The Georgian pro-government TV channel, Imedi, has accused leading online media covering the country, including OC Media, of operating as a ‘network’ for ‘foreign security services’, suggesting the Georgian State Security Service (SSG) was investigating their activities.
The report, which aired on the channel’s flagship analytical programme Imedis Kvira (‘Imedi’s week’) on Sunday, was rife with accusations against online media, including that they were engaged in ‘the systematic spread of disinformation’ and working according to ‘a unified plan written by external powers’, as well as attempting to obtain funding by bypassing the law.
The program specifically targeted 22 media platforms — including OC Media — behind the crowdfunding campaign ‘The Lights Must Stay On’ in August, which was launched following the ruling party’s adoption of laws restricting media funding from abroad.
Salome Khvedelidze
‘An anti-Georgian network operating under the guise of media and serving foreign security services against Georgia’, the programme’s host, Irakli Chikhladze, described the outlets in his introduction to the report. Like the report itself, his remarks were filled with a confrontational and alarmist tone toward online platforms critical of the government.
The report also hinted at possible interest from the SSG, with Chikhladze stating that ‘the Georgian security services have uncovered numerous anti-state plots, and what we are about to tell you now is only the tip of the iceberg of the vast amount of material we have obtained’.
The report also claimed that ‘information about every covert or overt network is in the hands of the Georgian security services’, while showing an overlaid shot of the SSG building. The programme cited an unnamed source for many of their claims, without clarifying further.
Asked if there were active investigations into online media agencies — like those targeting other government critics, including members of civil society — the SSG claimed they had already made a statement regarding ‘funding schemes’ in September. Their investigation was underway on suspicion of money laundering, they added.
While no such statement was available on the SSG’s website, a report published on 14 September by Imedis Kvira claiming that foreign intelligence services were behind the ongoing anti-government protests included a comment from the SSG.
‘Who may ultimately be identified as having potentially committed a crime is, naturally, impossible to say in advance — this depends on the evidence obtained’, the SSG told OC Media.
Asked how Imedi might know who or what the SSG was investigating and whether there had been any communication between the agency and the channel prior to the report’s airing, the SSG said the question was ‘interesting’.
‘It seems like you have already “determined”, or at least considered fully credible, the reports that Imedi indeed has information about what the Georgian security services are studying. Against this background, your request that we tell you about the journalists’ source — regardless of whether we know it or not — becomes even more “interesting” ’, they said.
‘As for communication between us and TV Imedi regarding the mentioned report, no such communication has taken place, and even if it had, we are not in a position to confirm to the authors of the report anything beyond what we are telling you’.
Following the broadcast, leading figures from the ruling Georgian Dream party, including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, voiced sharp criticism of independent online media.
‘Everyone can see how certain organisations funded from a specific foreign source are acting in a coordinated manner to hinder the development of our country’, Kobakhidze said on Monday.
‘Demonising critical thought’
Sunday evening’s report did not present specific evidence to substantiate Imedi’s claim that online media outlets were spreading disinformation, or that they were working for foreign intelligence services. Those targeted have denied the claims.
Mariam Nikuradze, co-founder of OC Media, dismissed the programme as ‘another attempt at propaganda to incite hate towards independent media in Georgia’.
‘It’s an attempt to portray us as enemies’, she added, saying that ‘the report itself is a mess and it’s hard to draw any conclusion from it’.
One focus of the report was coverage seen as critical of the Eagle Hills investment project in Georgia. The Emirati project has repeatedly been a subject of controversy in Georgia, including due to its classified nature.
Helena Bedwell
Coverage of the Eagle Hills project was one of the elements through which Imedi targeted OC Media as well as Nikuradze personally, accusing them of attempting to ‘blacken’ the company’s investment.
‘It […] gives the impression that they are unhappy with media reporting critically about the Eagle Hills investments in Georgia, a project which raises a lot of questions including among Georgian Dream supporters’, Nikuradze said.
Imedi’s focus on coverage of the project was also highlighted by Mautskebeli, an online platform that was among those targeted in Imedi’s Sunday report.
‘It is clear that the purpose of the report is to demonise critical thought and clear the way for secretive projects’, Mautskebeli said in a statement on Monday.
Imedi is the largest pro-government TV channel operating in Georgia. It consistently targets critics of the ruling Georgian Dream party, including the political opposition, civil society, activists, and media outlets critical of the government.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
