On 23 September 2014, on Rustavi 2’s talk show Archevani,

Parliamentary Majority MP, Giga Bukia, made a statement about the criminal situation in Georgia: “A total of 11 murders were committed in August 2011 and Rustavi 2 covered only two of them and only as third or fourth rank news. The same number of murders was committed in August 2014 and the media coverage has been 100%. All of them were at the top of the news programmes.”

On 19 September 2014, on Imedi TV’s talk show Reaktsia,

Zviad Dzidziguri made a similar statement: “The issue of murders was very important in August. I would like to say that ten murders were committed in August 2010, 11 in August 2014 and nine of them were covered as top news. This is done absolutely consciously so as to create a hysterical situation in the country. One of the television companies dedicatedly supports this.”

We took interest in the issue of the media coverage of crimes in Georgia and verified the accuracy of Giga Bukia’s statement.

FactCheck has already published two studies about the coverage of crime in the media. One of the studies dealt with a statement of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Aleksandre Tchikaidze, whilst another

verified the accuracy of a statement of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Levan Izoria.

As the MPs are connecting the growing perception of the increase in criminal activity to the media coverage of such facts, FactCheck

decided to conduct a detailed study of this issue. Even though Giga Bukia’s statement concerns only Rustavi 2, for a full picture we analysed the data of Imedi TV, the Public Broadcaster of Georgia and Maestro as well. This study examines the issues of the intensity, full running time and the ranking of the coverage in detail.

According to the data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, a total of 12 murder cases were registered in August 2011 with the media covering seven of them.

Of the seven facts receiving media coverage, Rustavi 2 covered six in August 2011. In addition, four of these six facts appeared on a major news programme. Hence, Rustavi 2 covered 50% of the registered murders in August 2011 with 67% of them receiving television coverage on a major news programme.

A total of 15 TV reports were prepared on these six cases. The intensity of the coverage of the individual cases was different. Some cases such as, for example, a murder which took place on Batumi Boulevard in Batumi was covered six times whilst a murder case in the town of Kaspi was covered only once. In total, at least one TV report was prepared on 50% of the cases.

The total running time for 15 reports amounted to 26:05 (26 minutes and five seconds) in August 2011. The report about the murder case on Batumi Boulevard had the highest running time of 04:13 (four minutes and 13 seconds) on a major news programme. The murder case in Kaspi had the lowest running time of 00:52 (52 seconds).

We also looked into the ranking of the appearance of murder case reports on television news programmes. The average number of reports in the first block, before advertisements, is six. In total, 12 of the 15 reports, which equal 80%, were in the news programme’s first block reports. It should be noted that of the reports in the first block, three were covered as first or second rank news which comprises 25% of the coverage.

According to the data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, 11 murder cases were registered in August 2014 but only six of them were covered by the media. Rustavi 2 covered five of these six facts. Four of the five facts covered by Rustavi 2 appeared on a major news programme. Hence, Rustavi 2 has covered 45% of the registered murders in 2014 with 80% of the covered cases appearing on a major news programme.

A total of 16 TV reports were prepared on five murders. The intensity of the coverage of the individual cases is different in 2014 as well. In total, 80% of murder cases have appeared in more than one TV report.

The total running time of 16 TV reports equalled 31:09 (31 minutes and nine seconds). The greatest amount of time for this coverage was on Rustavi 2 – 03:52 (three minutes and 52 seconds) was allocated to a murder case in Tbilisi. The least amount of time – 00:23 (23 seconds) was spent on a murder case in Sagarejo.

In total, ten of the 16 murder case reports (63%) prepared by Rustavi 2 appeared in the first blocks of the news programmes. Eight of the ten reports (80%) were covered as first rank news.

For comparison, we prepared a table depicting the coverage of murder cases by Rustavi 2 in 2011 and 2014.

Rustavi 2

Rustavi 2	August 2011	August 2014
Covered Facts on Registered Murder Cases	50%	45%
Non-covered Facts on Sensationalised Murder Cases	1	1
Number of Covered Facts	6	5
Number of Covered Facts on a Major News Programme	67%	80%
Number of Reports	15	16
More than One Report about a Fact	50%	80%
Overall Running Time	26:05	31:09
Maximum Running Time	04:13	03:52
Minimum Running Time	00:52	00:23
Reports in the First Block	80%	63%
Reports as First or Second Rank News	25%	80%

A comparison of the data illustrates that there are no significant differences. There is a slight increase in the number of cases presented in a major news programme and the number of TV reports on the cases. In addition, the total running time of the reports in 2014 is only slightly higher than that of 2011. The aforementioned differences can also be explained by the fact that more reports have been prepared in 2014 as compared to 2011. In addition, it should also be noted that the differences can be due to the gravity of the cases. However, there is a significant increase in the percentage of cases covered as first or second rank news.

