Governmental Officials Oriented on PR-Campaign

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori

Gori District

On May 1, 2009 Gori district administration signed agreement with the local TV-Station “Trialeti”, according to which the TV-Company had to release advertisements and running subtitles about the local authority. According to the two-week agreement, the Gori district administration paid 620 GEL for the service.

Afterwards, on July 1, 2010 the Gori district authority purchased TV-time and moreover, started a special program “The Government Is Responding”. The governmental officials participated in this program and informed the population what was being done and what should be done in the district. In addition, very few critical phone calls were accepted in the program. According to our information, the client – the local authority – categorically demanded it. However, this requirement was not envisaged in the agreement. According to the agreement of July 1, the Gori district administration paid 2 000 GEL per month for the participation in the program. As you will see below, other district administrations paid the similar amount of money for the participation in the program. 

On December 9, 2009, the district administration indicated in the renewed agreement that the program “the Government Is Responding” will be aired only for the next one month and it cost 4 000 GEL. On December 16, 2009 a new agreement was signed and it stated that the same program will be funded with 2 000 GEL till January 1, 2010. The documents demonstrate that the Gori district authority paid 6 000 GEL in total for the live-broadcasting where nobody had to be represented expect them.

In 2010, Gori district authority renewed funding of their program and in March they started to release their advertisements alongside the program. It coincided with the municipal elections of 2010. In March, the local authority paid 2 500 GEL for advertising.

Early in 2010, media-holding “Droni.ge” involved the PR-campaign very actively; its editor Giorgi Kapanadze was appointed to the position of assistant to the Shida Kartli regional governor Lado Vardzelashvili based on the instruction of January 2010 and his monthly salary was 1 180 GEL. The labor-agreement was signed for three months. However, according to another agreement dated by 2009, Kapanadze occupied the same position. Besides that, the district administrations transferred additional funds to Kapanadze’s “Droni.ge”

More precisely, on February 2, 2010 the object of the purchase was described as follows: “The purchase object is articles in printed and online newspapers of the Droni.ge as well as reports about implemented projects and innovations in the region, video-telecasts, consulting public relation issues, and interviews.”

The agreement was signed for three months and the Droni.ge received 2 700 GEL form February till May of 2010.

The local TV-Station released the “Government Is Responding” from May till July in 2010. Meanwhile, the local authority paid 10 000 GEL for the service. At the beginning of July, Vardzelashvili resigned and Zurab Arsoshvili decided that people did not need “the responds of the government”.

“I do not need PR campaign,” said the regional governor Zurab Arsoshvili and pointed out that he was not going to waste money on media like his predecessor.

Despite that, the Gori district administration did not drop agreement with the News Agency “Pirveli” which was initially signed on February 2, 2010 and is running till January 2011. The administration pays 100 GEL to the News Agency per month.

The newspaper “Goris Matsne”, which was previously published under name “Lomchabuki”, is still funded with 30 000 GEL per year. According to the documents (money-transfer invoices), the newspaper “Goris Matsne” receives 2 500 GEL from the Gori district budget every month.

Kaspi District

Kaspi district administration has different “media-priorities”; however they have similar relation with Droni.ge as other district authorities.

Kaspi district authority funds the local newspaper “Akhali Gantiadi” with 11 000 GEL per month. The newspaper releases two issues per month and they are distributed mostly in district administrations and governmental agencies.

On January 31, 2009 the Kaspi district administration signed one-year agreement with the newspaper “24 Hours”. According to the agreement, the newspaper had to publish information about competitions announced by the Kaspi district authority. The local authority transferred 2 000 GEL to the newspaper. In 2010, the district administration continued old cooperation with the same media-sources and this time, the purchase price did not exceed 2 000 GEL.

In 2010, the funding of the newspaper “Akhali Gantiadi” was a bit increased. At the beginning of the year the service cost 12 000 GEL for 12 months but on February 5, 2010 a new agreement was signed and the newspaper Akhali Gantiadi obtained new responsibilities and had to distribute the issues in the villages too; the local authority transferred additional 2 040 GEL for the purpose.

As for the Droni.ge, the Kaspi district authority signed agreement with them on February 1, 2010. They paid 700 GEL to the company in comparison to 900 GEL paid by Gori district administration; consequently, the Droni.ge received 2 100 GEL from the Kaspi district authority for three-month service.

As for the special program “The Government Is Responding”, the Kaspi district did not participate in its funding.

Kareli District Administration

Kareli district administration also contributed to the funding of the program “the Government Is Responding”. The agreement of July 1, 2009 states that the local authority will pay 1 000 GEL per month; the agreement was signed for 6 months. Gori district administration paid 2 000 GEL for the same program.

On April 27, 2009, Kareli district governor Ilia Burjanadze negotiated with the individual entrepreneur Inga Kvartskhava and signed agreement with her: “The agreement object is reports and interviews about the Kareli district administration and municipal board and all corresponding information published in the catalogue “Facts - Regions of Georgia 2008.” Ilia Burjanadze paid 600 GEL for the interview in the catalogue.

On April 15, 2009, the administration decided to purchase TV-Time for three months and paid 4 500 GEL for it.

On October 26, 2009, the Kareli district administration funded newspaper “Karelis Moambe” and paid 350 GEL for it.

On October 1, 2009, the Kareli district authority paid 400 GEL for the article about their activities in the article “Tvitmartvelobis Matsne” (reporter of the self-governance).

On February 10, 2010, Kareli district administration continued purchase of the TV-Time and paid 4 800 GEL for the service from February till July.

On February 19, 2010 Kareli district interim governor Levan Abashishvili paid 600 GEL for the article about him in the catalogue “Facts – Regions of Georgia 2009.” Individual entrepreneur Inga Kvartskhava was author of the catalogue again.

On April 28, 2010 Kareli district authority released a newspaper “Karelis Moambe” and it cost 700 GEL. 

On January 21, 2010, Kareli district administration signed three-month agreement with Droni.ge and paid 2 100 GEL for it. We got hold of the agreement which contains a bit different conditions. More precisely: Droni.ge is entitled to publish pr-articles, news, video-telecasts, reports about pre-election campaign and informational support for the local authority in its newspaper, website and television (RealTV).

Khashuri District

On March 18, 2009, Kashuri district administration signed agreement with the local TV-Company and purchased TV-time from it. Consequently, the TV-station had to release announcements of the local government twice a month, 7 telecasts and 60-word running subtitles per month.

Based on the agreement of May 28, 2009, Kashuri district administration funded the local newspaper Khashuris Moambe with 10 000 GEL in a year.

According to the data of December 1, 2009, the newspaper 24 Hours received order of 1 000 GEL from the Khashuri district authority to publish competition announcements.

On July 1, 2009 Khashuri district administration started funding of the program “the Government Is Responding”. The Khashuri district authority paid 1 000 GEL to the program every month.

In December of 2009, Khashuri district administration transferred 1 000 GEL to the TV-Company “Dea: for the New Year show. 51% of the expenses were covered by the Khashuri district administration.

According to the agreement of January 4, 2010 Khashuri district authority reduced funding of the program “the Government Is Responding” and paid 875 GEL per month instead previous 1 000 GEL.

In 2010, the newspaper Khashuris Moambe was funded with 12 500 GEL. Droni.ge received 2 100 GEL from the Khashuri government. 

Based on the agreement of February 5, 2010, the Newspaper 24 Hours was paid 840 GEL for publishing a competition announcement. 

On February 1, 2010 the TV-Company “Trialeti” sold its time to the Khashuri district authority for five months and received 5 000 GEL for it.