Rustavi 2 did not sell, new director fires well-known journalists, anchors of main news program leave the channel
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Wednesday, August 21
100% shareholder of the Rustavi 2 Kibar Khalvashi says that nobody expressed a desire to buy the company. As he said, he will try to overcome the difficult financial situation with his own efforts.
“I decided that Rustavi 2 won’t go bankrupt, and for this I will use all my resources and abilities,” reads the statement published by Khalvashi.
In his statement, Khalvashi talks about the financial situation of the channel and the problems that Rustavi 2 faced when he became the owner of the company. He blamed the former Director of Rustavi 2, Nika Gvaramia for the problems of the channel.
“It is well known for the public that Rustavi 2 was in a crisis when we won it back. Today, it is clear to everyone that the company, which had the chance to be very successful, faces financial crisis. As you know, the debt that Rustavi 2 has is more than 70 million GEL. Of course, there are reasons for this: including, the former director acting against the interests of the company, artificial reduction of revenue, and raising spending of the company,” reads Khalvashi’s statement.
According to him, he has only two choices: “one is to declare the company as bankrupt, and the other is to try to save it.”
As Khalvashi says, Rustavi 2 should become a commercially successful channel, without having any obligations with any political party. “I have many years of successful business experience and I think that with the help of those, who think that the problems of the company are important, I will be able to deal with any challenge.”
According to the statement, Khalvashi considers it his first obligation to free the television from Georgia's third president, Mikheil Saakashvili and to bring the channel into the public service and regain trust - to be critical, but at the same time maintaining high professional and ethical standards.
Khalvashi noted that he will pursue a legal battle with Gvaramia, who, according to Khalvashi deliberately disrupted the channel, damaging its interests and using the channel only as a tool for Saakashvili's political interests.
“I am sure that Rustavi 2 will be financially and politically independent in the near future, and the independent journalists and free media will serve the best interests of the people of Georgia,” noted Khalvashi.
After Khalvashi’s statement, new Director of the company, Paata Salia held a briefing. During the briefing, Salia announced that he would be firing some of the well-known journalists of the channel, Nanuka Zhorzholiani, Giorgi Gabunia, Giorgi Laperashvili, Eka Kvesitadze and Nodar Meladze.
As Salia said, he is trying to solve the financial problems of Rustavi 2 and does not need “internal wars.” The channel director explained that the reason he fired Zhorzholiani is “her public statement that she will be supporting the appeal at the European Court of Human Rights.”
“Nanuka says openly that she wants to change the owner of the company. In this situation, how can we work together?” said Salia.
As Zhorzholiani said, as long as Bidzina Ivanishvili leads the government, she won’t stop getting on his nerves.
According to Meladze, the former head of the Rustavi 2 news service, officially he was fired because of a bonus he received in 2016. But, in reality, he thinks that the leaders of the Government and Rustavi 2 had planned to fire the journalists for a long time now.
As Meladze said, few weeks ago, people close to the government met him and tried to make him work for them, but he did not agree. According to him, after that, “second wave of pressure started, when, according to the decision of Kibar Khalvashi, I did not get my salary.”
According to the former head of the news service of Rustavi 2, he already got offers from different companies, and “the media where I am going to work will always be critical of the government, and I will never go back to the past when I worked for the government’s media.”
As for Nanuka Zhorzholiani, she said that she was fired because she does not like Khalvashi. “My contract does not read that I should love the owner of the company, it says that I have to create popular programs for the channel, which can earn the company money,” she said.
According to the Executive Director of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Mikheil Benidze, even the most recognizable faces are not protected, and this might represent “a message to everyone that they must obey the new owner of the company and management and therefore, it might reflect on the editorial policy.”
The former director of Rustavi 2 Nika Gvaramia invited people who got fired to work for his channel. According to him, those who stay at Rustavi 2 are working for Ivanishvili.
Later yesterday, anchors of the main news program of Rustavi 2, Kurieri, Diana Jojua and Misha Sesiashvili announced that they would be leaving the channel. They announced the decision during their last live broadcast.
Diana Jojua, who has been working for Rustavi 2 for 13 years, said that Rustavi 2 is not just its logo, “this has been our life and, as Nodar Meladze said in one of his last airs, a territory of freedom.”
“This channel is the people, a team of faithful and professional people. I wish everyone a good luck, even those who still believe that they can be free in Ivanishvili’s channel. I, Diana Jojua, who was kicked out from Abkhazia by the Kremlin, can never sit in a studio, which belongs to the main servant of the Kremlin, Bidzina Ivanishvili. Today, I am forced to say – goodbye,” said Jojua.
On August 12, Khalvashi announced that he would be selling Rustavi 2 “through a transparent competition” to someone who was willing to pay the most. After one week, it was announced that no one had the desire to buy the channel.
Khalvashi became the 100% shareholder of Rustavi 2 after the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights. As he said, the company has 70 million GEL in debt, out of which 27 million is a budgetary tax.
