The Communications Commission of Georgia has fined the TV Pirveli broadcasting company 2,500 lari for violating the Law on Broadcasting. According to the Commission, monitoring of the broadcaster was conducted between May 11 and May 13. During the review, several violations of the legislation were recorded in the news broadcasts at 11:00, 15:00, and 20:00. Specifically, current public policy issues in the channel’s news programs were covered based on the broadcaster’s personal attitude and opinion.
The Commission recalled that, in accordance with the principle of impartiality, the Law on Broadcasting restricts a broadcaster’s ability to express its own position in news and socio-political programs or to cover events in a biased manner.
According to Article 54 of the law, broadcasters are prohibited from covering political conflicts and topical issues of public policy based on their own assessment or attitude. It is also forbidden to express support for or disagreement with any political party, public or religious association, or other interest group.
The Commission concluded that the statements identified during the monitoring were made by representatives of the TV channel—anchors and journalists of news programs—and represented their own assessments rather than quotes of third-party opinions.
According to the regulator, taking into account the context, presentation format, content, and intensity, such statements are an example of news coverage based on the personal attitude or opinion of the broadcaster, which contradicts the requirements of the law.
Since a sanction in the form of a written warning had already been applied to the TV channel for a similar violation earlier this year, and the violation was repeated, the Commission imposed the minimum fine prescribed by law—2,500 lari.
In turn, Media Checker reports that the reason for the fine was the use of expressions such as “prisoners of conscience,” “oligarch,” and several other formulations in news broadcasts:
- “convicted on the basis of testimony from false-witness police officers”;
- “investigation of ‘Georgian Dream'”;
- “political prisoners”;
- “non-existent crime”;
- claims that decisions in the country are made by Bidzina Ivanishvili;
- statements about the need to release “prisoners of conscience” and “political prisoners”;
- phrases about the “Bidzina Ivanishvili regime”;
- claims that “activists continue to be terrorized,” and others.
According to the Commission, the use of such expressions in news programs violates Article 54, Paragraph 5 of the Law on Broadcasting, which concerns the principles of fairness and impartiality.