Communication Regime in Georgia: Dialogue in the Context of Severed Diplomatic Relations

Abstract

This article presents the results of a research on the information and communication situation in Georgia, the role and importance of national and foreign communication resources, conducted by the annual monitoring of the friendliness of communication regimes of the National Research Institute of Communication Development (NRICD). The authors examined the main challenges and threats in the communication regime of the two countries. The article reveals the latent problems of the communication regime, including the concentration of media in the hands of a narrow circle of individuals and political forces, as well as the increasing politicization of information. The article examines the peculiarities of presentation of news materials that shape anti-Russian rhetoric and agenda. The communication regime between the two countries is largely determined by the continuing tension around the Tskhinvali region and Abkhazia, as well as the instability of the internal political situation. The increasing fragmentation of Georgian society, the extreme polarization of various political forces, and the growing role of non-regional actors have a great impact on Georgian political discourse and official rhetoric and serve as a facilitator for the complication of bilateral relations.

The article uses the materials of the annual monitoring of the communication regimes of post-Soviet countries. Monitoring is provided by the National Research Institute for the Communications Development (Moscow).