Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB)

Georgia · Quick Facts SC Appointments, funding and practice GEL 101m 2026 public broadcasting budget 11 Trustees, elected by Parliament 135/180 RSF 2026 · 40.77 ▼ 21 places Status A Legal Entity under Public Law established on the basis of state property, more precisely a publicly owned public-service institution than an entity owned by the Government. The Law on Broadcasting provides that GPB is independent of state agencies and not subordinate to them Services First Channel and First Channel Sport on television, Georgian Radio and Georgian Radio Music on radio, and the 1TV.ge site with the 1TVPlay on-demand platform. The former Second Channel became Teleschool and was relaunched as First Channel Sport in 2024 Board Expanded from nine to eleven members in July 2023, when the bar on serving more than one six-year term was also repealed. The chair and deputy chair serve six years and may hold two terms. Vasil Maglaperidze, a former deputy chair of Georgian Dream, was re-elected chair in April 2025 Selection reform Amendments effective 1 July 2026 abolished the open competition and nine-member selection commission. Quota holders now nominate one candidate directly, the Economic Policy Committee verifies eligibility, and Parliament votes Funding formula The 0.14 per cent of GDP floor was abolished in December 2023. From 1 January 2026 financing is the number of persons employed in the preceding year multiplied by GEL 64, with a floor at the previous year’s total and Board consent required for any reduction. Parliament sets the coefficient Disclosure GPB publishes annual budget resolutions, budget-execution reports and audit materials. The Board must commission an independent annual audit and report annually to Parliament and the communications regulator. Adjara Public Broadcaster receives 21 per cent of the allocation AI The published development strategy provides for phased AI use in audience analysis, distribution, archive digitisation and disinformation detection, consistent with editorial independence. Some website material is labelled as translated using AI. No comprehensive editorial verification policy was identified

Sources: Law on Broadcasting via matsne.gov.ge; GPB institutional, budget, strategy and audit pages at 1tv.ge; Civil Georgia, June and July 2026; legislative register amendments of 2026; Reporters Without Borders 2026. Classification per the State Media Matrix.

Typology trajectory — Georgian Public Broadcaster

Georgia · 2022–2026 2022 SC 2023 SC 2024 SC 2025 SC 2026 SC The classification is unchanged, but GPB’s statutory protections were narrowed twice during the review period: the funding floor was replaced and the independent stage of trustee selection was abolished. Three legislative changes Jul 2023 The Board is expanded from nine to eleven members, and the bar on a trustee serving more than one six-year term is repealed Dec 2023 The statutory floor of 0.14 per cent of GDP is abolished. From 1 January 2026, financing is the number of persons employed in the preceding year multiplied by GEL 64, with a floor at the previous year’s total and Board consent needed for reductions. Parliament sets the coefficient Jul 2026 The open competition and nine-member selection commission are abolished. Quota holders nominate one candidate directly, the Economic Policy Committee verifies eligibility, and Parliament votes Substantive safeguards The Law on Broadcasting provides that GPB is independent of state agencies and not subordinate to them, and requires accurate information free from political and commercial bias, diversity of views and editorial independence. The Board must commission an independent annual audit and report annually to Parliament and the regulator. GPB publishes budget resolutions, execution reports and audit materials. What limits them All eleven trustees are elected by Parliament, and since July 2026 without an independent competitive stage. The Board Chair is a former deputy chair of the ruling party. Parliament determines the funding coefficient. Journalists critical of management were removed and dismissed during 2025. Governance Parliamentary election Editorial Protected, then pressured Funding Formula set by Parliament In January 2025 GPB journalists interrupted a live Board meeting over coverage of pro-European demonstrations, political repression and the imprisonment of Batumelebi and Netgazeti director Mzia Amaghlobeli. Anchor Vasil Ivanov-Chikovani was removed from presenting in February and dismissed in April alongside Nino Zautashvili, and members of the Real Space team were dismissed in May after refusing reassignment. The classification rests on politically dependent appointments, state financing and documented editorial pressure, not on an absence of formal safeguards, which are more substantial than in most comparable systems in the region.

Sources: Law on Broadcasting and 2023 and 2026 amendments via matsne.gov.ge; GPB budget and audit pages at 1tv.ge; Civil Georgia, January 2025 and July 2026; Reporters Without Borders 2026. SC = State-Controlled Media, per the State Media Matrix.

The Georgian Public Broadcaster is Georgia’s national public-service broadcaster, operating two television channels, two radio services and digital platforms. Georgian Radio dates from 1925 and television broadcasting from 1956. GPB acquired its present public-service form under the Law on Broadcasting, adopted in December 2004 and implemented in 2005, which transformed the former state broadcaster into a public-law institution.

Media assets

Television: First Channel and First Channel Sport

Radio: Georgian Radio and Georgian Radio Music

Digital: 1TV.ge and the 1TVPlay on-demand platform

The service formerly known as Second Channel was subsequently used for Teleschool and was relaunched as First Channel Sport in 2024. GPB’s institutional description identifies the current television and radio services.

Ownership and governance

GPB is a Legal Entity under Public Law established on the basis of state property. It is more precise to describe it as a publicly owned public-service institution than as an entity owned by the Government. The Law on Broadcasting formally provides that GPB is independent of state agencies and is not subordinate to them.

GPB is governed by an 11-member Board of Trustees elected by Parliament. The Board was expanded from nine to 11 members by amendments adopted in July 2023. Trustees serve six-year terms, but those terms are no longer necessarily non-renewable: the statutory restriction preventing a trustee from serving more than one term was repealed in 2023.

The Board’s chair and deputy chair are elected for six-year terms and may serve no more than two terms. Vasil Maglaperidze, a former deputy chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, was re-elected Board Chair in April 2025.

