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Election Media Monitoring

September 4 - September 22, 2012Civic Development Institute implemented the monitoring of 12 information portals during the period of September 4-22. As a result of the monitoring the following key findings were identified:

During the monitoring process, the websites are mainly divided into three categories: (1) those observing journalistic standards; (2) tendencies of editors are noticed on the background of balance and neutrality; (3) those having an aggressive editorial policy.

September 18-22 was the most important period for the study. Distribution of the footage of violence in prison has had its impact on the monitoring results. Indicators for covering two election subjects – government and president – have increased significantly.

Based on key findings the websites were grouped as follows according to general indicators:

Tabula.ge, internet.ge and onlinenews.ge work using more or less the same style, the difference is in the form of articles: internet.ge and onlinenews.ge only publish the news articles, while tabula.ge publishes information and analytical articles. These web sites show biased attitude of editors on the background of neutrality and balance. Materials of dfwatch.net, palitratv.ge, civil.ge, news.ge, liberali.ge and netgazeti.ge observe journalistic ethics, balance and plurality of sources. Events are covered from different angles. For.ge, presa.ge and droni.ge display gross violations of journalistic standards: they have selective approach towards facts, journalists use hate speech, aggressive visual materials and unethical phrases in headlines. Political views of the editors are reflected in coverage of subjects, selection of facts and tones of journalists.

1CDI – Election Media Monitoring (September 4 – September 22, 2012)

Methodology and Analysis

This report covers the period of September 4 to September 22. Election monitoring of information websites is comprised of qualitative and quantitative components. Quantitative components concern time allocated to election subjects and tone of coverage. Components of qualitative monitoring look at balance, accuracy, facts-based reporting, and evaluation of headlines and visual materials of the articles.

Qualitative data is provided in diagrams attached to this report. Information about the subjects on diagram is expressed in percentages. 100 percent is a volume of text allocated to all subjects by all sites during pre-election period, as described in the title of each diagram. If the diagram does not indicate political party that was subject of observation, it means that no coverage was allocated to this party during this period of time. Parties that were given at least a certain space are reflected on the diagram (sometimes by 0 percent). “Other” indicates subjects that received 1% or less on these websites.

The tone of coverage is displayed when a subject is talked about by others or when the subject talks about himself/herself. Diagrams show three categories of the tone: positive (green), neutral (yellow) and negative (red). The tone is evaluated while counting volume of the text allocated for the subjects. Attention is paid to the text of the journalist as well as respondent and general context of the respondent.

Allocation of time in terms of tones is evaluated as follows: evaluation of the tone of the volume of text allocated for the given subject on the website and the tone of how journalist talks about the subject. Coverage tone is displayed in percentages. During the first case 100 percent is a volume of the text allocated to a particular subject on a particular website in total as well as the volume of text allocated by the journalist to that particular subject.

Qualitative monitoring also looks at balance, or how the articles represent different viewpoints. It also looks at accuracy, where monitor observes whether the materials used in the article and conclusions of the journalist are in line, if there are mistakes in names, numbers, and respondents.

Netgazeti.ge

Netgazeti.ge observes journalistic ethics, balance and ensures plurality of sources. The web site covers the events from different angles. Editorial team tries to answer questions arising from the public. Netgazeti.ge


covers events of this period timely and exhaustively. Topics are diverse, activities of governmental and opposition parties are presented almost equally along with statements of international organizations, diplomatic representations, Central Election Commission (CEC), and public opinion. Netgazeti.ge often reviews election program of political parties. The web site also provides critical articles prepared within the framework of ethical norms.

During the monitoring period quantitative monitoring charts showed that in terms of the volume of text the highest indicator is for the government (33%). It is followed by the Coalition Georgian Dream (28%).

As for the volume allocated to the subjects according to neutral tone, the indicators are distributed as follows: Coalition Georgian Dream – 93%, United National Movement – 70%, and President – 83%. Percentage of negative tone is as follows: Opposition – 39%, Government – 35%, United National Movement – 30%.

The web site provides analytical as well as news articles that are complemented by comments of the respondents and journalists. Discussion in comments of the journalists is argumented and is usually supported with facts. The article is often followed by the conclusion of the journalist, based on the facts and discussions in the article. Most of the materials provide information on different topics, are long enough and of analytical type. For example: “Agriculture – real priority or election PR strategy?” (September 8). Here we could also name short news articles: “Patriarchy: Only the patriarch met with Akhalaia and nobody knows for what” (September 20). Large materials are provided during discussion of the programs of political parties: “What is the share of culture on election campaigns of the parties” (September 12).

