Tbilisi. The Media Development Foundation (MDF), the Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) and the Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI) released a statement. "We express our concern regarding recent development around the "Samkhretis Karibche" edition, related to the publication exposing the head of Samtskhe-Javakheti regional police department. We call on the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia to investigate the intimidation of journalist and the General Inspection of the Interior Ministry to inquire into the intimidation by a police officer as well the interference into a journalist’s activity; We call on the government of Georgia to ensure the safety of Samkhretis Karibchejournalists and to prevent any interference into the professional activity, which is an obligation set out in the human rights strategy and action plan of the Georgian government". For the full text  Source: tdigeorgia.wordpress.com  

Tbilisi. The Council of the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics has released a statement on December 11, asking law-enforcers to secure the safety of journalists of publication "South Gate". "The developments give sufficient grounds to assume that the Ministry of Interior staff are directly interfering in the  editorial independence of "South Gate". The Charter's Council possesses information on the threats and blackmail exercised against the publication's journalist over the last 2 days", the statement says. For the full text. Source: qartia.org.ge

Tbilisi. Journalists and the civil sector representatives have held a rally on December 10 by the Azerbaijani Embassy in support of the arrested journalist, Hadija Ismailova. Source: the Human Rights House.

Tbilisi. The Council of the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics has responded to feedbacks received concerning the "Business Courier" TV program. "The Council of the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics finds that the editorial office of the Business Courier program has ignored the requirements for fair treatment of a program guest set by the Broadcasters' Code of Conduct, thus breaching Article 20 of the Code", media.ge states. For the full text. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. On November 28, the Women's Information Center has presented media monitoring results of the project - "Women as Actors for Changes and Empowerment". Monitoring was carried out throughout the period of 2014 local self-government elections. After the presentation, the award ceremony of media representatives has taken place. Prizes were given to media outlets and journalists, who have paid special attention to the coverage of gender issues. For the full text Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The "Book House" has hosted a discussion on "Coverage of LGBT Issues by Media", led by the Executive Director of "Identoba", Irakli Vacharadze. Zviad Koridze, Natia Orvelashvili and Tamar Kintsurashvili have also participated. The discussion Source: 17maisi.org

Tbilisi. The International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) has presented on November 17 the program - "Media for Transparent and Accountable Governance" (M-TAG). A five-year program with funding of 5.1 million USD aims to improve public access to independent, reliable and balanced information in Georgia. "Transparency International - Georgia", "Charter of Journalistic Ethics" and the management consultation group "Inova" are the partners of the International Research and Exchanges Board. Opportunity to submit applications for those interested in partnering the "Regional Media Sustainable Initiative" was also announced at the event. As part of this initiative, IREX and its partners will provide diverse technical assistance to media outlets.

Tbilisi. The Women's Information Center responds to media reports on the rape of a schoolchild in Kakheti. "We believe that part of media outlets has used in the materials the signs identifying the victim when covering the fact, which infringes upon her rights. ... Given the sensitivity of the topic, we urge the journalists to demonstrate more professional responsibility when covering similar facts!", says the released statement. Source: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. Annual South Caucasian media conference has started working in Tbilisi, opened by Dunja Mijatovic, OSCE's representative on media freedom issues. Public broadcaster in the digital era is the topic of OSCE-organized two-day conference. Journalists and experts from the South Caucasian countries are invited to the conference. Representatives of donor and international organizations will also participate in the work of the conference. For the full text. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. The Media Development Foundation has presented on November 6 preliminary results of study on media funded from the state budget. According to media.ge, in the Foundation's opinion, "funding of eight news information agencies by the state from the budget and provision of information to them in advance puts other information agencies in unequal conditions, especially when the public information must be equally accessible to all". For the full text. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. Through Radio "Chocolate" and regional partner radios (Hereti, Old City, Adjara Radio), the Heinrich Boll Foundation offers to the audience the radio project "50 Women from Georgia". The audience will hear about women who lived in the 19th and 20th centuries and created Georgian culture and Georgian politics. Radio "Chocolate" will broadcast the program "50 Women from Georgia" on a daily basis. Source: web page of the Heinrich Boll Foundation in the social network.