The trustee-selection procedure changed materially in 2026. The previous system involved an open competition and a nine-member selection commission, after which shortlisted candidates could be nominated under quotas assigned to the Public Defender, the parliamentary majority, opposition factions and the Supreme Council of Adjara.

Amendments taking effect on 1 July 2026 abolished that competitive stage. The body holding the relevant quota now nominates one candidate directly for each vacancy, the parliamentary Economic Policy Committee verifies eligibility, and Parliament votes on the nominee. Shortly before the new procedure took effect, Parliament elected Gia Murgulia for a second term on the majority quota and Davit Kartvelishvili, associated with the ruling-party offshoot People’s Power, on an opposition quota; another opposition seat remained vacant. Civil Georgia reported both the appointments and the procedural change.

The Board selects the Director General through competition for a six-year term. Tinatin Berdzenishvili, the sole candidate in the 2026 competition, was re-elected on 29 July 2026 with the support of eight of the nine trustees present.

Although the law contains formal institutional safeguards, parliamentary election of all trustees and the abolition of the independent competition stage leave the governing structure vulnerable to political control by the parliamentary majority.

Source of funding and budget

GPB is financed principally from the state budget.

The former statutory floor of 0.14 per cent of gross domestic product was abolished in December 2023. A replacement formula took effect on 1 January 2026. Under that formula, the broadcaster’s financing is calculated by multiplying the number of natural persons employed during the preceding year, as officially recorded, by a coefficient of GEL 64.

The resulting allocation may not fall below the amount approved for the preceding year, and a reduction requires the consent of the Board of Trustees. The formula therefore retains a nominal funding floor, although Parliament determines the coefficient on which it operates.

The public broadcasting system’s approved 2026 budget was approximately GEL 101 million, unchanged from the 2025 plan. Under the applicable funding amendment, 21 per cent of the total public broadcasting allocation is assigned to the Adjara Public Broadcaster.

GPB makes financial material available. Its website publishes annual budget resolutions, including the 2026 budget decision, as well as budget-execution reports and audit materials.

Editorial independence

The Law on Broadcasting contains substantive formal safeguards. GPB must provide accurate and current information free from political and commercial bias, reflect a diversity of views, maintain editorial independence and serve the interests of Georgian society. The Board must commission an independent annual audit and submit annual programming and financial reports to Parliament and the communications regulator.

Practice has nevertheless produced sustained evidence of political pressure.

In January 2025, GPB journalists interrupted a live Board meeting to protest what they considered inadequate coverage of pro-European demonstrations, political repression and the imprisonment of Batumelebi and Netgazeti director Mzia Amaghlobeli. Anchor Vasil Ivanov-Chikovani repeatedly expressed solidarity with Amaghlobeli and challenged what he described as the Board Chair’s editorial influence. Director General Berdzenishvili rejected those accusations.

Subsequent personnel decisions strengthened those concerns. Ivanov-Chikovani was removed from presenting duties in February 2025 and dismissed in April alongside presenter Nino Zautashvili. Members of the Real Space programme team were dismissed in May after refusing reassignment. Civil Georgia reported the dismissals while covering Berdzenishvili’s reappointment.

The wider legal environment has also deteriorated. Amendments enacted in June 2026 prohibit most foreign financing of broadcasters, permit the regulator to obtain relevant banking information and provide for prohibited funds to be transferred to the state budget, with enforcement by the National Bureau of Enforcement. The enacted amendment is available through Georgia’s legislative register.

Licences due to expire at the end of 2026 may, subject to the statutory conditions and an application, be extended until 31 December 2031.

Georgia’s 2025 Foreign Agents Registration Act creates criminal exposure for willful non-compliance, potentially including for managers and directors of media organisations deemed agents of foreign principals. It does not impose criminal liability automatically on all media executives.

AI and digital policy

State Media Monitor did not identify a comprehensive GPB editorial policy covering generative-AI verification, model provenance and disclosure across every category of output.

An institutional AI policy and evidence of adoption nevertheless exist. GPB’s published development strategy provides for phased use of artificial intelligence in audience analysis and personalisation, content distribution, archive digitisation and metadata, and tools intended to identify disinformation and improve content reliability. It states that adoption should remain consistent with editorial independence, professional ethics and the public interest.

GPB also uses artificial intelligence operationally. Material on its website has been expressly labelled as translated using artificial intelligence, demonstrating both adoption and at least some audience disclosure.

State Media Monitor did not identify a generally applicable Georgian statutory provision requiring every news item produced or assisted by artificial intelligence to be labelled.

Classification rationale

GPB remains classified State-Controlled Media (SC).

It is publicly owned and politically governed in practice. GPB is a public-law institution established on the basis of state property, not an ordinary government department. Its eleven trustees are nevertheless elected by Parliament, and the procedure was weakened in July 2026 by abolishing the independent competitive selection stage and allowing quota holders to nominate candidates directly. The Board Chair is a former deputy chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

It is predominantly state-funded. The broadcaster receives approximately GEL 101 million through the 2026 public broadcasting allocation, 21 per cent of which is assigned to the Adjara Public Broadcaster. The statutory formula provides a previous-year funding floor and requires Board approval for reductions, but Parliament determines the operative coefficient.

Its editorial independence is formally protected but compromised in practice. The law imposes duties of impartiality, plurality and editorial independence and requires independent audits and parliamentary reporting. Against those protections stand documented internal protests over editorial pressure, the removal and dismissal of critical journalists, the political background of the Board Chair and RSF’s finding of government interference at GPB.

The classification therefore rests on politically dependent appointments, state financing and documented editorial pressure. It should not be presented as resting on the absence of formal safeguards, because Georgia’s statutory safeguards are more substantial than those found in many comparable regional systems.

September 2026