Headlines on the web site are mainly of neutral content, descriptive and adequately displays the main essence of the article. For example: “Eka Zguladze will lead Ministry of Internal Affairs” (September 20). Very rarely there are headlines: “Saakashvili: Do they think Rustavi is too small so that they want to get you agree to second hand?” (September 9). The web site often provides headlines using quotes of the respondents, for example: “Tugushi: Nobody is on hunger strike in Gldani prison” (September 22); “Saakashvili: You don’t live Georgia, if you bring Abashidze’s people back” (September 8).

For visual aids netgazeti.ge uses photo and video materials, some graphs and logos. Visual materials usually correspond with the essence of the article. There are number of photo reports on the web site. Photos usually reflect current themes and are of high quality. There are hardly any negative illustrations. There are


several materials on the website that are prepared within the project funded by the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, “Covering Regional Issues”, for example: “Why part of people damaged by the hail remained without compensation” (September 9). There are number of video materials on protests, situation in the prisons and violation of rights of the prisoners.

Netgazeti.ge usually provides balanced coverage of pre-election campaigns of the political parties and often presents political statements. “Saakashvili: no matter who they throw in, every giant will be defeated” (September 8) and “According to Ivanishvili, it will be late on the day after elections” (September 9).

The editorial team does not leave out other issues important to the public, which indirectly features our subjects. For example, “Sign: “taken away” now displayed on the facade of the company of Kibar Khalvashi” (September 17); “Lazika or Anaklia – where the new town is to be built?” (September 14); “How pre-election atmosphere is funded by international observer organizations” (September 13).

Materials published on the website are based on facts; content always corresponds with the title and visual materials. In terms of theme, emphasis is never moved to other issues, and main topic is always clear.

Journalists of netgazeti.ge rely on facts that are verified with different sources and are often supported with photo or video materials. “Advertisement posters of National Movement is removed from minibuses” (September 19); “Details of Ivanishvili’s Meeting with John McCain” (September 6); “What happens at Gldani Prison [live]” (September 19). No cases of manipulation with facts from the side of the journalist have been identified.

Journalists are mostly neutral while covering facts. However, there are cases when based on arguments they provide critical evaluation of various events. Articles have no hate langue and therefore, no violation of standards in this regard.

Netgazeti.ge has adequately reported the events of September 18-22; violations in penitential system were covered regularly. During this period of time number of articles has significantly increased on the website.

Droni.ge

Droni.ge mainly provides analytical articles and directly states opinions of journalists. There are news articles as well. Number of materials on the site is low, since the website does not fully cover the events. During the


monitoring process rough violation of journalistic standards was observed several times: selective attitude towards facts, use of hate speech, ironic style of illustrations used as visual aids, aggressive headlines and direct expression of bias. Editorial views are reflected in the coverage of subjects, selection of facts and tone of journalists.

Quantitative study showed the following distribution of volume indicators for each of the subjects: Coalition Georgian Dream – 35%, President – 28%, and Government – 25%. According to the research highest indicator of the neutral tone is for the government – 90%. Rest of the indicators of the neutral tone is distributed as follows: President – 69%, United National Movement – 45%, and Coalition Georgian Dream – 13%. 87% of the negative tone was displayed towards Coalition Georgian Dream, while the positive tone indicators are for United National Movement (53%) and President (27%).

There are materials of different size on the website. It provides both brief news articles as well as large analytical pieces. It should be noted that articles are not supported by facts or respondent arguments and are often based on anonymous sources, for example, “Ivanishvili talked about Patriarch in a disrespectful manner” (September 9). In this article the journalist mentions a quote from an unknown source: “When yesterday, during the sermon, his Holiness asked students to stop protest, Bidzina Ivanishvili got upset about it, he was irritated with such statement of the Patriarch. He called Ilia II a satellite and said that even church needs to be taken care of.”

Headlines are mainly unethical. Journalists often use quotes of the respondents. There are frequent incorrect and humiliating titles that are mainly targeted towards Bidzina Ivanishvili, for example, “Play Ossuri, Bidzina is here!” (September 14), “Leader of Labor Party visiting Samegrelo called Bidzina Ivanishvili “unique penguin from Chorvila,” and Georgian Dream as a “Pack of Rich” (September 13).

As visual aids droni.ge often uses videos, photo collages and caricatures. An example of photo collage is: “United National Movement’s pre-election convention in different regions of Georgia” (September 9).

Droni.ge provides unbalanced information in terms of sources and often deliberately misleads readers. It does not verify facts used during discussion. Journalistic bias is noticed while selecting facts and biased, sharply expressed subjective position is always displayed during coverage. In order to support own opinions journalists use facts and accents in a biased way, for example, “Georgian reality and Russian, dream-like plan B” (September 9); “Bidzina’s plan and Sergo’s way” (September 7).


Journalists of droni.ge are distinguished with their unethical statement and aggressive phrases, for example, “Bidzina has short legs” (September 8); “Days left from non-dreamy knockdown to knockout…” (September 12).