Tbilisi. Manual on "Media Law" was published with financial support of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). The manual authored by Sergi Jorbenadze, Ushangi Bakhtadze and Zurab Macharadze is intended for use by lawyers, journalists and persons researching media law. Manual "Media Law". Source: web page of GIZ in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Council of the Charter of Journalistic Ethics has released a statement, in which it "condemns the attack on the journalist of newspaper "Asaval-Dasavali”, Zaza Davitaia and believes that no representative of any media outlet and not a single citizen in the country can be an object of psychological or physical pressure due to his/her speech, opinion, professional activities or public political views”. The Council also welcomes the fact that the Ministry of Interior has detained the aggressor in an operative manner. The Charter’s Council addresses law-enforcement structures "to launch investigations into other cases involving journalists as well”. For the full text. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Young Lawyers' Association has appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture with a statement. The organization addresses the Minister of Agriculture "to launch disciplinary proceedings against the Ministry's official for publicly releasing the statement for the Kakheti Information Center", says the organization's web page in the social network. For the full text. Source: GYLA's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. "Open Society - Georgia" Foundation is hosting a 3-day training for youngsters interested in setting up an online radio. Representatives of Microwav.fm are delivering the training. The project is implemented with financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). "Open Society - Georgia" Foundation is the project's partner in Georgia. "3 countries are involved in the project: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Key goal is to set up the youth online radio in the South Caucasian states (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan)", says the Program Coordinator. According to the project organizers, the online radio will start broadcasting in Georgia from 2015. For the full text. Source: tavisupali.ge

Tbilisi. The Charter of Journalistic Ethics has held another sitting of its Council on October 20, which has examined the application of Zurab Japaridze and Irma Nadirashvili against "Interpressnews". According to "Liberal", application of the "National Movement" members Irma Nadirashvili and Zurab Japaridze was granted in part and the breach of the first principle of the Ethics Charter by the news agency was established. For the full text. Source: liberali.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative and the Media Development Foundation released a joint statement. "We would like to respond to the statement made on October 17, 2014, by the Director General of the Rustavi 2 TV station, Nika Gvaramia, on his Facebook page in which he talks about a violation of privacy of his personal correspondence". For the full text Source: gdi.ge

Tbilisi. The study - "Media Ethics Issues in Armenia: Practice and Challenges" was released. Representative of the Media Development Foundation has presented the study on October 4 at the international conference held in the Ilia State University. It was carried out as part of the project "On Both Sides of the Border: Setting up the Network of Georgiana and Armenian Experts". The project run for seven months in 2014 and was funded by the project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States "Black Sea Foundation for Regional Cooperation", implemented jointly by the CSO "BTKK - Policy Research Group" (Tbilisi, Georgia) and the "Armenian Transatlantic Initiatives Center" (Yerevan, Armenia). For the full text (geo) Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. On October 11, Institute for Development Freedom of Information (IDFI) and the Ministry of Justice of Georgia conducted the workshop on OGP related issues with Tbilisi-based media-society. The chairmen of IDFI-Levan Avalishvili and the national coordinator of OGP Georgia – Ketevan Tsanava spoke about past and future activities in accordance with the OGP action plan. For the full text Source: ogpgeoblog.wordpress.com

Tbilisi. The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics has published a collected volume, which includes 12 cases considered by the Charter's Council in 2011-2014 and the decisions made on them. For the full text. Source: www.media.ge

Tbilisi. CSO "Society and Banks" has opened the Economic Media School for the second class of journalists.The project is implemented together with international organization "Junior Achievement". The Media School aims to raise journalists' financial education. Second class of the School includes 20 journalists representing 19 currently operating media outlets in Georgia. Journalists will learn the foundations of economy through a special course and textbooks.Trainings will be delivered by the trainers of "Junior Achievement" and the invited lecturers. Training course lasts for 3 months. Source: the organization's web page in the social network.

Tbilisi. Under the Media Freedom Index Georgia remains as the leader state among the Eastern Partnership countries during the first half of 2014. Moldova is second and Ukraine is third. The Index is computed as part of the project "Studying the Degree of Media Freedom in the Eastern Partnership States”. The EU-funded project is implemented by "Internews Ukraine” (Ukraine), with participation of the Yerevan Press Club (Armenia), the Journalists’ Union (Azerbaijan), Association "Green Wave” (Georgia), Center of Independent Journalism (Moldova) and the Association of Journalists of Belarus (Belarus). For the full text (geo) Source: media.ge