Civic Campaign to Counter Anti-Western Disinformation and Promote European Integration of Georgia
Through EWMI ACCESS funding, four Georgian CSOs – “Transparency International-Georgia”, “Media Development Foundation”, “Integration – Road to NATO and EU”, and “In-Depth Reporting and Advocacy Center” will launch the projects in March, 2017 to debunk anti-western disinformation and raise public awareness and confidence about the western values and benefits of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration. The projects, lasting till the end of the year, envision wide array of activities using various means of communication and targeting various audiences. The project efforts complement each other and try to cover as broader audiences as possible.
CSO –“Integration – Road to NATO and EU” will hold an intensive media campaign through preparing and airing a special TV rubric – a 20-minute panel chat show led by famous Georgian authors as anchors who talk about anti-western disinformation and topical myths. The TV rubrics will be aired biweekly on the popular Rustavi 2 company as part of the “Other Midday” program. In addition, PSAs aimed at raising literacy of the broad audiences about the individual myths and informing them about anti-western propaganda will be aired on Rustavi 2 on a daily basis. “Integration” and Rustavi 2 will also disseminate the rubric, Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and video promos in the social media and actively engage with viewers.
The “In-Depth Reporting and Advocacy Center” will mainly focus on informing public about the benefits of the EU market and the opportunities stemming from the EU-Georgia Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). Using its web-platform EUGeorgia.info, the organization will produce up to 100 in-depth stories about the Georgian farmers and businesses reaching EU markets, practical benefits and opportunities of the European market, as well as offering comparative analyses of regional markets, etc. Besides, the organization will hold a dozen of information meetings and interactive live TV talk-shows in regions to inform and engage with local farmers, producers and interested citizens.
The “Media Development Foundation (MDF)” will upgrade its web platform www.eurocommunicator.ge and revise the content and format of its “Myth Detector” articles to counter the anti-western myths and narratives. Based on MDF research, the TV Pirveli company will broadcast weekly journalistic myth-busting and media literacy TV stories, and air studio interviews with MDF’s researchers. MDF will also prepare PSAs showing how western values are compatible with the Georgian culture and identity and have them aired though national and local TV-channels. MDF will also develop and disseminate media literacy guidelines on how to check and verify fake news and sources, and organize workshops for youth on media literacy in Tbilisi and the regions of Georgia.
The “Transparency International – Georgia (TI)” will organize a broad public campaign in Georgia’s regions together with up to 20 CSOs of the “Coalition for Euro-Atlantic Georgia”, highlighting the benefits and importance of European integration to ordinary citizens. Using the motto “Strength is in unity, strength is in Europe”, this campaign will include community meetings and public events together with experts and local celebrities in western regions of Georgia (Ajara, Samegrelo and Imereti), conveying locally relevant narratives and messages about Georgia’s European integration. TI will organize thematic, open-dialogue meetings with sectoral experts on key issues relevant to the respective regions and explain how this relates to Georgia’s European integration; TI will also disseminate awareness-raising materials (leaflets, posters, cartoons, infographics), and circulate PSAs and video clips in the TV channels and social media containing messages in support of Georgia’s European integration.
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