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Subscribe 'Media Innovations' at an end
But program touts success in moving Georgian media forward, expanding
television advertising market
By Tiko Giorgadze
After three-and-a-half years of work developing Georgian print and broadcast media and their supporting institutions, the IREX Media Innovations Program (MIPG) is winding down its operations.
IREX, the International Research and Exchange Board, carried out the program with the support of USAID funding and aimed to realign Georgian media with modern strategies including professional standards and development of business operations.
At a reception marking the end of the program on Wednesday, February 22, Linda Trail, Deputy Director of IREX's Media Development Division, described the MIPG as successful and a great program for developing journalism skills in Georgia.
"It has been a great program. The Georgia media community has been tremendously dynamic and very receptive to our ideas. It has been a very rewarding program," Trail told the paper.
The MIPG started in July 2002 and will officially end this March 2006. Over this period, it held dozens of trainings and awarded 117 grants worth a total of USD 1.138 million to Georgian media outlets, media associations and watchdog NGOs, academic institutions and research companies.
IREX is particularly proud of its work to create an information base for the television advertising market. Through MIPG, it introduced the first continuous television audience measurement in Georgia. The system, the National Television Ratings System, has been expanded through investment by AGB Nielsen Media Research. Today officials report the ratings system contributed to the quadrupling of Georgia's advertising market from USD 3.5 million in 2001 to an expected USD 12 million in 2006.
"I think this is practically a very successful program. This is not the only thing the U.S. government does to support the media and it is not the last thing… But it was the most important building block," Denny Robertson, USAID Mission Director, said Wednesday.
"And from a business perspective I think we can see this has been a very successful program," he noted.
Lia Chakhunashvili, MIPG Program Director, singled out the program's influence on the advertising market. "Management abilities were improved. Media managers have advanced after our trainings and changed lots of things in their organizations' management style as their advertisement revenues were increased," Chakhunashvili told the paper.
The program also supported capacity building of two major journalism schools - the Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management and the journalism department at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
"Our program was also important for the establishment and the development of print and broadcast media outlets associations. We fostered the development of six professional and trade associations that represent the interests of independent media," Chakhunashvili said.
With the end of the Media Innovations program Chakhunashvili said it is now up to the media outlets themselves to continue pushing journalism forward.
"We have some problems that can be easily solved but at the same time there are more serious problems that cannot be regulated in the short-term. I think the development and problem-solving will greatly depend on the activeness of the media," she said.
The IREX MIPG also supported integration of ethnic minorities by funding regional TV and radio stations that produced news and analytical programs in Ossetian, Armenian, Azerbaijan and Russian languages. Overall the project implemented more than 40 multi-component trainings for 38 TV stations, 18 radio stations, and 52 newspapers throughout Georgia.
This article was originally published by The Messenger, Georgia.