Batumelebi, Georgia

The toll of war and the economic crisis

When it began publishing in 2001, Batumelebi (People of Batumi) was the first independent publication in the south-eastern region of Adjara, Georgia. Despite numerous restrictions, the paper thrived under the authoritarian regional government as readers sought out the sole independent voice in Batumi.

But Batumelebi - like the rest of the Georgian media - was hit hard by the war with Russia in August 2008. The paper's computer systems were badly damaged by cyber attacks carried out by people who did not like its critical reporting, and blocked roads and destroyed transportation routes meant that one entire edition of the bi-monthly could not be delivered.

Before the war, circulation was at 3,800-4,000 copies and increasing steadily. After the war, 40% of subscribers did not renew their subscriptions and although it attracted a wave of new post-war readers, the paper now publishes only 2,300-2,500 copies on a regular basis. The war also led to a severe reduction in advertising revenue as many companies that used to advertise were forced to cut their budgets. Before the war Batumelebi got 26.6% of its income from advertising. After the war, that figure was down to 15.4%.

But any hope for a swift post-war recovery was lost with the advent of the global economic crisis. The purchasing power of the population has stayed at its low post-war level rendering newspapers an unaffordable luxury for most. Moreover, construction companies - major advertisers in most Georgian media - have been forced to suspend projects and are waiting for government tenders and new loans in order to resume operations. As construction companies wait for an upturn in their fortunes, most have completely suspended their advertising. While donor support has gone a little ways towards making up for this lost revenue, by the first quarter of 2009, Batumelebi's income from advertising had fallen even further below its post-war level, to 14.5%.

Building a reputation

Nonetheless, Batumelebi persevered and continued to provide its audience with valuable independent coverage of the hostilities and the war's aftermath. It covered controversial topics others would not touch, like soldiers who were sent home from the front lines by their commanding officers only to be arrested later for defection. A particularly high-profile case of a military sergeant who was tortured and murdered by Georgian police for allegedly "betraying the country during the war" garnered the paper both praise and criticism.

Recognizing the importance of the conflict as it was unfolding, Batumelebi hired freelance reporters in conflict regions as well as in Tbilisi. Though this turned out to be an unsustainable expense, it greatly increased the paper's profile both regionally and nationally. Radio Liberty praised it for its thorough analysis, calling it one of the uncontested leaders of Georgian journalism and the Young Lawyers Association of Georgia gave it an award for "Promoting freedom to access information". It even received international recognition in December 2008 when the German ZEIT Foundation and the Norwegian Institusjonen Fritt ord awarded it the Free Press of Eastern Europe Award, worth 30,000 euros, for its war reporting.

Rebuilding a business

Batumelebi is now working to maintain this reputation but also to regain its financial stability. Through support from the U.S. government's National Endowment for Democracy, the paper is improving the profile of its well-respected investigative journalism department by publishing a new investigative piece in every edition, covering such topics as human rights violations, budget spending and corruption monitoring. At the same time, MDLF is helping it to increase its presence online with a new website for its newspaper as well as a new commercial tourist website, set to launch in June, providing information for vacationers in Adjara. Income from the second site, which is very cheap to maintain and expected to be highly lucrative, will help the paper move towards regaining its financial independence.

Batumelebi still has a long road ahead to get back to a financially stable pre-war level, but the strength of its reporting during the war as well as its ingenuity during the financial crisis have already set it apart from other Georgian media.

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