‘Sakartvelos Respublika’ - 100 Years in Print
I’m not always into the business of Op-ed; I sometimes do the news, and that is a wonderful respite for me because I enjoy the stuff. ‘Sakartvelos Respublika’ translated from Georgian into English, means ‘Republic of Georgia,’ this being the name of a century-old Georgian-language daily newspaper which has served the nation as faithfully, earnestly and competently as was possible through a hundred years of political vicissitudes, economic ills and social tornadoes. The aged paper has hit every possible news-making event or personality that this country has known in the last hundred years, and it is still doing the job with vigor, truth and dedication.
Last Thursday, the main conference hall of the National Academy of Science, headed by its executive vice-president Academician Roin Metreveli and the Editor-in-Chief of the celebrated newspaper, Spartak Kobulia, hosted the edition’s centennial jubilee. Present were the patriarchs of national science and journalism who are still in envious creative shape and perfect mood to keep the motherland hearing their precious words of wisdom, among them the famous newspaper’s erstwhile editors Nugzar Popkhadze and Armaz Saneblidze, and of course its perennial presence and patron Guram Gogiashvili.
Enthusiastic speeches, analytical efforts, brief comments, deserved laudations, sporadic regrets, slight criticism and hopeful predictions were all in place. The well-spoken floor holders underlined that ‘Sakartvelos Respublika’ had always fought for the purity of the Georgian language which is currently under the threat of relentless contamination with violently introduced barbarisms, stylistic shoddiness and grammatical faults. It was also noted that the weathered paper is a classic example of the printed art, which better than any other comparable edition in the country puts the reader right in the swim of all the most important matters that make up the Republic’s life, and always brings to the surface the topics that nurse the Georgian national ideals, helping our people to maintain their national identity, notwithstanding the storming assault of the overwhelming globalization.
It was also emphasized that the paper is financially crippled so badly that it can hardly survive without substantial pecuniary support, which is not readily available at present. The National Academy of Science happens to be one of the rarest donors willing to support the precious publication. Comparison was made with the pre-perestroika ‘good old times’ when the circulation of the paper reached almost one million copies per issue – amazing for just a five-million-strong population at the time!
One of the speakers regretfully underlined that the newspaper has a feeble connection with the modern young readership who do not seem to be a ‘reading’ but a ‘watching’ generation, interested not in reading in general but only in using the watchable media of mass communication which makes it easier and quicker to acquire the necessary information. To respond to the dire generic disposition, instigated by financial frustration and an even worse prospect for acquisition of funding, an optimistic voice of hope sounded all of a sudden in the hall: let us create a board of trustees made up of hundreds of supporting members who will protect the future of the beloved paper and find a sure way for its survival. The proposal was heeded and accepted informally, which means that the situation is not completely discouraging.
The attention of the audience was caught by the suggestion that concerned the young readership, with the editor of the paper promising to find a way to go straight to the hearts and minds of Georgia’s youth, who are unaware how helpful a source of knowledge ‘Sakartvelos Respublika’ is - and knowledge is the key to success. Nobody knows if this grownup talk will ever reach young ears, but the idea was made clear and stated loudly enough to be heard by all present. Youth is in love with electronic media, but hard-copy usefulness is also corroborated by the continual publication of the greats of the world like the New York Times and Washington Post, and many others like them. No television, no radio and no internet have succeeded in overpowering them. ‘Sakartvelos Respublika’ will share their fate! Incidentally, this jubilee is one of the great national trinity of celebrations, the other two being the 100th birthday of the Tbilisi State University and the centenary of the independent Republic of Georgia. Yes, ‘Sakartvelos Respublika’, the Tbilisi State and the independence of Georgia are peers. Happy birthday to all of them!
By Nugzar B. Ruhadze