Ivanishvili’s new talk show will fill information vacuum

Bidzina Ivanishvili. (TV1.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The father of Georgia’s government coalition, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, presented his plans for a new talk show Saturday.

Ivanishvili, who was prime minister the first year of the Georgian Dream coalition’s government, will appear on the TV show himself, but not be an anchor, as previously reported.

The plans have been known for some time, but viewers were offered more details as Ivanishvili spoke on the Public Broadcaster’s Channel 1 on Saturday.

The show will be called ‘Society 2030’ and be aired on GDS, which is a TV company started by his rapper son Bera Ivanishvili. GDS is a youth channel with no political color, containing mostly entertainment, music, movies and different shows.

Ivanishvili said that the program Society 2030 will be aired live every day except during weekends.

“Three analysts will be there and more representatives from our group, Society 2030. We will also invite interesting people to analyze interesting events,” he said during Saturday’s almost an hour and a half long live interview.

He said they will discuss issues, including the strategy for developing the country, and once a week he will be hosting the show with three other anchors for one hour.

“I won’t be an anchor, but I will be with them,” he said, adding that most likely he will be on the show on Sundays.

Ivanishvili promised to give a ‘qualified analysis’ of events in the show and will never hesitate to criticize the government.

When it comes to the choice of name, Society 2030, he explained that he has been talking about the twenty years after which much should be changed in the country, and this is the reason.

Society 2030 is not only a TV show but a project as well. Ivanishvili explained that nowadays there is an ‘information vacuum’ in people and he plans to train analysts with this new project. Already many ‘interesting people’ have joined in, he said.

When the journalist asked him if he thought about Georgian Dream being in power until 2030, he said ‘god save us from that.’