When Maestro TV told us we needed to be in-line with the editorial policy of the channel (which we found one-sided) – we fought hard to preserve the editorial independence of a group - the leader of which knew from the very beginning it would one day be a very successful outsource project in the media.
When Maestro understood its efforts were in vain, it fired us.
Twenty-seven of us went to court to find justice. Later, one from our team withdrew his suit. The rest of us waited patiently and stayed together in turmoil.
Since then, almost five years have passed. What we are hearing from every other business today more and more openly and loudly – that the Court System is not only compromised at times but also has inherent problems in dealing with business disputes – we have experienced ourselves.
Yes, BMG is a media project with a very sound business model – fully independent financially and very true to the main editorial credo, which can be described in three words:
Diverse
Impartial
Reliable
Impartial
Reliable
3 February 2021 marked an exceptional day for BMG. The team that fought for editorial freedom and independence – won.
The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in favor of BMG against Maestro TV, granting 26 of us full annual compensations for the full year; overdue wages, and a penalty for 55 months.
We were lucky. During these almost five years we didn’t have to stop working. And today, we thank you - our viewers and readers - for your support and trust throughout the whole period as we did when it all started.
We worked for you. We expanded our coverage online in different languages; we experimented with new formats, rubrics; we fought for and maintained our brand ‘Business Morning’, which after leaving Maestro had become even longer and even more diverse – actually, today it’s the longest Morning Show in the whole country; we strengthened our agency BM.GE with both – Georgian and English editorial staff and we added The Checkpoints, online, in English.
Every day we try to convince you that media is also a business, and when professional values and well-functioning self-regulation mechanisms are in place, this business can be done with integrity and impartiality.
So, please, keep watching us; keep reading us; keep giving your feedback and motivating us to keep thinking out of the box and infotaining you the way only we know, mixing daily business and economics news (Business Course every day) and context analysis (Analytics with me every Friday).
Today you have a case that can serve you as another proof – we will never step back from our editorial principles, and if that needs to bring on new wins – we are ready!
