M-TAG Annual Report

The program is implemented by IREX in partnership with local organizations Ethics Charter and Innova. The program's goal is achieved through a set of coordinated activities in support of three objectives: journalists demonstrate accurate and ethical reporting on public interest issues, regional media outlets demonstrate improved financial viability and transparency, and access to balanced and relevant information increases in the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. During the period from October to December 2020, the media operating environment in Georgia was influenced by two major factors: parliamentary elections and the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic led to a significant increase in infection rates, with Georgia becoming the world leader in the number of confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the preceding seven days. The government introduced a new set of restrictions to control the situation, including a curfew, intercity transport ban, and closure of non-essential shops and schools. The parliamentary elections were held on October 31, with Georgian Dream securing 90 seats out of 150. However, the opposition parties did not accept the results, alleging that the votes were rigged and that there were discrepancies in final vote counts. The opposition demanded that the chairperson of the Central Election Commission resign, that new elections be scheduled, and that the government free political prisoners. Georgian Dream did not agree to any of these demands. M-TAG's media partners faced significant challenges during this period, including the pandemic's impact on their journalists and family members, government-established restrictions on public transport, and difficulties in accessing public information and obtaining commentary from public officials. As a result, some media partners slowed content production, resulting in a decreased volume and less diverse content. Video materials became especially difficult to obtain, and many potential interviewees declined requests for interviews amid COVID-19 safety concerns. Despite these difficulties, M-TAG's media partners performed well overall, maintaining production, reporting on elections professionally, participating in trainings with enthusiasm, and publishing high-quality content under IREX-supported projects. Some media partners even managed to grow their audiences and collect more advertising than usual. IREX supported its partners with reporting on the October 31 elections and re-run elections on November 21. Many M-TAG partners re-branded their websites and social media pages for the elections and reported on the events of the day live. IREX also awarded subgrants for COVID-19 reporting to 12 media outlets, which produced a wide variety of media products for broadcast, web, and social media platforms in five languages. IREX launched an online course on COVID-19 and its impact, conducting the first three sessions in November and December. The sessions were delivered by four public health experts, and up to 25 journalists participated in each session. IREX also started to train its partners in the use of public data in reporting on COVID-19, conducting four sessions in December. Tamar Rukhadze, Rusudan Tskhomelidze, and Eka Melikidze provided focused trainings for various media partners, supporting them with the production of IREX grant-supported content and different editorial issues. Shota Gogishvili trained four media outlets in social media management and production.