In the period from March 2023 to July 2024, “Mediacritic,” the web platform of the regulatory body, the Communications Commission (ComCom), which Myth Detector has written about before, again focused much of its attention on criticizing media outlets with editorial policies critical of the government. Myth Detector analyzed 139 articles published on the mediacritic.ge website between March 1, 2023, and July 31, 2024. The monitoring revealed the following trends:
- ComCom’s “Mediacritic” mostly focuses on media outlets with editorial policies that are not under the control of the government.
- In addition to disproportionate coverage, criticism in some cases is motivated not so much by the defense of media professional standards as by the desire to justify or support the government’s positions.
- Sometimes, the regulatory body’s platform criticizes respondents, not journalists, for their positions (for example, the President of Georgia, an opposition MP).
- “Mediacritic” ignores information about the government influence on Georgian media and the deterioration of the media environment, and at the same time, covers materials focused on the problems of Western media, which creates a dichotomy suggesting that media in Georgia are free from state influence and face problems only in traditional democracies.
- “Mediacritic” has problems with transparency as well.
- Previously, many publications on the “Mediacritic” platform were written by journalists from government propaganda media, but this trend has recently changed: the number of their publications has decreased, and instead, the number of articles by authors who appear to publish under pseudonyms has increased.
- Between 2019 and 2022, the budget of “Mediacritic” totaled GEL 1,678,103.65, most of which went on salaries. However, it is unclear how much is spent on fees for external authors.
