
Gakharia pelted with eggs at Tbilisi International Airport
Giorgi Gakharia split with the ruling Georgian Dream party in 2021.
A Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) employee has claimed that the channel’s management requested frequent shots of Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze during the Georgian football team’s matches in 2024.
The claim was made by Kakha Melikidze, a live broadcast director at the channel, during a supervisory board meeting on Monday.
Melikidze, who has been working for GPB since 1989, recalled several instances, including Georgia’s game against Luxembourg in March 2024, where the channel’s media director, Rusudan Manjgaladze contacted him before the match and said, ‘Kakha, get ready, we need to show the Prime Minister as much as possible on air’.
‘I told her, I can’t do that’, Melikidze said, adding that he explained to Manjgaladze that UEFA sets regulations dictating how much airtime a person can get during a broadcast of a match.
According to Melikidze, a UEFA representative told the broadcaster that footage of the prime minister, as the head of state, should only be shown once, specifically in the beginning of the match while the national anthem of Georgia was being played. Despite UEFA’s directive, Melikidze claimed the requests to frequently show Kobakhidze from Manjgaladze continued.
The live broadcast director also said he received a warning from a channel representative, whose identity he did not disclose, after showing footage of President Salome Zourabichvili, who is in conflict with the Georgian Dream government, at the game.
‘They explained to me that it was not right to show the president on air and no one had given me that task. [They told me], “You think we’re still at the Public Broadcaster? We’re dependent on parliament, and if we don’t do things the way we should, they’ll reduce our funding and we’ll face problems”’, said Melikidze.
He also mentioned that similar requests continued afterward, adding that during the Georgia–Albania match in October 2024, Manjgaladze sent other staff members to him with the same request.
On Tuesday, during a supervisory board meeting, both Manjgaladze and the staff members responsible for sports coverage denied Melikidze’s accusations, claiming that he was the one who violated UEFA standards.
According to Manjgaladze, she sent Melikidze only one message during the Georgia–Luxembourg match, asking him to show the government box at the stadium in line with UEFA standards, as it had not been shown with the proper timing during the national anthem. She added that representatives of the Georgian Football Federation also made the same request.
Regarding the Georgia-Albania match, Ani Chikovani, who claims to be one of the staff members Melikidze referred to, stated that Melikidze did not show the government box during the anthem at all, which violated UEFA’s standards. She said that this is what she asked him to correct during the match.
Chikovani then claimed that Melikidze, in response, verbally insulted her, GPB’s management, and the Georgian government.
The editorial policy of the GPB has been a subject of particular attention and criticism over the past two months, against the backdrop of demonstrations in response to the Georgian Dream’s suspension of the country’s EU membership bid.
Critics claim that the broadcaster is biassed towards the government and does not adequately cover current events, including not giving sufficient time to critics of the state. The broadcaster’s management has repeatedly denied these claims.
Daily protests continue to be held outside the GPB’s headquarters to protest its editorial policy. Some of the broadcaster’s employees have also expressed solidarity with the protests, believing that the GPB, as a channel funded by taxpayer money, is not properly fulfilling its duties.