Owner of pro-government channel Imedi wants to buy Georgian office of RFE/RL

Georgia’s pro-government television channel Imedi has reported that its owner, Irakli Rukhadze, wants to purchase the Georgian office of RFE/RL for the Imedi group.

The proposal reportedly pertains not just to the office space, but also to RFE/RL’s assets and brand in Georgia.

According to Imedi, Rukhadze ‘is trying to talk to the leadership of RFE/RL’s local and head office about the issue’.

Rukhadze’s offer comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding that RFE/RL’s parent agency, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), reduce its operations.

A separate letter circulated in the media explicitly stated RFE/RL’s grant had been terminated, pursuant to the executive order. Several days later, RFE/RL announced it was suing USAGM in response.

The outlet has been operating in the Georgian language since 1953.

Behind Imedi’s pro-government stance

In 2018, Rukhadze effectively took control of the channel, completing the purchase by investment holding Hunnewell Partners in 2021.

Rukhadze himself is an outspoken supporter of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and Imedi is well known for its pro-government reporting stance.

Though Rukhadze claimed the channel maintains editorial independence in an interview in January with RFE/RL, he himself noted that no coverage was given to the severe beating of journalist Guram Rogava by police during the protests due to Rogava’s prior criticism of Imedi.

Rukhadze also emphasised that the channel would remain ‘on Ivanishvili’s side’ as long as there was an ‘opposing side’, claiming that if Imedi did criticise Georgian Dream, this would lead to ‘the person I fear the most’ returning to power, referring to former President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Prior to the 2024 parliamentary elections, Rukhadze said Imedi only exists so that the ‘UNM [the opposition United National Movement party] and its affiliates would never return to governance of the country’.

RFE/RL’s Georgian office has not released any response to Rukhadze’s proposal as of the time of this publication.

A cog in the ‘machine of evil’: ex-TV Imedi employees on working for Georgian Dream’s spin machine

TV Imedi has a stated goal — to prevent the opposition from gaining power — a goal former employees say has overtaken all questions of ethics.

OC MediaMikheil Gvadzabia