Shida Kartli. The Media School of CSO "Biliki" was closed and its results were presented on June2. Media School included three groups: newspaper, radio and television. Members of each group have presented the results of the School work. Certificates were awarded to the participants. ource: the organization's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. CRRC Georgia responds to the May 23 announcement of TV3, in which the channel disagrees with the evaluations written in the first report of television monitoring conducted by CRRC Georgia.CRRC Georgia welcomes the interest of televisions with the monitoring results and expresses readiness to answer all questions related to the monitoring project and results. As part of the media monitoring project, CRRC will release three more reports and give a press conference on monitoring results together with other civil society organizations involved in the project. Source: crrc.ge

Kakheti. Representatives of the "Open Society - Georgia" Foundation have met with students of the Telavi State University on May 29.Employing youngsters in the media sales area was a key topic of discussion. Focus was made on problems experienced by the current media market, such as: creation by online media resources and independent television studios of media content expressing public interest, improvement of skills required for the development of media as business, as well as raising the level of journalistic standards and media literacy.

Tbilisi. On May 28, an awarding ceremony of the media contest organized by the NGO "CiDA” was held. The contest winners become following journalists:  I Prize – Tamar Kvinikadze – Magazine "Gza”,  II Prize (2 journalists) – Oliko Tsiskarishvili – "iReporter”, "Eko Fact", Tamta Kakauridze – Guria News,  III Prize, 2 journalists were named either: Tinatin Osmanova – "Rezonansi” and Kristina Karchkhadze – News.ge and Mega TV.  Media tour took place on May 12, 6-7-8. Totally 20 journalists participated in it and visited eastern and western parts of Georgia.  For the full text...  Source: cso.ge

Tbilisi. The Charter of Journalistic Ethics has released an interim media monitoring report. On April 1 the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics has started monitoring 7 national television channels (public broadcasters - Public Broadcaster of Georgia, Adjara TV and private broadcasters - Imedi, Kavkasia, Maestro, Rustavi 2 and Tabula) and 6 regional broadcasters (25th Channel Adjara, Gurjaani (Kakheti), Kvemo Kartli TV (Kvemo Kartli), Odishi (Samegrelo), Rioni (Imereti) and Trialeti (Shida Kartli)). This monitoring period covers 1-30 April 2014. For the full text. Source: qartia.org.ge

Tbilisi. CSO "Young Barristers" has addressed the Charter of Journalistic Ethics. "The organization believes that journalist of TV Company "Rustavi 2" Giorgi Gabunia has violated journalist's ethical standards and abused the Law of Georgia "on Freedom of Speech and Expression", when during the talk-show "Choice" on 8 April 2014 and interview of the invited Defense Minister Irakli Alasania he has characterized "Young Barristers" as an organization "under the umbrella" of the Ministry of Interior," says media.ge. For the full text. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. The Association of Azerbaijani Students of Georgia "GATA", Media Development Fund (MDF), Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI) and the Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) have appealed to the self-regulatory authority of TV company Kavkasia on May 22 concerning the statements of the host of talk-show "Spectrum" Davit Akubardia made on May 14 on Kavkasia. For the full text. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a statement - "The Georgian Government should not reproach TV Maestro for its critical TV report”. "The Government of Georgia released a statement criticizing a TV report that aired on May 18 on Maestro in a TV show hosted by journalist Vakho Sanaia. The statement says that the TV report was biased as the journalist attempted to prove that the Government had not kept up to any of its pre-election promises. ...We think that this can be assessed as an attempt of the Government to interfere in the editorial policy of a critical media outlet. In a country where media is free, independent media should not be attacked for its criticism of government', says the statement. For the full  text Source: transparency.ge

Imereti. A media center will operate in the Kutaisi Civic Engagement Center during the pre-election period and one week after the elections. To effectively cover the local self-government elections, the Center's work will be carried out in three stages."The first stage will be fully dedicated to a pre-election period, where journalists will have an opportunity to ask questions to entities participating in the elections," - said the Coordinator of the Civic Engagement Center Keti Tsibadze.As for the second stage, on the polling day journalists will be able to receive official information on the preliminary election results by districts and cities throughout the whole day.Third stage includes a one-week post-election period and journalists will receive information prior to the announcement of the final election results.