It should be noted that while covering violence against prison inmates, published on September 18, droni.ge mainly emphasizes the administrative actions and staff changes by the government. There was little information on protests and conditions of prisoners.

Internet.ge

There are on average 20 materials posted on the website. Mostly, the site offers brief news stories, press releases of official structures and small articles. There are hardly any analytical articles. Compared to previous monitoring period the website offers less thematic diversity in terms of the election subjects. The website mainly presents activities of two election subjects, and governmental staffing changes after September 18-22.

Journalists mainly use neutral tone, although there are several exceptions when journalists display use negative tone towards the leader of Coalition Georgian Dream. Also, negative tone was displayed towards the President and the government.

Materials mostly deliver facts and there are no journalistic evaluations in any of the materials.

Quantitative indicators show 2 election subjects: National Movement (18%) and Coalition Georgian Dream (30%). Other subjects are presented with very low percentage rate.

Tone of political subjects is clearly distinct from each other. All three tones were displayed with three subjects only: National Movement (negative 4%, neutral 93%, positive 3%), Georgian Dream (negative 22%, neutral 77%, positive 2%), and government (negative 27%, neutral 72%, positive 1%).

The website frequently covers activities of the government – visits of the Prime Minister, addresses of the President, and rarely, activities of the Coalition.

In terms of the balance, the website provides contrasting opinions, but in different articles and not in the same material. Different opinion is often provided the day after the initial opinion is published.


Opinions expressed are always followed by authors. However, there were several cases when response of the Georgian Dream was not included. There are frequent accusations towards Georgian Dream, often left unanswered. Therefore, there is an impression that the editors of the site deliberately spread biased and unbalanced information.

Coverage of events of September 18-22 was only done through press releases provided by official agencies. No evaluations of opposition parties were provided. Only on September 20 the site published the address of Bidzina Ivanishvili, calling for the public to remain calm. During following days the site continued intensively publishing addresses of the President and statements of official agencies.

Liberali.ge

Articles of liberali.ge were monitored in their news and article block. Mainly these two blocks provide information on the election subjects selected for monitoring.

News block mainly provides brief news materials with similar themes. There were several leading topics identified during this period: election-related violation – use of administrative resources by the government and inappropriate spending of money. At the same time, during the last days, September 18-22 the situation in the prisons is a priority.

Articles are built based on facts and have more than one source. There are no unethical expressions. There is no subjectivity in the articles, facts and comments are clearly distinct. However, coverage of changes in penitential system often provided materials based on one source only, requiring further support.

Biggest space on the website is allocated to the government (38%), National Movement (21%), and Coalition Georgian Dream (18%). “Government” as a subject means activities implemented by the ruling team and staffing changes.

Summary of journalistic tone of liberali.ge has shown that they prepare materials using neutral tone only. The tone changes only when respondents and authors of the quotes talk. That is why, during September 18-22 a significantly negative tone towards the government (40%) and president (41%) is displayed. No materials with positive coverage are shown.

On September 18-22 the website moved to special work regime. At this point materials are published intensively, and cases of spreading unconfirmed


information were also obvious, although, conclusion would fully and thoroughly feature events of the day.

First the website published information on assaulted prisoners that was not confirmed after it was verified. The headline of the article was “Inmates are beaten in Gldani prison” (September 19). However, soon a more specified information was posted: While meeting the Public Defender, the prisoners – Gigi Amashukeli, Giorgi Bekauri and Yuri Khachaturov stated that today, on September 19, after about 18:00pm they were able to meet with their family members. They had an additional visit, which lasted for 15 minutes. According to the prisoners there was no physical or verbal humiliation, they don’t complain about their health, while in general the situation is calm and there is no need for the assistance of Public Defender (September 19).

Liberali.ge offers its readers opportunities to see pre-election activities of election subjects and their positions. However, there is no discussion or in-depth analysis of election subjects. Main emphasis is laid on elections-related violation.

News.ge

The website mainly provides brief news articles. These articles often lack balance, and accusations of parties remain unanswered.

Top three election subjects are the Coalition Georgian Dream, National Movement, and Government, with highest percentages.

Amongst opposition parties the biggest space is allocated to the Georgian Dream coalition, other opposition parties have far less coverage. This way only Christian-Democratic Movement and New Rights parties are leading.

The website builds its news stories based on information or status updates published on Facebook pages of the election subjects. There are tendencies of using comments of various forum users in the articles.

Web portal mainly offers brief news articles with minimal analysis/review. Since the website is mainly a news portal, facts- and events-based coverage is a main tendency. However, during the monitoring process there are specific examples where balance or interpretation of facts is doubtful.

