Starting May 1, opposition-minded channel “Mtavari Arkhi” will officially cease broadcasting. On April 28, the channel’s employees received a notification from the General Director, Giorgi Gabunia, stating that the company will completely halt its operations.
Journalists and staff members confirmed the information via social media. Journalist Irakli Bakhtadze wrote on social media that the five-year period of joint work has come to an end, and that he is being forced to leave the “home” he had been part of since its creation.
“I stood on this front for five years — I covered countless stories, from the most tragic incidents to the most painful crimes.
“I always believed that critical media should be the voice of the people…That was the main mission — to speak about what others stayed silent on,” Bakhtadze wrote.
A similar post was shared by journalist Tatia Tsotsonava, who noted that after leaving Rustavi 2, they built a new channel from scratch, fighting for it at the cost of their health and lives.
“Now, after six years, I can confidently say: we created the best channel! We — each employee — who gave everything for Mtavari at the risk of our health and lives,” Tsotsonava wrote.
In recent months, General Director Giorgi Gabunia had openly spoken about the financial crisis at Mtavari Arkhi, accusing Giorgi Kurdadze, the representative of the channel’s co-founder Zaza Okuashvili, of responsibility for the situation. Gabunia claimed that the financial problems at the broadcaster were artificially created.
Mtavari Arkhi was founded in September 2019 at the initiative of Nika Gvaramia. Later, a part of the shares was transferred to companies owned by Zaza Okuashvili. From February 2024, the channel broadcast only TV series, having suspended all live programming.
