Imedi Media Holding
Imedi Media Holding
Main page
1710278

Imedi Media Holding

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Imedi Media Holding

Imedi Media Holding (Georgian: იმედი მედია ჰოლდინგი) is a private television and radio company in Georgia. The stations were founded by the Georgian media tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili. The station mainly concentrates on news and analytical coverage, but broadcasts pop music as well, particularly at nighttime. Imedi means "hope" in Georgian.

The station is currently considered to be a staunch supporter of the Georgian Dream-led government since 2012. The owner of Imedi, Irakli Rukhadze, announced in September 2024 that the company’s "raison d'être" (main objective) is to prevent the opposition United National Movement and its allies from regaining power.

Radio Imedi first aired on 105.9 FM in December 2001 in Tbilisi. Since December 2003 "Radio Imedi" has broadcast 24 hours a day across all the settled territory in Georgia.

In March 2003, when Imedi was founded, it was the first independently owned broadcasting station in Georgia. During the 2007 Georgian demonstrations the station was the most watched station and the most critical of the Mikheil Saakashvili government. It remained the only independent station in the country until it was forcibly seized by government troops in 2007 and then expropriated from its legal owners for criticising the government.

During the Sandro Girgvliani murder investigation in 2006, Patarkatsishvili stated that the Georgian authorities were mounting pressure on his station and other businesses after it had broadcast details of the scandal. "It is no secret that Imedi television was the first one which reported the circumstances of Sandro Girgvliani’s murder...this alone became a reason for the authorities’ dissatisfaction, which triggered the financial authorities to actively launch a probe into my businesses and my companies so [as] to force me to mount pressure against [my] journalists and facilitate the creation of a favorable image of the authorities," Badri Patarkatsishvili went on to say that he would never yield to pressure from the authorities.

The station carried statements by opposition leaders and broadcast footage of police breaking up protests during the November 2007 Georgian demonstrations and went off-air after riot police burst into their offices on November 7, 2007. The seizure was seen as symbolic of the government's attacks on private property at the time.

The Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) suspended Imedi TV's broadcast license for a three-month period, citing violation of law on broadcasting by the television station. The GNCC says in its decision that on November 7, Imedi TV reported "an obvious disinformation that law enforcement officers were planning to storm cathedral of Holy Trinity... This report has created an imminent and real threat of overgrowing riots into large-scale massive unrests, which could eventually led to uncontrollable processes." Georgian officials further accused Patarkatsishvili of controlling the Imedi TV’s editorial policy and using it for inciting unrests. As a proof for their allegations, Georgia's General Prosecutor's Office released, on November 16, 2007, several taped phone conversations between Patarkatsishvili and Giorgi Targamadze, chief of Imedi TV’s political programs, and also between a producer and a journalist of Imedi TV. The government's closure of the station and the handling of the demonstration were criticised by the West.

Meanwhile, Rustavi 2, which was regarded as close to the government, TV aired on 16 November a half-hour documentary about Imedi TV's role in the anti-governmental demonstrations, which is based exclusively on an interview of deputy chief prosecutor, Nika Gvaramia.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.