China’s state-owned broadcaster obfuscates its ties to European multimedia group

4U.ge site is a platform for an ostensibly Georgian multimedia group that combines JAKO FM, LIFE FM and Shokoladi. It is owned by GBTimes, an ostensibly private Chinese multimedia company registered in Finland. However, until December 2018, state-owned China Radio International (CRI) owned 60 percent of GBTimes. A 2015 Reuters investigation revealed that GBTimes ran at least nine stations, notably in Finland, Italy, and Hungary. In Georgia, an IRI report explains that JAKO FM “offers extensive Georgian-language coverage of China’s international accomplishments, along with notable adulation of Xi Jinping.”

About This Incident

Incident Metadata

Date: 2012-2019
Country: Georgia