Frequency of coverage on the website is equally distributed amongst government and opposition subjects. However, it should be noted that among opposition


parties Coalition Georgian Dream is covered most frequently. It has 27% of all coverage. Other two subjects with most coverage are United National Movement and the Government, with equal percentage of 16% each. The President received 6% of total coverage.

According to the tone of the articles it is obvious that the subject with most coverage was mainly covered using neutral tone (82%), although positive and negative tones were also displayed towards it (2% and 17% respectively. In case of United National Movement 20%–negative, 8%–positive, and 72%–neutral tone was displayed. Even less neutral tone was displayed towards government – 68%, which also received 28%–negative and 4% – positive coverage.

In terms of headlines several tendencies were determined. More specifically, phrases of respondents are used as headlines and they don’t show the author of the phrase. It is noticeable that such headline-phrases are mostly affirmative and contain either accusation towards another subject, or affirmative opinion about the author of the phrase. Another tendency is original findings of the journalist and some headlines display evaluative discussion of the authors.

For example, headline “Down With NDI” (September 12), which is for the article about the visit of Shalva Natelashvili to the US is an ironic indication of the leader of Labor Party to the US where he addressed the government of the US to stop support towards Saakashvili with the phrase “Down with Dictator”. In this specific case the journalist emphasized the approach of the Labor party towards NDI.

In article “Georgia is in light under the leadership of Ivanishvili” (September 18) we see that several members of the Labor party now side with Ivanishvili. One of them said the phrase that the journalist used as a headline, even though it’s inappropriate for the title.

Visual aids presented on the website usually come with articles, and in most cases are neutral. They correspond to the topics discussed in the article.

Articles mainly observe accuracy of facts, and less frequently – balance of sources. However, it should also be mentioned that comments on the issues discussed in some articles are followed up in different materials. However, this does not really change the situation, since the reader cannot start looking for answers in other articles.

Mostly there is no issue of compliance in the articles. However, during the monitoring period we still came across several articles that we believe, is worth paying attention to.


Article “Dream” corrected Irakli Labadze’s title” (September 5) tells us that the Coalition Georgian Dream has mistakenly titled Irakli Labadze as a world tennis champion and then corrected this mistake. The journalist somehow decided that in this case it would be appropriate to include comments of users of social networks, and more specifically, those users that were critical of this mistake: users of “Facebook” and “Tbilisi Forum” wrote that Irakli Labadze is not a world champion: “Is he a Play Station world champion?”, “What kind of champion is he? The biggest achievement is to win to Agassi”, “41st racket is his best achievement”, “In the world? Or solar system?”, “We don’t even have male tennis players and even in history in general, he is not famous,” “He’s a good boy, won to Agassi once” – state users” – we read in the article.

There is no incorrect journalist language in most of the articles, although there are exceptions. It should be noted that in these case such tone is shown towards Coalition Georgian Dream or associated persons, but not only: “In Tskaltubo “dreamers” are threatened” (September 10), “Microbuses ripped off number 5’s” (September 20).

During the monitoring process one unprecedented case was found, when the website allocated 639-word long article to the speech of the President during the National Movement Convention (as a rule, size of other articles does not exceed 200 words).

Besides, it should be noted that after TV companies the 9th Channel and Maestro showed vides of torture of prison inmates, the website publishes significantly more articles, but the tone of coverage has not become significantly negative towards the government (which was very noticeable in case of other websites). It was also a noticeable tendency than even in the very first article dedicated to these videos, more emphasis was made on the initial video materials published by the MIA, than the ones distributed by the TV companies later. Besides, the website sought more comments on these facts from the Coalition Georgian Dream.

Pressa.ge

During the monitoring process the website provided interviews and articles as well as news stories. During the monitoring process there were few news materials, while articles contained discussion and opinions of the journalists. Most space was allocated to the Coalition Georgian Dream. Tone used towards these subjects is mostly negative, and rarely neutral. Journalists of this website often used unethical


expressions towards various subjects, mainly towards two leaders – Bidzina Ivanishvili, and majority candidates of the coalition.

According to quantitative data the website allocates biggest percentage of words equally to the Coalition Georgian Dream (31%) and the Government (30%). No such indicator was shown towards any other political subjects. There is a big difference compared to percentage indicators of the following election subjects.

According to the tone of the subjects the Coalition Georgian Dream has 75 % negative and 25 % neutral, while government has 32% negative and 68% neutral.

Most of the articles are negative, contain irony and humiliating analogies and metaphors towards Coalition Georgian Dream: “We say Bidzina, we mean Aslan” (September 4), “Used and thrown away Zviadauri” (September 7).

The website provides diverse illustrations. All photos associated with the Georgian Dream are followed by negative comments. The photos themselves are neutral, but the comments are always of negative context. The same does not apply to other subjects – their photos are always of neutral tone.

