The Georgian National Communications Commission has fined the opposition television company Formula 2,500 lari (less than $1,000). The channel was accused of violating articles of the Law on Broadcasting concerning content regulation and broadcaster impartiality standards.
The proceedings were triggered by the monitoring of Formula’s news programs. The Commission concluded that the use of certain evaluative phrases directly demonstrates the broadcaster’s personal attitude and subjective opinion regarding the events covered, which is strictly prohibited by law in news reporting.
As examples of violations, the regulator’s decision cites the following phrasing used on air:
- “Dream’s SSG” (State Security Service);
- “Ivanishvili’s rule”;
- “Pro-government ‘Rustavi 2′”;
- “The regime’s court” and others.
This is not the first dispute over terminology. Earlier, in July 2025, the Communications Commission had already considered similar complaints filed by Georgian Dream against the Formula and TV Pirveli TV channels. The complaints were ruled admissible, and the regulator found both channels to be in violation; however, it limited itself to a warning and did not impose a financial fine.
Those materials featured terms that, according to the complainants, deliberately emphasized the “illegitimacy and political bias” of state institutions, parliament, and public officials:
- “Illegitimate parliament”;
- “The so-called speaker of parliament”;
- “The oligarch’s MP”;
- “The regime’s Tbilisi City Court”.
Particular attention in the complaints was paid to the fact that the current government was systematically referred to on air as a “regime” (in the context of phrases such as “prisoner of the regime,” “representative of the regime,” etc.). In addition, Georgian Dream contested both in court and before the regulator the fact that the party’s founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is regularly referred to in Formula’s reports exclusively as an “oligarch.”