• Attendance of events by media outlets and the release of purchaser’s information by them(the State Ministry for Euro-Atlantic Integration and IPN);
• Comments on topical issues for the aim of popularizing a person or an organization: interview on preliminarily agreed issues (Ministry of Agriculture and IPN); preparation of interviews and comments about topics important and interesting for the Ministry (Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs; the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance; the State Ministry for Euro-Atlantic Integration and IPN; Ministry of Defense and GHN);
• Service provider shall cover novelties at the purchaser’s will by means of agencies InterPressNews/For.ge/Medianews / ExpressNews / Caucasuspress (Defense Ministry);
• In accordance with the requirement, shall ensure the communication to broad masses and the coverage of presentations, events, news briefings, conferences that are important for the purchaser (Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development; the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance; the State Ministry for Euro-Atlantic Integration; Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs; the State Ministry on Diaspora Issues and IPN);
• Service provider, according to the requirement of persons assigned in contracts (persons assigned by the head of department for public affairs, persons assigned by the head of department for public procurements), shall publish on its webpage: press releases, announcements, comments, including in English language: according to the requirement, ensures the purchaser with analytical materials (Defense Ministry and GHN);
• Placement of supplied photos as photos of the day (in unlimited amount) (Defense Ministry and GHN);
• Upon the agreement with employees of the Ministry, shall prepare analytical letters about the defense sphere, an interview shall be prepared with a representative of the Defense Ministry once a month (Defense Ministry and For.ge).

According to a contract, the State Chancellery of Georgia has purchased a VIP service from the news agency IPN, the annual cost of which totals 4,995 GEL. The contract envisages the communication with other media outlets as well as, upon the requirement of the purchaser, the preparation of journalistic materials and opinion polls.

• Upon the requirement, the preparation/coverage of announcement and information about the activity of the purchaser and events conducted thereof, also the release of that material for other media outlets (maximum 15 times a month);
• The invitation of media outlets to events… preparation of press release and corresponding photo material and release thereof for media outlets.
• Organizing and planning interaction with media;
• Sociological survey (two telephone surveys a year);
• Upon the requirement of a purchaser, preparation and release of interviews and comments on important and interesting topics (maximum twice a month);
• The conduct of opinion poll on an agreed topic through the website of IPN (maximum once a month).

There is only one survey, conducted by IPN jointly with Kviris Palitra,[3] available in the section of opinion polls on the webpage of InterPressNews ("The majority of respondents favor the continuation of Abashidze-Karasin talks[4]). This poll does not indicate the methodology of the poll nor does it provide such important details as who commissioned and financed the poll; all this information, however, is an essential standard for the coverage of sociological surveys in media and serves the aim of providing comprehensive information to society about the objectives of the survey.

Nor do other surveys conducted by Kviris Palitra newspaper, published on the webpage of InterPressNews, indicate who commissioned them (for example, “The majority of respondents view Irakli Garibashvili as the most successful minister today,”[5] “The majority of respondents name Irakli Garibashvili as the most influential politician,”[6] “Most of respondents believe that the level of crime remains the same, though the media coverage of crime increased,”[7] "The majority of readers positively assess the toughening of police control,[8] "More readers evaluate the activity of police positively than negatively",[9] "The majority of readers assess the situation with the rule of law as satisfactory,[10] "The majority of readers consider the availability of health care as the biggest achievement"[11]).

Thus, according to the results of surveys published on the webpage, it is difficult to establish which of them was financed by the State Chancellery from the budget.

Distribution of amounts by news agencies

According to available information, in 2013-2014,the largest budget financing among the new agencies has been received by IPN (101,539.8 GEL), which is followed by GHN at 48,690 GEL, PIA at 43,033.8 GEL, and For.ge at 41,330 GEL. A relatively smaller financing has been allocated to News.ge at 6,580 GEL, ExpressNews at 6,200 GEL, Medianews.ge at 4,300 GEL, Caucasuspress.ge at 3,100 GEL. The total value of contracts awarded to news agencies by ministries (except Ministry of Internal Affairs) and the State Chancellery in 2013-2014 comprises 254,774.2 GEL.

The distribution of amounts among news agencies by years looks as following:

Recommendations

To the Georgian government:

• To review the existing practice of funding news agencies,which impedes the free competition and equal availability of public information for all media outlets;
• To adequately consider the suitability of imposing such contractual obligations on media outlets, that constitute the interference in the editorial autonomy on the account of state budget;
• To develop criteria for selecting those organizations which are financed from the state budget for the aim of conducting information campaign, and to make this process transparent in order to avoid any impression that the use of budget amounts serves the aim of subsidizing this or that media outlets rather than informing the public;
• To make documentation about delivered services transparent and detailed in order to rule out the use of budget means for the coverage of internal political confrontations or the attacks on concrete individuals;
• Ministries and other public entities must publish on their web-pages the information concerning their annual promotional budgets for conducting information campaigns and detailed spending of these budgets.

To news agencies:

• Observe professional standards and clearly separate editorial and promotional materials in order to avoid the misleading of audience and to make expenditures of government transparent;
• There is a conflict of interests between journalistic activity and the provision of PR service to outside organizations; it is therefore important for media outlets to clearly separate such services;
• When covering sociological surveys conducted by news agencies or other organization, to observe standards established for the coverage of such surveys; in particular, to indicate such details as the organization that commission and financed the poll, the method of selecting respondents, et cetera.

Attached files:

• Media Receiving Funding from the State Budget Unequal Competition among News Agencies

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