Financial Transparency of Media 2022

The Media Development Foundation (MDF) has been researching the issue of financial transparency of the Georgian media environment for years now. The following report reflects the data of 2022 and is based on the analysis of the revenues declared by media broadcasters as demanded by the law and the practice of allocating budgetary funds for advertising and dissemination of information.

The data is based on the information retrieved from the State Procurement Agency, as well as additional information requested from state agencies, and, in some cases, on the content analysis of individual media outlets for the purpose of evaluating their editorial policy.

The main findings of the report are summarized in the introduction; The first part dealsA with the financial revenues of broadcasters, which broadcasters are obliged to declare based on the legislation. The second part of the study deals with the practice of allocating budgetary contracts for the purpose of advertising and information dissemination is divided according to different types of media – TV broadcasters, radio, online media, print, and social. A separate chapter is devoted to the spending of budgetary funds on social media, including contracts by which individual media were obliged to post materials on various Facebook groups and pages. The last part of the research provides information about media prone to hate speech and anti-Western editorial policy, which were contracted by budgetary organizations for advertising services. The last part also deals with media outlets that pursue pro-government editorial policy and are often involved in discrediting campaigns against the opponents of the government in a coordinated manner.

The following report was prepared within the framework of the project "Quality Media and Conscious Media Consumption for Resilient Society (ConMeCo)”, which is implemented by the Deutsche Welle Akademie in cooperation with the Media Development Foundation and the Human Rights Center.

Authors: Mariam Jikia, Mariam Pataridze, Arabella Kordzakhia

Editors: Mariam Pataridze, Tamar Kintsurashvili

Diagrams: Mariam Tsutskiridze

Link: Financial Transparency of Media 2022