Five mistakes of Georgia reporting

This post was inspired by Five Worst Clichés of Russia Reporting.

For past couple of years Georgia is in western media almost every week, if not many times a week. Most of the coverage is about Georgia’s reforms, its food & wines, Georgia as a tourism destination, 2008 Georgia-Russia War, etc. and etc. Those articles later appear in local media: “Another article on Georgian reforms in NYTimes” or “Financial Times about Georgia’s economic growth.” And of course all of this coverage makes Georgians happy just like any other mention on web, for example this:

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Tbilisi Hangout 011

In the eleventh edition of Tbilisi Hangout Mirian Jugheli, Nick Clayton and Mathias Huter of Transparency International Georgia talk about Georgian media, net freedom, “cohabitation”, ownership transparency, February 8 National Library Incident, etc.

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Google Voice lists Abkhazia as Russia

Whenever you’re abroad for a long time you look for different ways to contact your family every once in a while (Skype, landline, etc.). A Georgian friend of mine who lives in Bulgaria wanted to call home and he decided to use Google Voice (A telecommunication service from Google). But before doing so he checked call rates. By doing this he suddenly discovered that Google Voice lists Abkhazia as one of the rates for calling Russia.

In addition to this strange fact it turns out that the fee for Abkhazia is the highest in the list. I decided to write Google Voice and ask them why do they list Abkhazia as an option for Russia. I am waiting for their answer and as soon as they reply I’ll post it here.

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2D სათვალე მათთვის ვისაც 3D თვალს სტკენს

დღეს ვიყავი კინოთეატრ ამირანში Cirque du Soleil-ზე. საკმაოდ სანახაობრივი ფილმია, თავად ეს საცირკო დასი საოცრებაა, მხოლოდ 2010 წელს მზის ცირკის წლიურმა შემოსავალმა $850 მილიონი შეადგინა. ფილმში საუბარი მხოლოდ რამდენიმე წუთი გრძელდება, დანარჩენი კი კინემატოგრაფის ოსტატობაა. თუმცა, როგორც ბოლო დროის ბევრი სხვა ფილმი ისიც 3D არის.

3D მსგავს ფილმებში საინტერესო ეფექტებს ჰქმნის, თუმცა მისგან თვალები მტკივდება; არ ვიცი ეს ჩვენი კინოთეატრების პროექტორის ან სათვალის თუ ჩემი თვალების ბრალია, მოკლედ ამ მიზეზის გამო კინოში ხშირად ვერ დავდივარ.

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Georgia: Virtual Parliamentary Speaker Election

Ahead of a parliamentary election in Georgia set for October 2012, David Bakradze, Chair of the current Parliament, is currently the most active member of the ruling party on Facebook. His official page, with 27,526 likes at time of writing, includes photos of visits and meetings as well as of his family. Bakradze has also launched a game called Elections where each person liking his page can run for position of virtual parliamentary chair.

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Abkhazia Presidential Candidate Sergei Shamba Goes Online

Three candidates are competing this week for a presidential post in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia. The Central Election Commission predicts 70% turnout on the ballot that will be held on August 26, 2011. According to BBC:

At least 130,000 people were registered to vote but, our correspondent says, an estimated 40,000 ethnic Georgians living in the region were mostly prevented from voting because they do not have Abkhaz passports.

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Social Media in Georgia

According to a study by ACT (Analysis and Consulting Team), which is one of the leading Georgian marketing research & consulting companies, 25% of Georgians are social media users.

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