Anyone who says that freedom of speech, democracy and media plurality are not OK is irrational. This modern-day social political bouquet is both humanly acceptable and vitally essential. Our thanks should go to those who fought for millennia to bring this much good about, from the ancient Greek philosophers to those young men and women in the streets of Tbilisi with loud, albeit naive slogans in their not-yet-weathered-enough hands.
It is not acceptable that there are so many media outlets in a country with only three-and-a half million people, where the entire media arena reaches, by any stretch of the imagination, only one million consumers, on a $40 million commercial market. Who needs so many media outlets when there are only three-and-a half million people in the country, and the media reaches only one million people in a $40-million commercial market. Tens of radio and TV stations, plus as many print media, are frantically buzzing their respective facts into the ears of an already deafened public.
It is amazing how we manage to remain psychologically intact despite all the media noise, which is relentlessly washing our poor minds. I once tried to count the number of Georgian media employees, including their administrative staff and service personnel. I then put them all to work in factories and other mills across the country and I came to believe the productivity of the nation could grow so much the state budget felt substantial progress.
Let’s put aside our sarcasm for a moment and take the situation more seriously. Why should the Georgians tolerate the existence of hundreds of media outlets that do not pay? Radio, TV and the press simply aren’t profitable. They spend OPM. They spend it. They don’t have it. None of them. In America, our strategic partner, the epitome for freedom of speech, democracy, and socio-political behavior for us, no media could survive unless they earned more than they spent. Isn’t that a good example to follow?
We often take for granted the lessons we learn from our Western friends and allies, but I’m not sure if they’re trying to teach us about media issues. I wonder if the Westerners think like I do. What I think is that people are tired of all the political babble coming from every direction. If there are enough viewers, listeners, and readers for all these media outlets, then many capable people in this country do not work. We are only reading, listening, and watching. What are they doing on the market if there is not enough demand? Why are they there? There are many other ways to get us fed and clothed!
The most important question of all is: Is anyone in the world, even our friends in the West, able to teach us the difference between right and wrong, or how to prioritize our actions. I was able to calculate tens and millions of wasted hours of labor when I multiplied the number of hours Americans spend in front of TVs, irrationally staring at those mendaciously dazzling screens. I did the same experiment several years ago with millions of hours spent on street demonstrations and manifestations. The results were identical. I had done this before with cemeteries where trillions of dollars are spent to build those ridiculous grave walls and fences made from marble, stone gravel, cement, and iron. What a waste! I wonder how we can survive if we waste so much time and money on such futile endeavors. It seems that only God can help!
Nugzar B.Ruhadze, Op-Ed
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