The Communications Commission has released its media monitoring report for the pre-election period ahead of Georgia’s 2025 municipal elections, covering the period from August 4 to September 4.
The Commission states that quantitative monitoring was conducted across 51 broadcasters nationwide. The study evaluated several main areas, including political advertising, election debates, news coverage, public affairs programming, campaign activities and opinion polling.
The report analyzed both direct and indirect airtime allocated to election subjects and candidates. Direct airtime referred to instances where political actors personally appeared or spoke on air, while indirect airtime captured discussions about them or their supporters. The monitoring also assessed the gender distribution of airtime in news programs, highlighting how much coverage was given to male and female politicians separately.
In addition, the report included a qualitative tone analysis of seven major television channels: Georgian Public Broadcaster, Adjara Public Broadcaster, Rustavi 2, Imedi TV, Postv, TV Pirveli and Formula. Coverage tone was classified as positive, neutral, or negative, with the monitoring focused on primetime programming between 19:00 and 24:00.
The Commission mentioned that the 2025 municipal election media monitoring was carried out by specially trained monitors, selected through a competitive process and prepared in line with international standards.
