Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF version

The Gerorgian authorities have a euphemism for a purge - staff optimisation.

This was the term used by the regime to cover up their purge of the oficer corps of the army - sacking those deemed not to be loyal to the state machine being built by Vano Merabishvili as interior minister.

Today, reports the Pirveli (First) news agency it is the term being used by regime placeman Gia Chanturia to describe his plan to dismiss around 150 staff at the public broadcaster.

The director-general blames budget cuts. But what he doesn't mention is that his team are now expected to launch two new channels this year - one a long promised public access service that will give the opposition an opportunity to get their views across and the other a Russian language propaganda service aimed at the Northern Caucasus and seen by the Russian authoities as a provocation in an accelerating "information war".

Nor does he mention the hidden subsidies - described as "state aid" by senior ministers - of at least $20 million a year that are going to what are meant to be commercially self-supporting stations but who are propped up by the government in return for broadcasting pro-government stories.

Georgia's broadcast journalism is in a perilous state - under pressure from a regime that will not tolerate opposing views and just does not understand the concept of political pluralism. Journalists who attempt to stick to ethics or actually follow up stories know they are taking risks with their future employment or even worse. The decision of the regime's appointee to sack 150 staff of the public broadcaster - the one national TV station that occasionally shows signs of wanting to report news and not propaganda - is hardly likely to engender courage.

And while launching a Russian language television state is hardly more objectionable than the Russians spewing out their propaganda through the likes of "Russia Today" it can hardly be justified against the need to deliver a decent service to the people of Georgia, especially when the public broadcaster's Armenian and Azeri output is at a level that suggests the state has no desire to integrate these communities into national life.