Public Broadcaster Director Initiates Suspension of Programs
TBILISI - The new Director General of Georgia’s Public Broadcaster (GPB), Vasil Maglaperidze presented The 2017-2019 Action Plan which included the 102 programs, excepting news, for one year.
Maglaperidze stated that reorganization and temporary suspension of TV programs would help the broadcaster to “overcome crisis and solve problems.”
He said, “The reality is that we have a financial crisis, miserable working conditions, and a dilapidated building, which is very insecure and cannot be rennovated."
The General Director said that the closure of the programs and dismissal of employees would not take place at this stage. First, the proposed action plan would be considered by the 8-member Board of Trustees, and then the public.
Maglaperidze believes that following his plan, the GPB will be able to save 15 million GEL a year, which amounts to 45 million by 2019.
The Media Advocacy Coalition criticizes Maglaperidze's the 3-year action plan.
Nata Dzvelishvili, Executive Director of Georgian Charter of Journalism Ethics, says that by removing or suspending all of its programs from broadcast programming, GPB will violate obligations envisaged by the Law on Broadcasting.
“The suspension of all programs will paralyze GPB,” Dzvelishvili stressed.
Moreover, the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Transparency International - Georgia, also believes that the proposed development plan might harm the GPB. Each new Director of the GPB starts work with reorganization, which leads to endless reorganization and unstable environment. An unstable environment has negative impact on the motivation of employees, as well as on the audience loyalty towards the broadcaster,” a statement by the NGO reads.
Georgian Public Broadcaster is a state-funded TV channel.
This year GPB will get 46.4 million GEL from the budget, which is 2.4 million less than the funding it recieved last year.
The eight-member Board of Trustees will hold open discussions with participation of Maghlaperidze, GPB employee,s and media experts to make the decision about the development of the plan.
By Thea Morrison