GEORGIA: Georgian opposition TV resumes broadcast after management row

Record ID: 643077

  • Title: GEORGIA: Georgian opposition TV resumes broadcast after management row
  • Date: 1st December 2011
  • Summary: TBILISI, GEORGIA (NOVEMBER 30, 2011) (REUTERS) OPPOSITION TV "MAESTRO" STAFF AND OTHER MEDIA GATHERED OUTSIDE TV STATION GATE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE ARGUING WITH POLICE SATELLITE DISHES ON BALCONY (SOUNDBITE) (Georgian) MAESTRO TV PRODUCER, MAMUKA GLONTI, SAYING: "This means that Erosi Kitsmarishvili, (head of managing company) is presumably carrying out the instructions o
  • Embargoed: 16th December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia, Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: Entertainment,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABI7P11EUHIB9VFR0J83QW4GWK
  • Story Text: Georgian TV viewers and anti-government opposition supporters gathered outside the small but popular Maestro TV station office on Wednesday (November 30) morning after the channel's broadcasting was suspended.
    One of the founders and a 15 percent shareholder of the channel, Mamuka Glonti, together with the majority of the staff journalists rallied outside Maestro's premises, where they claimed Erosi Kitsmarishvili - who in 2009 took over the management of Tbilisi's Maestro television - had broken into the station's premises and stopped staff from going to work.
    Kitsmarishvili used to co-own the independent Rustavi-2, television channel, which helped to spark the 2003 revolution that brought President Mikheil Saakashvili to power.
    Kitsmarishvili has since become an opponent and vocal critic of Saakashvili Erosi Kitsmarishvili has criticised both Maestro's coverage of Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who unexpectedly rushed onto the political scene this autumn and claimed he wanted to unseat Saakashvili with the help of the Maestro television channel using his accumulated knowledge and experience.
    Kitsmarishvili told journalists he was working on orders of the station's owners, a claim disputed by Glonti.
    "This means that Erosi Kitsmarishvili, (head of managing company) is presumably carrying out the instructions of the (Georgian) authorities, who want to stop the functioning of Maestro TV, as he dares to behave like this. Besides we see what kind of pressure our media is experiencing," Glonti said from outside the station's offices.
    Kitsmarishvili, who brought the station from small beginnings to what he says is a product that recently "attracted more than four million USD," accused the protesting journalists of acting in their own interests.
    "All their actions are connected only with their own financial interests, I am not revealing any names, though today there were speculations that this was all connected to (billionaire Bidzina) Ivanishvili, but these were only theoretical speculations. Similar things happened before, when Ivanishvili did not exist (on political scene). They (producers and director) realised that the channel is working well, and they have a potential chance to resell this channel or get some other profit from it and they decided to stop relations with me," Kitsmarishvili said, referring to rumours that a majority of the staff and Ivanishvili want him out.
    Media reports also reported that Kitsmarishvili had sacked Glonti claiming this may also have contributed to the row.
    Georgian media reflects a strongly radicalised society pattern and the suspension of an opposition channel is not easily ignored by the politicised viewers and fragmented opposition parties, which were recently reunited around Ivanishvili, who openly expressed his interest in purchasing one of the opposition TV outlets at the start of his political ambitions.
    Ivanishvili's supporting opposition parties say Kitsmarishvili was acting for personal reasons.
    "This is not Coca-Cola business, it's a media. It's about the freedom of speech. You do not stop journalists when you have your own issues to deal with with your founders. So I think, the actions that he (Erosi Kitsmarishvili) performed today, prove themselves, that it has a political reasoning. He has a well developed plan for stopping or hindering the activity of this TV station. We'll see how the things develop, but I hope that journalists will be able to continue their work," said Tina Khidasheli, of opposition Republican Party, which closely cooperates with Ivanishvili.
    Maestro journalists led by their producers and sacked by Kitsmarishvili eventually stormed the TV channel gate and resumed broadcasting.
    The government and police had not interfered in the unfolding events.
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