The story
History
Radio Imedi first aired on 105.9 FM in December 2001 in Tbilisi. Since December 2003 "Radio Imedi" has broadcast 24 hours a day across all the settled territory in Georgia.
In March 2003, when Imedi was founded, it was the first independently owned broadcasting station in Georgia. During the 2007 Georgian demonstrations the station was the most watched station and the most critical of the Mikheil Saakashvili government. It remained the only independent station in the country until it was forcibly seized by government troops in 2007 and then expropriated from its legal owners for criticising the government.
During the Sandro Girgvliani murder investigation in 2006, Patarkatsishvili stated that the Georgian authorities were mounting pressure on his station and other businesses after it had broadcast details of the scandal. "It is no secret that Imedi television was the first one which reported the circumstances of Sandro Girgvliani’s murder...this alone became a reason for the authorities’ dissatisfaction, which triggered the financial authorities to actively launch a probe into my businesses and my companies so [as] to force me to mount pressure against [my] journalists and facilitate the creation of a favorable image of the authorities," Badri Patarkatsishvili went on to say that he would never yield to pressure from the authorities.
The station carried statements by opposition leaders and broadcast footage of police breaking up protests during the November 2007 Georgian demonstrations and went off-air after riot police burst into their offices on November 7, 2007. The seizure was seen as symbolic of the government's attacks on private property at the time.
The Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) suspended Imedi TV's broadcast license for a three-month period, citing violation of law on broadcasting by the television station. The GNCC says in its decision that on November 7, Imedi TV reported "an obvious disinformation that law enforcement officers were planning to storm cathedral of Holy Trinity... This report has created an imminent and real threat of overgrowing riots into large-scale massive unrests, which could eventually led to uncontrollable processes." Georgian officials further accused Patarkatsishvili of controlling the Imedi TV’s editorial policy and using it for inciting unrests. As a proof for their allegations, Georgia's General Prosecutor's Office released, on November 16, 2007, several taped phone conversations between Patarkatsishvili and Giorgi Targamadze, chief of Imedi TV’s political programs, and also between a producer and a journalist of Imedi TV. The government's closure of the station and the handling of the demonstration were criticised by the West.
Meanwhile, Rustavi 2, which was regarded as close to the government, TV aired on 16 November a half-hour documentary about Imedi TV's role in the anti-governmental demonstrations, which is based exclusively on an interview of deputy chief prosecutor, Nika Gvaramia.
Tbilisi City Court ruled on December 6, 2007, to unfreeze Imedi's assets – the last remaining legal obstacle for the television station to get back on air. The company's management stated that the studio equipment was badly damaged in a November 7 police raid. Later, on December 12, 2007, Imedi TV resumed broadcasts thirty-four days after the television station was shut down. A criminal case against its co-owner, Badri Patarkatsishvili, was launched however, Patarkatsishvili denied the charges against him, claiming that they were politically motivated.
On December 26, 2007, several leading journalists from Imedi TV left their jobs following the release of video and audio recordings by the authorities suggesting that Badri Patarkatsishvili, the station's founder and co-owner, was plotting a coup. Later that day, the television station’s management announced that Imedi TV temporarily suspended broadcasts until the station's "legal status in respect of ownership is not clarified." "By doing so we are distancing from dirty political games", said Giorgi Targamadze, head of the Imedi TV's political programs. Former Imedi TV journalists entered politics and founded Christian-Democratic Movement.
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Badri Afanasyev, a former Imedi producer, asked for political asylum in Russia on October 17, 2009.
2010 Russian invasion hoax
On the evening of March 13, 2010, when the Georgian government had effective control of Imedi, the station aired a deliberate false report that caused a shockwave across the country. According to the false news, Russia invaded Georgia after a “terror attack” on the president of South Ossetian republic, Eduard Kokoity. The report suggested that four Georgian soldiers in South Ossetia had been killed, and that President Mikhail Saakashvili and his government had been evacuated. In several minutes, however, the source “reported” the death of Saakashvili and the creation of the people’s government headed by one of the opposition leaders, Nino Burjanadze. The program, which lasted for half an hour, also reported about aerial bombardment of the country’s air and seaports and only at the end, the Imedi presenters pointed out that this was a “special report about possible development of the events”. At the beginning of the broadcast, there were also warnings that the program showed a sequence of possible events that could only occur "if Georgian society is not brought together against Russia's plans."
The hoax was condemned by many public figures both in Georgia and abroad, including Georgian patriarch Ilia. Burjanadze is considering filing a legal issue against Imedi. The report caused widespread panic in Georgia. Many civilians fled their homes to escape the "invasion", while units of the Georgian Army took up defensive positions. There were instances of heart attacks and fainting upon news of the invasion.
From Wikipedia’s article on Imedi Media Holding, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4