Media Start-up: Chai Khana in Georgia 

Launched in February 2015, the media start-up Chai Khana is based in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and focuses on women, minorities, rural people and conflicts.  

In the summer of 2019, Lika Antadze was named editor-in-chief at age 26 - an unusually young age for such a role in Georgia. 

Giving women a voice  

“Chai Khana” means “tea house” and symbolizes a place where people come together to exchange stories, ideas and experiences. The platform also focuses on making sure that women's voices are heard. 

Antadze said that about 80% of contributors are women journalists, filmmakers and photographers.              

“The idea behind Chai Khana is not just to give space to creative people in the region but also to women with few opportunities to be active in areas that interest them, and to give a voice to female contributors,” Antadze. 

The sites 11-member editorial staff is almost exclusively female. There are also some 200 freelance authors based in the three South Caucasan countries – Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is often a question of portraying women not as victims but rather as doers and role models for others. 

Pushing the boundaries 

“We address certain economic and social issues but not in a traditional way,” Antadze said. “We encourage everyone to experiment with formats, their ideas and how they want to present those ideas to a larger audience.” 

One recent experiment was a dossier focusing on masculinity in the South Caucasus, a region where traditional roles still prevail. 

“[For this] we chose three photographers from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and told them to find the character themselves, to think about how they would present it visually…and how they addressed the concept of masculinity, what it meant for them to be a man in the Caucasus, and the implications behind that,” Antadze explained. 

The result is a timeless multimedia story available on the Chai Khana platform. 

Striving to remain independent  

The start-up is primarily funded by the British Embassy, but Antadze is working intensively with her team to diversify their income sources. The start-up’s main challenge is achieving this while remaining independent. 

While it is possible to get help from donors, corporate funding and partner organisations, the aim to keep independence remains a challenge.  

“It's difficult to be a sustainable media outlet in a way that we can be independent and independently generate revenue,” Antadze said. 

The platform has introduced a category called “Agency,” that connects journalists from the region with international media and everyday users. It is now possible for people to buy high-quality photos from their online shop either in a digital format or as a poster. With its image database, Chai Khana wants to help photographers in the region to have a greater reach and receive more recognition.   

Focus on women’s issues 

The platform primarily reaches young people and a more educated circle. Although Georgia has a relatively free press, television in particular struggles with self-censorship.   

“Online media is a very open environment, maybe because it doesn't have a big reach in rural communities. If someone wanted to suppress something they would go to the broadcasters rather than attack online media,” Antadze explained. 

Chai Khana was established with the idea that regions in the South Caucuses share similar socio-economic issues. “Women there have similar problems, so when you look at these regions, you understand the larger context behind each story,” Antadze said. ”It was key to underline these common issues which were previously underreported.” 

Translating the articles is an important aspect of Chai Khana’s work - they are available in English, Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani.  

Plans to extend website 

Antadze has concrete plans to further develop the website. “Our vision is in three years to be a leading cross-border storytelling platform that explains what it means to live in the South Caucuses for regular citizens – for women, children and men, as well.” 

She and the editorial staff also want to experiment with new interactive tools and organize more live events, such as film screenings. With this in mind, the future for this young editor-in-chief will continue to be exciting.