Imedi TV

Imedi	August 2011	August 2014
Covered Facts on Registered Murder Cases	42%	36%
Non-covered Facts on Sensationalised Murder cases	2	2
Number of Covered Facts	5	4
Number of Covered Facts on a Major News Programme	20%	75%
Number of Reports	11	11
More than One Report about a Fact	100%	75%
Overall Running Time	20:58	15:11
Maximum Running Time	02:49	00:48
Minimum Running Time	02:49	00:25
Reports in the First Block	55%	64%
Reports as First or Second Rank News	33%	43%

The overall image of Imedi TV is similar to that of Rustavi 2. The differences between August 2011 and August 2014 are not enough to make any serious conclusions. The number of cases covered by the major news programmes and placed in the first blocks has increased. However, there is a considerable reduction in all of the other components.

Public Broadcaster

Public Broadcaster	August 2011	August 2014
Covered Facts on Registered Murder Cases	58%	55%
Non-covered Facts on Sensationalised Murder Cases	0	0
Number of Covered Facts	7	6
Number of Covered Facts on a Major News Programme	72%	67%
Number of Reports	13	11
More than One Report about a Fact	57%	67%
Overall Running Time	19:12	20:53
Maximum Running Time	03:24	00:40
Minimum Running Time	00:03	00:45
Reports in the First Block	67%	27%
Reports as First or Second Rank News	30%	33%

A reduction in almost all components was observed in the case of the Public Broadcaster of Georgia in 2014 as compared to 2011. The amount of total running time increased slightly; however, this does not make for a significant difference.

Maestro

Maestro	August 2011	August 2014
Covered Facts on Registered Murder Cases	17%	55%
Non-Covered Facts on Sensationalised Murder Cases	5	0
Number of Covered Facts	2	6
Number of Covered Facts on a Major News Programme	100%	67%
Number of Reports	4	16
More than One Report about a Fact	100%	67%
Overall Running Time	05:59	29:51
Maximum Running Time	02:31	05:08
Minimum Running Time	01:00	00:21
Reports in the First Block	25%	44%
Reports as First or Second Rank News	0%	57%

As the table makes clear, all of the components have significantly increased in the case of Maestro. As we can see, Maestro covered a much lesser amount of murder cases in 2011.

Conclusion FactCheck

compared the intensity, length and ranking of coverage of murder cases from August 2011 and August 2014. Of the four TV channels compared, each yielded different results.

No significant changes were observed on Rustavi 2, the Public Broadcaster of Georgia and Imedi TV. Certain data of 2014 were only slightly higher as compared to those of 2011. The greatest difference was between the 2014 and 2011 data of Maestro. Even though all of the components increased in the case of Maestro’s coverage, it is nonsense to assume that Maestro alone plays a major role in changing the perception about crime rates.  The coverage statistics of Rustavi 2, Imedi TV and the Public Broadcaster of Georgia are almost identical.

Hence, it is clear that the context of Mr Bukia’s statement that the coverage of murder cases has significantly increased is incorrect. It should also be pointed out that the statement of the MP concerned Rustavi 2 alone. Of the 12 murder cases, Rustavi 2 covered six in 2011 whilst five of 11 murder cases have been covered in 2014. A total of 50% of the murder cases were covered by Rustavi 2 in 2011 whilst this number is down to 45% in 2014. It is also important to note that the percentage of the reports placed in the first block of news programmes has decreased by 17% in 2014. The number of the reports covered as first or second rank news in the first blocks, however, has increased by 55% in 2014 as compared to 2011.

Giga Bukia is wrong when talking about the percentage of coverage; however, his statement is accurate when saying that the TV reports on murder cases appear earlier in the news net of Rustavi 2 in 2014 as compared to 2011. It should also be noted that the overall number of the reports in the first block of the news programmes was lower in August 2014 as compared to the same period of 2011.

Thus, Giga Bukia’s statement is HALF TRUE.