Russian TV channels gaining popularity in Georgia

Russian NTV and First TV Channel (Russian Public TV Channel – ORT) are the most popular foreign TV channels in Georgia.

These are the results of a survey devised by the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC), covering the last quarter of 2015.

2,700 direct interviews were conducted as part of the survey throughout the country.

According to survey findings:

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• Almost half of respondents (47.7%) claim that they watch foreign TV channels of which most of them mean Russian TV;
• According to 33% of respondents, they most often watch NTV, 22% ORT and 11% RTR;
• Apart from this, 12% of respondents claim they watch virtually every Russian TV channel.
• 3% of respondents are BBC viewers, while 16 % watch TV in the Armenian language.

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The GNCC survey does not specify the reason why Georgian audiences watch Russian national TV channels, or whether they watch news programs with the aim to obtain information or soap operas and TV shows for entertainment purposes. This issue was not part of the survey’s focus.

However, growing popularity of Russian TV channels is considered by many in Tbilisi as alarming.

Levan Avalishvili, Chairman of the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) NGO, is a co-founder of the www.damoukidebloba.com online platform, which was established based on public initiative. This platform analyses the spread of Russian propaganda and the so-called ‘soft power in Georgia’. In Avalishvili’s words, the aforesaid survey data is rather problematic:

‘According to this survey, people in Georgia mainly watch NTV and ORT…But they are not really the media. They are a branch of Russian state officialdom; a tool, tightly controlled by the Russian special services, which serves a particular goal – to spread and peddle Kremlin’s narratives’

Avalishvili believes it is necessary to fight against Russian propaganda. However, that shouldn’t be done through restrictions and counter-propaganda, but rather through the exposure of misleading information, like, for example, the Baltic countries do.

The GNCC’s ordered survey revealed one more interesting detail, which, according to Levan Avalishvili, proves the ineffectiveness of their method of restricting Russian TV channels:

• 64% of respondents say they use satellite broadcasting,

• 31% over-the-air broadcasting,

• 18.7% cable broadcasting

• and 9.7% Internet TV

‘The majority of the population gets information via satellite and it is physically impossible to impose restrictions on a satellite. Nearly 60% of the population, especially in rural areas, use satellite broadcasting, says Levan Avalishvili.

Levan Berdzenishvili, an MP from the parliamentary majority group and Chairman of the Parliament’s European Integration Committee, also believes it is necessary to fight against Russian propaganda, but not directly through restrictions.

‘In this case there should be legal regulations, requiring one to give answers to all the existing questions. Let’s commission the public-funded First TV channel to thoroughly study Russian propaganda and allocate some time to answer them in their own language. There is obviously a need for a Russian-language TV channel in Georgia. This way is better than just forbidding them completely,’- he said, emphasising the importance of the European experience in this regard.

‘Look, what the European community does. There is “Russia Today, which is broadcasted in their language. They tolerate that; they have made the decision to expose misleading information, and spend funds on this, says Berdzenishvili.

Source: Netgazeti.ge