Articles mainly represent analysis of the journalists that are always based on unconfirmed facts, assumptions and suspicions. For example, “according to the information of the source close to Ivanishvili”.

Language of the articles is often unethical; there is a use of discriminatory terms, violation of presumption of innocence, etc.

Articles prepared by various journalists often use the same epithets, for example: “Bidzina Ivanishvili published a very funny election list. This man has once again confirmed that he is blind to politics. Along with not knowing what is a bigger priority for the country, he does not know who should be a priority on a party list” (September 7).

Maybe Zviadauri could not even figure it out yet, but we hope his mind will light up and at least on October 1st will be assured that he is not a favorite of Boris, but a decoration instead… after the elections, Zviadauri, seeded as #87 will not be remembered by the oligarch himself.

However, the public will always remember how Zviadauri has exchanged his friends and colleagues on the bone thrown by Mr. Boris. (September 7)

We cannot say that Bidzina will have his nose grown, but it’s a fact that the statement of the leader of Coalition Georgian Dream has caused a surprise of senators (September 7).


The thing is that there is no such thing as entry records of Leri Khabelov, a human being, individual, person, citizen, into the territory of Georgia (September 12).

Civil.ge

Articles of civil.ge are prepared in line with journalistic standards and professional ethical norms. The site is distinguished from others with balanced and unbiased coverage of the topics. It should be mentioned that publication of prison torture videos coincided with the monitoring period, and this issue was covered by civil.ge in a very balanced and unbiased way. Especially long articles were dedicated to the statements of the president and representatives of the government, while protesting demonstrations and reaction of international community was also covered regularly.

During the monitoring process Civil.ge most intensively covered government (36%), president (29%) and Coalition Georgian Dream (18%). All subjects were covered mostly neutrally. Highest indicator of negative tone was displayed towards government (18%). It should be noted that after publication of prison torture videos more articles were prepared about government and president.

Headlines of civil.ge are mostly neutral. During the monitoring process there have been no cases of negative or biased headlines towards any subjects. Also, there have been no cases of using discriminatory or informal speech.

It should be noted that during the monitoring process there have been no cases of violation of journalistic ethic on civil.ge or use of any discriminatory language and hate speech.

In most cases articles of civil.ge are prepared based on facts. There have been no cases when opinions or comments of the journalists or the editorial team not supported by facts. Therefore, conclusions of the articles responded to the full structure of the article and are its logical continuation. Also, we have not detected any cases of fact manipulation from the side of the journalists. Discussion of journalists did not go beyond the given news and did not do any generalization or extension to reinforce any of the opinions desired by the editorial team.

Articles of civil.ge are mainly based on reliable information. During the monitoring period there have been no cases of providing information on any important events from unreliable or suspicious sources. There were frequent cases of excerpts from other materials.


Articles of civil.ge mainly observe the balance of sources. During the monitoring process we have not come across the article that would provide only one-sided criticism of specific subjects.

It should ne noted that publication of prison torture videos coincided with the monitoring period and civil.ge covered these issues in a very balanced and unbiased way. Especially long articles were dedicated to the statements of the President and government representatives; protests and reaction of international community was also covered.

Tabula.ge

Most of the articles published on tabula.ge are news stories, with rare analytical articles. The website tries to observe balance of sources and cover all current events. Journalistic tone in the articles is mainly neutral and does not violate ethical norms. In spite of that, there is still an emphasis on showing governmental interests. In parallel to multi-angle coverage of main topics it is important to underline main accents that support better representation of the activities of the government. This is a noticeable tendency during qualitative analysis.

During the period of tabula.ge monitoring the biggest space was allocated to the government – 31%, Coalition Georgian Dream – 21% and President – 20%.

The most neutral tone was displayed towards: government - 31%, president - 20 % and Coalition Georgian Dream -21%. Negative tone is used as follows: opposition (24%), president (24%), “Coalition Georgian Dream“ (23%) and “United National Movement“ (20%).

During the monitoring period tabula.ge published articles reviewing most important events. During this period the website provided mainly average size informational articles. Topics included pre-election campaigns of the parties, statements of the ministries, opinion polls (mainly of NDI), statements of international organizations and diplomatic community, issues related to CEC and addresses of political leaders.

Topics are diverse and represent opinions of the government as well as opposition.

Headlines of tabula.ge articles mainly reflect the main idea of the article. They are of neutral content and descriptive, often featuring quotes of the respondents. There are positive or negative headlines as well, for example: “Sergi Kapanadze: Visit of the American senator is a confirmation of the support to Georgia”


(September 6). The article three times emphasizes that the visit of the senator is an unprecedented support to Georgia – in the headline, in the led, and then the quote itself. Negative tone is displayed in the following headlines: “Maya Panjikidze: National Movement continues throwing stones” (September 10), “Chiora Taktakishvili: Ivanishvili’s refusal to participate in debates on the national television is an insult to Georgian population” (September 10).

