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Georgian TV: parallel realities after disputed election
from BBC MONITOR 33
Georgians are no strangers to divergent narratives on their TV screens, given the polarised nature of the country’s media. Since the 26 October parliamentary election, the two top-rated TV stations – governmentfriendly Imedi and pro-opposition Mtavari – have been presenting what appear to be parallel realities to their viewers. Georgia specialist Maka Dzneladze reports.
The governing Georgian Dream (GD) party was declared the winner of the parliamentary election with 53.93% of the vote, but the four opposition groups that won seats – Coalition for Change, Unity-National Movement, Strong Georgia and Gakharia for Georgia – plus President Salome Zourabichvili have all rejected the official result and launched street protests demanding a repeat election.
GD says it won the election fairly and rejects reports of voter fraud. Imedi has labelled the fraud allegations “the death throes of losers”. Mtavari TV, meanwhile, has said GD “stole” the election in a Russian-style “special operation”, and openly encouraged participation in the protests.
Television is the most popular medium in Georgia, followed by social and online media, according to a September-October 2023 survey by the US International Republican Institute.
Imedi’s declared mission is not to allow the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party – which ruled from 2004 to 2012 – to return to power. Mtavari TV is a die-hard critic of the government, and its former director is a leading opposition figure.
What are the key narratives on opposition TV?
Mtavari TV has pushed the following narratives:
GD “stole” the election, and its official result is “illegitimate”.
Billionaire GD founder Bidzina Ivanishvili “carried out a Russian special operation” through the electoral administration.
Multiple methods of rigging included fraudulent use of people’s state ID cards and government supporters voting multiple times at different precincts, as well as ballot-stuffing.
“Armed people” were aggressively campaigning for the ruling party outside polling stations.
As the host of Mtavari TV’s weekly current affairs magazine, Post Factum, put it on 3 November: “The pro-Russian oligarch’s regime simply stole the choice of the citizens of this country on 26 October and rigged the election results. Irregularities were on an unprecedented scale. Alongside GD supporters, the scheme also involved the Central Electoral Administration, law enforcement system and even the criminal underworld and the State Security Service. The 26 October election cannot be assessed as free and fair and no international observers have described it as such.”
What are the key narratives on progovernment TV?
Imedi TV has pushed the following narratives:
• The opposition and the proopposition president are bad losers.
• The opposition has no proof of voter fraud, and spread “disinformation” through their affiliated media.
• The opposition are “radicals” ready to propel the country into war at the behest of shadowy forces outside the country, and have no popular support inside Georgia.
In assessing the situation, the host of Imedi’s weekly current affairs magazine, Imedis Kvira, on 3 November recalled a police raid on the station’s headquarters back in 2007 when it was cheering on protests against the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili’s UNM.
“Those who seized Imedi, terrorised the Georgian media, severely beat and tortured people on 7 November [2007], those who cracked down on people expressing their dissent in the most peaceful way by holding a hunger strike, are now crying that they did not lose the 26 October vote, and that the election was stolen.”
What are the narratives on the protests?
Imedi said that the opposition was following instructions by the McCain Institute, a US pro-democracy think tank, and had yet to deliver on the main task – to “radicalise the process”, stage street protests, and attempt to change the government against the will of the people.
Imedi also rehashed a well-established narrative that a shadowy global network is seeking to replace Georgia’s government with one that will impose sanctions on Russia and open a second front against it in the Ukraine war –resulting in Georgia’s economic and physical devastation. But, according to Imedi, the opposition’s “coup plan” is doomed, as are its alleged attempts to destroy Georgia.
In contrast, Mtavari TV has framed the street protest as “the national choice to defend” Georgia and its future from the “illegitimate authorities” headed by an oligarch who sought to “buy everyone and everything”.
TV narratives on voting day?
Polarisation reached its height on election night, when, as soon as the polls closed, Imedi and opposition channels released vastly different exit polls effectively declaring victory for their preferred side. The one commissioned by Imedi showed the ruling party on 56%, while Mtavari’s gave them just 42%.
For roughly an hour and half, before the official results were announced, viewers of Mtavari and other opposition channels believed they had won. At one point, Mtavari ran a large caption reading “Georgia wins” and, at another, a presenter declared that Ivanishvili’s “oligarchic regime is over”.
