Anti-EU Propaganda in Georgia: Analysis of Mass Media Sources

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the key tendencies of the anti-EU propaganda in Georgia in 2021 based on the analysis of two pro-Russian media agencies (Saqinformi and Georgia and the World). In recent years the strengthened relations between the EU and Georgia resulted in the increased flow of the anti-EU propaganda disseminated especially by the Kremlin-supported mass media. This paper is aimed at identifying the main themes and tools employed against the EU in Georgia along with the extent to which the strategies of the two media agencies coincide/differ from each other. The paper is based on an analysis of articles from the two media sources, which revealed diverse strategies of propaganda used against the EU and the attempt to shape the negative perception of the EU in Georgia. The relevance of this study stems from the attempt to study the anti-EU propaganda as a distinct component of the broader category – anti-Western propaganda and to identify the strategies that media agencies employ in order to affect the EU image in Georgia.