Articles of tabula.ge are mainly complemented with neutral photos or graphs (graphs – for public opinion polls), for example: “NDI: 47% know about the governmental plan, 22% know about Ivanishvili’s plan” (September 5). Tabula.ge uses logos of the organizations, parties or coalitions talked about in the articles. Several times articles were also complemented with videos, e.g. “Protests in front of the Philharmonic” (September 19).

There are also articles with unbalanced sources. Materials are often based on the statements placed on official websites of the state structures. Materials are provided without any respondents, just like in case of news agencies.

There are rare cases of sharp journalistic position or biased attitude. However, sometimes the journalist does not refrain from showing own position. In the article “Forsa: new ratings and new players on Georgian research market” (September 12) it is stated that researches of this organization showed positive attitude of the public towards Bidzina Ivanishvili and his party, “43% of the surveyed population sided with Ivanishvili, while 33% with Vano Merabishvili.” After this the journalist talks about Forsa and brings several examples of scandals associated with this company. The journalist goes on with the coverage so that the reader may develop lack of trust towards the company and doubt its results. In parallel to that, he/she does not doubt NDI research even though the opposition has expressed its lack of trust towards these studies.

In spite of this it should be noted that subjective evaluations of the author are rare. Journalists of this website do not give direct or exaggerated criticism of any of the subjects.

Language used in articles of tabula.ge is mainly correct, without any unethical expressions or discriminatory terminology, apart from quotations of the respondents themselves.

Publication of prison torture videos has not impacted tabula.ge page much, since unlike other sites, no significant changes were noticed in terms of frequency or length of articles. During the period of September 18-22 there are mostly statements of government representatives and international organizations. The main emphasis of these articles is on “immediate investigation” – reaction of the


government on the facts. There are no materials or evaluations on how the public reacts to it. Protests going around the country are only covered through brief news articles. However, there is a critical article towards the government as well: “Bidzina Ivanishvili: Saakashvili brought torture and rape of Georgian men” (September 22). It should also be noted that during this period Tabula.ge published several articles that indicate expected aggression from Russia, for example: “Saakashvili: They want to use Russian methods to force people to make impulsive decisions during elections” (September 22), “Dinosaurs of Violence now play “Civil Society” (September 22). The site mainly provides governmental opinions and does not directly give opposing attitudes and evaluations. The attention is specifically made to the criminal past of the 90-ies, returning public to the past and not on the violations existing in penitential system.

Onlinenews.ge

Onlinenews.ge mainly publishes brief news articles. There are more materials covering governmental activities. Journalists use neutral tone during coverage, and the topics are the same. There is certain information about the opposition, but it does not have the equal share in terms of volume. There are a large number of materials, but the tendency is to provide same information in different forms. The website does not display negative tone or unethical expressions. Most of the articles are complemented by photos. Most of the materials emphasize the following issues: 1. Success of governmental activities; 2. Creation of the icon of the enemy of Russia; 3. Recognition of the mistakes by the government (after prison violence videos); 4. Use of statements of international organizations and diplomatic representatives in favor of government (using neutral tone). The main subject of the website is government and governance structures. There are few critical materials towards the government as well.

According to the space allocation the biggest percentage falls on government (40%). It is followed by the President (30%) and Coalition Georgian Dream (10%). Tone displayed towards the subjects is distributed as follows: negative - opposition 73%, parliament 53%; Neutral: government - 92%, Coalition Georgian Dream“ – 85%.

Articles are mainly news briefs, for example, “The President opened a House of Justice in Kvareli” (September 16).


Headlines of the materials usually derive of the content of the information, they are neutral and descriptive. Quotes are often used as headlines, showing tendency of the journalist. For example: “Ugulava: Published video materials are used to mix views of the population” (September 22). Titles are informational and express the main idea of the materials, for example: “Eka Zguladze will act as an officer in charge for the Ministry of Internal Affairs” (September 20).

In terms of illustration monitoring it should be noted that all materials are complemented with photos and none of them are negative. For example, “President visited Guria” (September 18).

Journalists do not try to verify facts or give variety of sources. They often don’t indicate the source of information. For example: “Tsaguria and Aladashvili were sentenced to 10 day administrative imprisonment” (September 2); “Ramaz Sakvarelidze: Appointment of Tugushi was a wise decision” (September 20).

The website does not use hate speech and thus, follows ethical standards.

Onlinenews.ge has not fully covered September 18-22 events. The website only provided little information on the protests and prisoners. During this period the position of the government is still frequent, which, using self-criticism and administrative changes to cover important events. The website does not balance or cover different positions in this regard. The main emphasis is made on the blame of Tamaz Tamazashvili.

