Too Little Too Late? Georgia Fires Bigot Anti-Russian TV Presenter and Changes Up Programming

In Georgia, they still fired the Rustavi 2 presenter who became famous for swearing at Russian leaders. In addition to Gabunia, they canceled contracts with the head of the information service and the producer. It was they who prepared the scandalous program.

In Georgia, they still fired the Rustavi 2 presenter who became famous for swearing at Russian leaders. In addition to Gabunia, they canceled contracts with the head of the information service and the producer. It was they who prepared the scandalous program.

Everyone's attention in Georgia is riveted to Paata Salia's press conference. Endless live broadcasts and news feeds are covering it. The CEO of Rustavi 2 dismissed the journalists who were the news company's anchors. First of all is the notorious Georgy Gabunia. Many people believe that the new owners of Rustavi 2 don't want to see violent, swearing Russophobes on the air.

Paata Salia, CEO of Rustavi 2: "This is purely a conflict of interest. It's impossible for a person working for the channel to want a change of ownership and spare no effort for this. This decision was made because these people don't care about Rustavi 2. They want only that a specific person — Mikhail Saakashvili — would run the channel, although he didn't officially own the channel".

Dismissals could be expected. On July 7th, in his author's program, Georgy Gabunia suddenly addressed the audience in Russian. Then, he began to swear at the Russian leaders. Half an hour later, a crowd gathered in front of the channel's office. Georgians demanded that Gabunia be dismissed and the channel be shut down. The country's leadership condemned the journalist, calling him a provocateur. Moscow called the foul-mouthed person a radical, and what happened a shame upon Georgians. But the incident didn't end there. The channel's CEO, Nika Gvaramia at the time, made a few statements. He first reluctantly apologized for Gabunia, then he said that he agreed with him and criticized the Georgian government for being loyal to Moscow. Then, he made an extraordinary statement about an upcoming performance. Gvaramia decided to relieve himself into Borjomi and wines to be exported to Russia.

Alexander Chachia, political analyst: "To win society's sympathy, to respond to society's demands, those most notorious journalists were dismissed. Those dismissed — Gabunia and several presenters, who showed active support of the national movement, the former president, shared extreme anti-Russian sentiments, were very aggressive and Russophobic. They haven't had authority or popularity with Georgian society for a long time".

The Karamanishvili brothers owned a part of Rustavi 2's shares since 2012. They're friends of Mikhail Saakashvili and have a business in Ukraine. They said that it was Saakashvili and Gvarania that wrote the obscene speech that Gabunia delivered on-air. On July 18th, the European Court of Human Rights supported the Georgian Supreme court, which upheld the decision to transfer the channel to its former owner Kibar Khalvashi in March of 2017. Rustavi 2 was transferred to Khalvashi, who dismissed Gvaramia, gave his position to Salia, and promised not to dismiss anyone else. Gabunia was suspended from working on the air and put on leave. He's sure that he won't be left without work because Gvaramia is opening a new news channel. In Georgia, they've long been saying that it wasn't only political views that united Nika and the white-toothed Georgy wearing skinny trousers. The journalists are very close friends.

Arno Khidirbegishvili, editor-in-chief of Gruzinform: "Nika Gvaramia is a representative of the Saakashvili regime. He's a former deputy prosecutor general of Georgia. He has a non-standard sexual orientation. Saakashvili put him in the post requiring probably maximum responsibility during Saakashvili's dictatorship following the Rose Revolution. Rustavi 2's CEO is practically a propaganda megaphone for the Saakashvili's ruling party — the United National Movement".

Rustavi 2 will need new employees now. In addition to Gabunia, the head of the information service Nodar Meladze and the host of the political talk show "Accents of the Week" Ekaterina Kvesitadze were dismissed. Nodar was directly involved in the scandalous broadcast. Kvesitadze, known for her Russophobic statements, said that she and Gvaramia are involved in the creation of a new channel. Nanuka Zhorzholiani was the fourth to be dismissed. Salia noted at a press conference that the channel may even sue those journalists. The news about the channel's losses and financial fraud, which came at the same time, was icing on the cake. A criminal case was opened against Gvaramia.

Zinaida Kurbatova, Vasily Matua for Vesti