GEPB Diversity Georgia

Diversity in all its forms is a strategic priority for Georgia’s public broadcaster (GEPB). It commenced its Diversity Georgia initiative in 2018, focusing on the country’s national (ethnic) minorities. The initiative, which is championed by the organization’s top management, is built on two pillars: content and workforce.

Diversity Georgia is driven by the organization’s ethnic minority staff and underpinned by the Georgia’s Law on Broadcasting, which stipulates that the public broadcaster must reflect the ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, age-related and gender diversity of society in its programmes. Diversity Georgia aim is to create content that resonates with the country’s various communities, helping each person feel like a citizen of Georgia.

Language is a major focus. The country boasts at least 14 national minorities, each with its own language. It’s largely recognized that a significant obstacle to integration is language. For example, the two largest national minority groups – people of Azerbaijani and Armenian ancestry – largely speak their own languages. This presents a challenge as these communities rely heavily on news from neighbouring countries, for the most part hindering awareness of what’s happening in their own.