Ok, I have been neglecting my blog for the past week or so, but that is because I was actually sidelined from a lot of traveling due to the never-ending foot injury. The past couple weekends we stayed around Tbilisi, but I was not able to travel far or explore too much since I was trying to use my foot as little as possible. This weekend we head to Kazbegi, which is close to the Russian border and home to snow-capped mountains. After that we have one more trip we'd like to take which is to the region of Svaneti, one of the most beautiful places in Georgia. More to come on this next week!
I have decided to instead dedicate this blog to the work I have been doing the past few weeks for Transparency International. While the work is very interesting, especially in a transitioning country like Georgia with elections coming up, it is hard to incorporate yourself into an organization when you don't speak the language and don't have any connections which might pass along information to you. Despite this fact, I have been carving out a little niche for myself, investigating internet development and adoption in Georgia, and becoming the resident English language editor (you should see what Google Translate comes up with sometimes!). While working with TI Georgia I have been helping the Media team investigate and write reports on the development and adoption of the Internet within Georgia. With parliamentary elections coming up in Georgia in June, the media environment is being heavily scrutinized by the NGO community and international donors, and I have a front row seat!
As most of you know, my catch phrase has become: "Access to Information." It's the phrase I harp on in papers, class, and now...at work. Georgia is an interesting place to study and investigate access to information, the country is transitioning and transforming. From a Soviet Republic with tightly controlled state information, to a democratic society with a free media. From a public that fears to express their own opinions and speak to journalists, to one where freedom of expression is a constitutionally protected right. However, you can see the struggles that Georgia has every day, especially when it comes to the media.
In most democratic societies the media plays an important role of engaging with an informing the public, but what do you do when the media is politically polarized? That is the case in Georgia. Most TV stations are seen as pro-government or pro-opposition. According to recent surveys, journalists are not trusted members of society, and although a free media is being cultivated, the government has tried many unique ways to restrict opposition media members. Certain opposition media stations cannot get interviews with parliament or government members, opposition media channels don't get cable broadcast licenses, and private cable providers refuse to carry certain stations. There have been cases of pro-government journalists harassing opposition member journalists, the government has seized thousands of satellites from customs locations (the only way opposition channels can be seen now), and (after the passage of must-carry/must-offer laws in parliament which enacted a 60 day window before the election when all pro-government and opposition channels must be available) stores have now stopped selling satellite dishes at all so even if channels are broadcast people won't be able to get them!
The consequences of this polarized media environment are many. The media is not respected, journalists are not trusted, the public is misinformed (or not informed at all) and society as a whole suffers. One thinks of the US as a free media society, but when looking at the polarization of media over the past 10 -15 years (Fox News and MSNBC anyone?) you have to stop and think, are we really any better? And if we are going down that rabbit hole, what are the consequences for our society?
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