EU and UNDP report: partisan divisions define election coverage in Georgian media

The European Union and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) havereleased the final media monitoring report of the 2021 local self-governance elections in Georgia. The reports analyse the coverage across 54 media outlets (27 national and 27 regional), from 5 July through 14 November 2021.

Findings show that the rise of political polarisation affected election reporting across almost all media sectors. Events surrounding homophobic pogroms in July, violent attacks on journalists and the imprisonment of Georgia’s third President in October dominated the media agenda.

Tensions between media camps have been especially evident in broadcast media – televisions and radios, which manipulated their audiences by backing certain political forces.

Political bias was notably less evident across most of the national and regional digital media outlets, which maintained editorial independence and provided their audiences with relatively balanced information.

Unethical reporting prevailed in the national print media which used offensive language and unverified sources of information, compared to regional and local newspapers, which offered a more balanced account of events.

Find out more

Press release