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia published a blog post - "Seven things you should know about the digital switchover". "In less than two months, on July 1, the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) will reveal the winner(s) of the competition that will build and operate the country’s infrastructure for digital terrestrial broadcasting. This will be a major step towards the switch-off of analogue terrestrial television on 17 June 2015 – the biggest transformation in the broadcasting sector since the introduction of a colour. But before the winner(s) is announced and the government launches a nationwide PR campaign to inform public about why and how they should switch to digital TV, here are 7 facts you should know beforehand", says the blog post. For the full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. "Internews-Georgia” implements project "Promoting Sensitive Coverage of Conflicts in South Caucasus”. This is a joint project of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, which in addition covers conflicting regions (Karabakh, Abkhazia, South Ossetia) and is funded by the British Embassy. 6 documentaries were produced as part of the project, which describe the media situation and the conflict coverage trends in each region. Three new films were presented in the office of Internews on May 14. Local partners have made films in Sokhumi and Tskhinvali. The film Source: media.ge

Tbilisi.On May 10th a session of the Council of journalists ethics charter was held. For the full text Source: qartia.org.ge

Tbilisi. Seminar for journalists on New State Social Rehabilitation and Childcare Program and about the progress achieved in Implementation of the State Program on Children Living or Working on the Streets - May 10-11.The seminar was conducted within the #EU supported project. Source:Let's meet europe

Tbilisi. The NGO "Society and Banks” together with the organization "Junior Achievement” opened economic media school.The aim of the Media School is to raise the level of financial education among 20 journalists representing 20 Georgian media outlets.  The 3-month-long teaching course is free and upon a completion of which certificates will be distributed. Source:the organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. On April 17, 2014, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) with the assistance of Media Advocacy Coalition published a survey "Georgian TV Audience Rating – Challenges for Media Sector of Georgia.” Institute released a statement about the presentation. "The goal of the survey, its presentation and the discussion thereto was to review internationally recognized TV rating measurement standards, to compare practices of several countries, to overview positive and negative practices in Georgia and to develop recommendations through participation of involved and interested in the issue parties. Presentation and a discussion were planned in a format of the work meeting. This is why media was not invited to make coverage of the event. Unfortunately, the issue was politicized and wrongfully interpreted without substantial review and study of findings of the survey; we think that it will once again hinder resolution of problems surrounding TV ratings", says the statement. For the full text Source:idfi.ge

Tbilisi. GYLA’s released a road map "Media and Elections 2014”. The road map enables journalists and media outlets to receive information on spreading the data about 2014 Elections. The Road map Source:the organization's page in the social network

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition released a statement concerning the special statement of the CEO of Rustavi 2. "Coalition believes that creating the barriers to the work of the media outlets, moreover, through secret surveillance and eavesdropping, is absolutely unacceptable for the democratic society. ...Media Advocacy Coalition calls on the relevant authorities to provide the immediate and unbiased investigation of the Rustavi 2 case", says the statement. For the full text Source:idfi.ge

On May 6 the International Federation of Journalists has released the report on the killings and arrests of and physical violence over media representatives in 2011-2014. The presentation was organized in Paris, in the UNESCO Headquarters, which hosted the annual forum on the safety of journalists.The periodic report of the Federation probes into the freedom of media situation in the Balkans and post-Soviet states. The report. Source: media.ge

International organization "Freedom House" has released the "Freedom of Press 2014" report on May 1. According to the report data, the freedom of press situation in Georgia has improved by two points. Under the 100-point evaluation system, freedom of press in Georgia in 2013 was evaluated at 47 points. According to Media.ge, it is noteworthy that this is the best indicator since 1999. This very year the country has received 47 points, and we have not witnessed a lower point since then. For the full text. Source:media.ge The report 

Tbilisi. To commemorate the World Press Freedom Day, the EU Delegation to Georgia will officially announce the competition "EU Journalism Prize 2014" on May 6 at 17:00 (cafe Folk Garden).The EU Journalism Prize is the EU initiative in Georgia and aims to acknowledge journalism works in the Georgian press, television, radio and social media, which facilitate better understanding of the EU values, and are created at professional level and with observance of high standards of journalistic ethics. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. Media Development Fund (MDF), Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI) and the Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) have released a statement on the coverage of the criminal fact by the Public Broadcaster and "Guria News"."The organizations find that these media outlets have disseminated information on detention of the Iraqi citizen suspected of sexual violence towards a minor on April 29 in a xenophobic context," says the information portal. For the full text. Source:media.ge

Tbilisi. Media.ge reports that CSO "Citizen" has launched the media environment study, preliminary results of which will be made public in three months. As the organization's Executive Director Nikoloz Chkhetiani has told the media portal, the study will be carried out by organization TNS opinion at the commission of "Citizen". For the full text. Source: media.ge