RELIGIOUS ISSUES IN THE GEORGIAN MEDIA QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ANALYSIS

Religious conflicts attract special interest of the media. A journalist’s responsibility is vital in the process of covering religious crises in order to present to the audience balanced, objective, stereotype-free facts and provide the user with a media product prepared at a professional level, without distortion and/or misinterpretation of facts, and also avoid formation of stereotypical views and attitudes. It should be taken into account that the information spread by the media should not lead to deepening of the conflict among religious groups. Recently, the Georgian media often covers religious issues, because the number of religious conflicts in the country has increased fairly. Relationship between religious organizations and the state is a particularly important area of interest both in the world and in Georgia, and a country where these relationships are regulated is even considered ideal. According to the annual report of the Public Defender of Georgia, Georgia is unfortunately not considered to be among such ideal countries. According to the report, facts of intolerance on religious basis in Georgia are quite often recorded, and what should be surprising, that media organizations often incite to the situation more than state officials. How are religious events covered in Georgian media? In this regard, a systematic and in-depth research on the coverage of religious issues in the media has not yet been conducted. The presented research is an attempt to improve the above-mentioned condition, and naturally, like all first attempts, it may have some imperfections. Within the framework of the research, the public opinion regarding the coverage of religious issues in the Georgian media is analyzed for the first time. The presented report provides an opportunity to see a comprehensive picture of the current situation in the Georgian media regarding the coverage of religious issues. I hope that the presented findings will be a significant part of discussions and with their help it will be possible to start a dialogue between the interested parties in order to improve condition of the Georgian media in terms of reporting on religious issues.