For.ge

The website mainly provides long, informative analytic articles. There are frequent cases of interviews as well.

The articles often provide criticism towards the government.

Top three subjects are Georgian Dream, president and the government, with high percentage.

Georgian Dream coalition takes the most space amongst opposition parties.

Articles that fall under our monitoring are mainly large analytical or evaluative articles. There are many translated articles from www.foreignpress.ge. These articles are also translated from other foreign outlets.


http://www.foreignpress.ge/

Frequency of coverage is almost equally distributed amongst government and opposition subjects. However, it should be mentioned that Coalition Georgian Dream is covered most frequently amongst opposition parties. According to the journalistic tone the most negative tone is displayed towards the government, while positive – towards Coalition Georgian Dream.

Amongst the subjects of monitoring for.ge allocated most space to Georgian Dream coalition, with 36% of total coverage. It is noticeable that coverage of Georgian Dream does not significantly exceed coverage of government, with 33% of total pace. As for the president, he received 11% of the coverage. Rest of the political parties has received far less coverage, with United Georgian Movement having 9%.

Evaluation of the tone of the articles show that subjects with most coverage were mainly covered using neutral tone (94%), although positive and negative tones were also displayed (5% and 4%). In case of the government this figure is radically distinct, since negative tone was displayed in 77% of the cases, while positive tone indicator is 0%. High percentage of negative tone was also displayed towards president (64%) and United National Movement (72%).

Evaluation of total journalistic tone showed that negative and positive tones were also displayed towards the authors of the articles. Mostly, the negative tone was displayed towards government (81%). The same indicator for the National Movement is 76%, and 58% towards the president. In parallel, positive journalistic tone towards the Coalition Georgian Dream is 4%, and 0% towards United National Movement.

The website provides neutral as well as evaluative headlines. The latter, as a rule, display negative tone towards one party, mainly toward government or the ruling team. For example, the headline “Saakashvili’s new faces: replacements of Eka and Khatuna” (September 22) heads an article about staffing changes in the government. Also, a headline “What made Swedish diplomat get naked” belongs to an article describing Swedish high-level person and his statements (September 13).

Visual materials that are presented on the website usually follow articles, are mostly neutral and are associated with topics discussed in the article. However, during the monitoring period we detected number of visual materials, where captions contain subtexts against government representatives and their supporters (September 13, 20).

It should be noted that articles published on for.ge do not often maintain balance. It should also be considered that there are articles of interview types that cannot


observe balance because of its format, and other translated articles. The latter displays more frequent balance than the staff writer journalists display, whose articles are mostly based on anonymous sources and assumptions of the authors.

During the monitoring process we came across an article that is a good example of lack of appropriate balance, compliance and journalistic language. Article “Political trade or lobbying Armenian interests on Georgian territory?” (September 17) talks about statements made by Armenian population living in Javakheti, where they talked about pre-election problems. This article presents only one respondent making discriminatory statements towards this ethnical group, but there is no defendant. It seem that discriminatory statements are not far from the journalist himself/herself: “Chair of Caucasian Confederation, Zaal Karselashvili says that these people simply do pre-election trade, and want it to gain a product form, to become needed for opposition or the government”.

In general, compliance is an issue for most of the articles published on for.ge. The main problem is that articles are mostly based not on facts, but on the assumptions of the author of the article. Therefore, conclusions are based not on facts, but on the assumptions. Questions asked by the journalists during the interviews are often emotional, based on personal opinions, and of evaluative nature.

The website publishes critical articles towards United National Movement and the ruling team, although these articles often lack logical basis, reasoning and discussion. On the contrary, the articles often display positive attitude towards Coalition Georgian Dream.

There is a serious problem in terms of language of the authors. They often use hate speech and irony.

After prison torture videos the website did not significantly change its style, although numerous articles were dedicated to this topic. These articles shard the same tendencies as other materials.

Dfwatch.net

Dfwatch.net is distinct with diversity of articles. Together with political parties, the website allocates significant attention to international organizations, local NGOs and CEC activities. At the same time, attention was paid to media issues, for example, must carry principle and arresting antennas of Maestro TV. Dfwatch.net is balanced and during monitoring


process we have not detected any serious violations of journalistic standards. After publication of prison torture video materials dfwatch.net has allocated significant attention to the given issue and covered it in compliance with high journalistic standards.

During the monitoring process Dfwatch.net has covered governmental activities most intensively (41%). It should be noted that the site allocated a lot of attention to coverage of international organizations (21%). Articles are mainly about activities of NDI, and there is a long interview with Louis Navarro as well. Subjects are mainly covered using neutral tone, while the highest indicator of negative coverage falls on the government (25%), which can be explained with publication of prison torture videos during the monitoring period, followed by severe public reaction towards the government.

