Media Polarization and Democratic Vulnerability in Georgia: The Role of Digital Communication during Political Crises

Abstract

This paper examines how Georgian online media covered the political crisis surrounding the draft law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” between April 3 and May 28, 2024. Its main purpose is to show how media polarization takes shape in the digital sphere and how this process is connected to the deepening of democratic vulnerability.

The study is based on an analysis of 48 media texts published by four online media outlets: ImediNews.ge, TVPirveli.ge, 1TV.ge, and Netgazeti.ge. It uses structured qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis. This approach makes it possible to look not only at what the media covered, but also at how events were named, which actors were granted legitimacy, how emotional language was used, and how “us” and “them” divisions were constructed.

The findings show that the same political process was presented through different frames across the selected platforms. In some cases, the draft law was framed as a mechanism for protecting sovereignty and transparency; in others, it appeared as a sign of democratic backsliding and a threat to Georgia’s European course. As a result, audiences were exposed not only to different evaluations, but also to different media realities. The paper concludes that, during political crises, media polarization narrows the shared informational space, strengthens camp-based perceptions, and makes fact-based democratic discussion more difficult.