Media Development Foundation, MDF presented the media monitoring report and new publications at Frontline Georgia Club on 2 June.

Tamar Kintsurashvili, chairperson of the MDF board presented findings of manifestations of hate speech and xenophobia, including Turkophobia and Islamophobia, which were observed over the reporting period. Asaval-Dasavali newspaper was in the lead by the number of violations, followed by media union Obiektivi, news websites Sakinformi andGeorgia&world,KvirisQronikanewspaper, Kavkasia TV channel and newspapers Alia. Some cases were revealed in Rezonansi, KvirisPalitra, Rustavi 2 TV company, newspaper Prime Time, news websites PirWeli and the Georgian Public Broadcaster.

In case of political parties, the most outstanding for discriminative statements are the Alliance of Patriots, People’s Council which is affiliated with Nino Burjanadze-United Democrats, the Georgian Dream and Nino Burjanadze-United Democrats. Some cases were revealed from Labor Party, United National Movement, Free Georgia, People’s Party, Union of Traditionalists and political party Imedi. Justice Minister was the highest-ranking government official who made xenophobic statements.

By types of Xenophobia, the most wide-spread was Turkophobia and Islamophobia (200), followed by phobias towards various ethnic groups and nationalities and foreigners, in general (133), discrimination on religious grounds (67) and Armenophobia (36).

Among media sources Turkophobia and Islamophobia was most frequently incited by media union Obiektivi, among political parties by the Alliance of Patriots.

Tamar Khorbaladze, Executive Director of Media Development Foundation, MDF presented a research on Homophobia and Gender Identity, in which the following tendencies were identified: The most outstanding in homophobia was Asaval-Dasavali newspaper, KvirisChronika, online editions - Geworld.ge ,Sakinformi and Media union Obiektivi. Some cases were identified in newspaper Alia, Prime Time, Rezonansi, news agency Pirweli and TV company Kavkasia. Among political parties the leader in homophobic expressions was the political union Burjanadze-United Democrats together with Georgian Dream, Alliance of Patriots and Labor Party. These were followed by, People's Council, Free Georgia, Free Democrats and People’s Party.

Gender discrimination and stereotyping was most frequently applied by media and representatives of public. The most of cases were observed in KvirisChronika and Asaval-Dasavali.

The following tendencies were highlighted during the presentation of the Anti-western Propaganda edition:

Among media outlets, anti-Western attitudes were most promoted in the media union Obiektivi , online news and information agencies Sakinformi and Georgia & World, newspapers Asaval-Dasavali , KvirisQronika and Alia. From among political parties, anti-Western attitudes were most frequently expressed by Nino Burjanadze-United Democrats, also People’s Council, affiliated with Nino Burjanadze-United Democrats and Alliance of Patriots. These were followed by Free Georgia and Georgian Dream. Obieqtivi, Sakinformi and Geworld.ge most frequently rely on Russian-language media sources. 

The monitoring was conducted during the period from 17 February 2014 to 18 February 2015 and covered six newspapers, seven TV channels and six news and information websites.

The study was implemented within the framework of the project "Advancing National Integration in Georgia” implemented by United Nations Association of Georgia with the support of the United States Agency for International Development.