During the monitoring period dfwatch.net mainly published average size articles. Articles were mainly focused on discussing news, followed by comments of the journalist as well as respondents. Dfwatch.net rarely published brief news. It mainly focused on analytical articles characterized of in-depth discussion of the issues, analysis, and critical evaluations.

Headlines of Dfwatch.net are mostly neutral, and visual materials are also neutral. Articles are not always followed with photos, but if they were, these photos were always neutral and did not express positive or negative attitude of the editorial team towards any of the subjects. It should also be noted that photos published on Dfwatch.net often indicated that these photos were provided by News Agency Interpressnews.

It should be noted that Dfwatch.net observed coverage balance in a very professional manner. The observation has shown that the website was not biased or violated journalistic standards. At the same time, it should be noted that during the monitoring period we have not detected any violation of journalistic standards, or use of any discriminatory terminology.

After release of prison torture videos the website covered all events in a very balanced manner. It covered protests as well as statements of the president and the government about the events. It should be noted that balance was observed during such coverage and no partial coverage was detected. Number of articles was dedicated to the statements of different countries and international organizations regarding the case.

Palitratv.ge


Top three subjects covered are Coalition Georgian Dream, President and government with highest percentage rates.

Amongst opposition parties the biggest space is allocated to Coalition Georgian Dream. Together with the Georgian Dream, Christian Democratic Movement was also covered with 1% of total coverage.

Video materials published on the website are mainly brief, informative, and are usually records of briefings/press conferences.

During the monitoring process activities associated with Coalition Georgian Dream were covered intensively. No incompliance of journalistic language was detected in any of the video materials posted on the site. It should be noted that part of the video materials are posted without any comments, or only provide comments of the respondents.

Frequency of coverage is unequally distributed amongst governmental and opposition subjects. However, it should also be noted that Coalition Georgian Dream received most coverage amongst opposition parties. According to the journalistic tone the most negative tone was detected towards the government (without any specifics). Tone of the journalist/author of the video is mainly neutral.

Biggest space on Palitratv.ge was allocated to the government with 44% of total coverage. Another subject is Coalition Georgian Dream with 25% of coverage. United National Movement has received 14%, while president has received 12%.

Evaluation of the tone of video materials show that subjects with most allocated time were mainly covered using neutral tone (79%), although positive and negative coverage was also detected (5% and 16% respectively). Most frequently negative tone was displayed towards the government (73%). In case of United National Movement 25% was negative, 14% – positive, and 61% – neutral. Analysis of journalistic tone showed that certain negative tone was shown towards subjects. Most negative tone is shown towards the government (77%) and less of all towards Coalition Georgian Dream (0%).

Based on the specifics of the website the headlines are mainly unbiased and neutral.

Visual materials posted on the website mainly show press conference, briefing, comment, or statement of one or the other election subjects. There are materials when video footage is provided without any comments. That’s especially true about cases when the video concerns specific contradiction or large-scale activity.


In general, during monitoring process we have not come across any materials that can be qualified as unbalanced. Although, there are still some video materials which could use more balance and showing position of another party for more credibility.

Since the website mainly offers brief news video materials with minimal analysis/review/evaluations, there is no issue of compliance. However, during the monitoring period we still came across several videos that do not show public interest and are less relevant. For example: “Provoking pre-election video “Coordinator” (September 6). This video is simply a pre-election video and it’s unclear why it has to be part of news on this website.

Absolute majority of the materials presented on the website are based on facts. There are no effect-oriented or edited materials. However, during the monitoring process we detected a tendency where the website simply takes and posts video materials of Rustavi 2, Imedi, or 9th Channel. Therefore, accuracy of facts, or reliability of the information distributed through those TV channels is doubtful. A good example is a video from Courier program following publication of prison torture videos, which shows how Akhalaia transfers his governance to Zguladze. This video was picked up by Palitratv.ge from Rustavi 2, but it turned out that there was a big discussion of the genuine and credible nature of the video (timing) and some proved that these videos were not genuine.

Therefore, it is important that administration of the website to constantly monitor the type of information published on their portal.


Diagram: Volume 1

Diagram: Volume 2


Diagram: Volume 3

Diagram: Volume 4


Diagram: Volume 5

Diagram: Volume 6


Diagram: Volume 7

Diagram: Volume 8


Diagram: Volume 9

Diagram: Volume 10


Diagram: Volume 11

Diagram: Volume 12


Diagram: Tone 1

Diagram: Journalist’s Tone 1


Diagram: Tone 2



Diagram: Tone 3



Diagram: Tone 4



Diagram: Tone 5



Diagram: Tone 6



Diagram: Tone 7



Diagram: Tone 8



Diagram: Tone 9



Diagram: Tone 10



Diagram: Tone 11



Diagram: Tone 12



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