12 July 2023. Independent media and an active civil society are the foundations of democracy which are threatened by autocratic governments. At the M100 Media Forum in Georgia, some 30 national and international media and civil society representatives discussed how to strengthen public spaces for social discourse and change.
Democracies worldwide – and the liberal international order – are facing multiple challenges that question the foundations of their values and institutions. The new geopolitical competition of our time is thus also a struggle for the role, meaning and, ultimately, the future of democracy. These developments were the focus of intense, sometimes sombre, but always insightful discussions at the one-day M100 Media Forum entitled “Between Ambition and Disarray – The Future of Democracy”, which we organised together with the Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft (AHG) in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on 22 June. The discussions took place under Chatham House Rules.
Georgia, once a “place of hope” (Die Zeit), has suffered several setbacks in its transition to democracy in recent years and faces massive tensions. At the same time, the persistent protests against democratic backsliding (e.g. against the planned “foreign agents”-law in March 2023) demonstrate the strength and resilience of Georgian civil society and fuel hopes for democratic change. So how can this energy be channelled into positive, forward-looking change?
At our Media Forum, 30 international and local media and civil society representatives discussed how civil society and independent media can strengthen democratic processes and how they themselves can be supported. One aim of the trip, jointly initiated by the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium and the Alfred Herrhausen Society, was to change perspectives: Not to discuss the East in the West, but to discuss Eastern Europe and the West’s view of Eastern Europe and, in this particular case, Georgia in an Eastern European country.
The conference, moderated by Leonard Novy, Director of the Institute for Media and Communication Policy and M100 Advisory Board Member, was opened by the German Ambassador to Georgia, Ernst Peter Fischer, with an impulse on German-Georgian relations. This was followed by three strategic roundtables on democracy, disinformation, geopolitics, the role of civil society and independent media, and Western media coverage of Georgia from a Georgian perspective. The roundtables were moderated by Antonia Marx, AHG Project Manager, and Nino Gelashvili, Senior Editor of the Tbilisi Bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Radio Tavisupleba.
Input came from Vazha Tavberidze, journalist and political analyst at at the Tbilisi bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – radio Tavisupleba, Anja Wehler-Schöck, Head of the International Politics Department at the Tagesspiegel, Ana Kakalashvili, consultant and expert at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Tbilisi, Marta Ardashelia, journalist and founder of the independent Georgian online magazine SOVA, and Brigitte Baetz, freelance journalist, among others for Deutschlandfunk.
In a concluding panel discussion, Gigi Gigiadze, Senior Fellow at the EPRC in Tbilisi, British journalist Robin Forestier-Walker, who reports from Georgia for the Arabic broadcaster Al-Jazeera, Tamar Kintsurashvili, Executive Director of the Media Development Foundation Ge, and Götz Hamann, Head of Digital Editions at the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT, discussed the future of democracy and took questions from the audience.
These are the main findings:
● Georgia is currently still considered a “potential candidate” for EU membership, with official candidate status to be granted only after conditions relating to further democratisation and reform have been met. The EU Commission’s recommendations are controversial in Georgia and the decision on candidate status, expected in winter 2023, is eagerly awaited. Given the scope and depth of the reforms required by the EU Commission, many participants expressed fears that Georgia will not be able to meet the expectations and will move closer to Russia.
● The recent protests in March 2023, as in 2021, testify to the strength and resilience of civil society in Georgia. But the public sphere is also highly fragmented and polarised, which hinders and complicates democratic processes.
● For a long time, Georgia has defied trends in the region and steadily improved its record on press freedom. In recent years, however, media freedom has deteriorated rapidly. Opposition television stations continue to operate, but the media landscape has become increasingly divided between openly pro-government and critical outlets. Politically aligned owners influence the editorial policy of their stations, and the two sides have stopped talking directly to each other and rely only on friendly media, further increasing polarisation.
● Access to well-researched and trustworthy information has become more difficult. State authorities block requests for information. In addition, the ruling party has not yet presented a comprehensive plan to implement the EC recommendation to ensure free, professional and pluralistic media.
● Independent media are therefore crucial to an informed and resilient civil society in Georgia. To counter propaganda media and win the trust of the population, it is particularly important for democratically inspired media to be accurate, balanced, objective, up-to-date and diverse.
● One of the most pressing issues for journalistically independent media remains funding. We have to accept that the old rules of media funding no longer apply; that one has to look for unusual, unconventional sources of funding.
● What do Georgians know about Germany? And what do the Germans know about Georgia? In a very lively debate on reciprocal foreign coverage, the coverage of Georgia in the Western media was described as often clichéd and too black and white.
To conclude our stay in Tbilisi, on the second day we visited the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) (Rondeli Foundation).
The IDFI is a Georgian NGO founded in 2009 by two historians and researchers, Levan Avalishvili and Giorgi Kldiashvili. Giorgi Kldiashvili and Giorgi Davituri, Head of the Rule of Law and Media Direction, introduced us to the history and work of the Institute, which aims to build an informed and empowered society for democratic governance in Georgia. According to Kldiashvili, the IDFI aims to raise citizens’ awareness and promote human rights and good governance through well-informed reports, research and recommendations. It works to initiate and implement reforms in policies, laws, and practices to improve democratic governance.
At the GFSIS, Kakha Gogolashvili, Senior Fellow and Director of the EU Studies Centre, Giorgi Badridze, Senior Fellow, Tornike Turmanidze, Senior Fellow, and Keti Emukhvari, Research Fellow, gave us an insight into the work of the Institute and an opportunity for intensive exchange. GFSIS is an independent, non-profit think tank whose mission is “to improve policy-making in Georgia”, says Senior Fellow Shota Utiashvili. To this end, it not only produces studies and analyses, but also trains policymakers and policy analysts. The foundation’s work also focuses on “educating the public about the strategic issues facing Georgia and the Caucasus in the 21st century, promoting democracy and improving regional cooperation”. The JRCIS aims to analyse the country’s opportunities and problems and “promote dialogue between government and academia” to support the country’s path towards EU membership.
Key results of the M100 Media Forum in Tbilisi will be presented at the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium international media conference in Potsdam on 14 September.
The event was organised by the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, the Institute for Media and Communication Policy (IFM), and the Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft and took place in cooperation with Radio Free Europe and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Tblisi.
