In Georgia, due to pressure from the authorities, the TV channel “Formula” is forced to cut its budget and staff

In Georgia, due to pressure from the authorities, one of the most critical TV channels of the country, “Formula”, is forced to reduce its budget by 70 percent and, as a result, reduce its staff.

This was reported by the deputy general director of the channel, Giorgi Targamadze, reports ZMINA. 

Giorgi Targamadze says that despite the staff reduction, they will make efforts not to reduce broadcasting.

He believes that the problems of «Formula» were created systematically. First of all, they were financial. «Georgian Dream» created a puppet company, which became responsible for calculating the ratings of TV channels.

The founders were very close to the leader of «Georgian Dream» Bedzina Ivanishvili. They changed the methodology for measuring ratings, which, according to Targamadze, negatively affected the ratings of «Formula» and other non-government channels. Accordingly, this affected advertisers, who were less willing to invest money in advertising.

During the election campaign, the Tbilisi City Court, based on a protocol from the National Communications Commission, fined three TV channels, including «Formula» , 5 thousand GEL for refusing to show an advertisement for «Georgian Dream» using footage of destroyed Ukrainian cities.

Targamadze adds that the authorities are hostile to media outlets that are not under their control. This is evidenced by the fact that its representatives have not been going to such channels for 9 years, including «Formula».

According to the channel's head, the ruling party has created a monopoly on information from all government institutions. They do not provide information to non-government media. The lack of information has a very negative impact on the media.