ISFED says Imedi TV commissioned public polls serve anti-western propaganda

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) said on Tuesday that the recent public polls commissioned by Imedi TV were “obviously anti-Western and served the goal to influence the public view.”

The polls included the questions: “If the West demands that Georgia join the war against Russia, what should be Georgia’s position?”

It suggested that 83.6% of respondents said that Georgia should not be involved, while 11.5% said that they should.

To the question: “Do you agree with the policy of the Georgian Dream not to involve Georgia in the Russia-Ukraine war?” – 77.6% of respondents said they agreed, 20.8% responded they did not agree, and 1.6% refrained from answering.

“The presented polls combined a number of techniques of propaganda methods typical of authoritarian regimes, such as introducing fear, confronting people with non-existent choices, creating an enemy image, manipulating and deceiving public opinion and attitudes,” ISFED said.

The NGO stated that it was “noteworthy” that the polls were released after the critical resolution of the European Parliament on media freedom in Georgia and the critical comments made by the Georgian Dream authorities.

“The polls aired by Imedi TV are an attempt to legitimize such attitudes on the part of the public. This is evidenced by the fact that its results are actively advocated by representatives of the ruling team, government experts and other related persons. To increase the scale of the propaganda, those interested use a method that has been used many times before and share the results of the GORBI polls on various pages on Facebook,  through news agencies and anonymous users,,” ISFED said.

Imedi TV is dubbed as a pro-governmental channel by the opposition.