Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released Nana Sajaia's blog post -  "Broadcasters’ new disclosure adds little transparency”.  "Financial reporting submitted by broadcasters to the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC) does not provide enough information on the sources of financing”, says the blog post. For full text  Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Coalition for Media Advocacy released a statement. "Coalition for Media Advocacy accuses TV3 and Energy Group for defying and violating the Georgian law on broadcasting. The coalition states that director of both companies - TV3 and Energy Group LLC Kakha Baidurashvili at the same time holds the post of president of Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, thus he is not entitled to own broadcasting license or have any shares", says the statement. Coalition for Media Advocacy calls for Georgian National Communication Commision to take measures in order to eliminate these violations. For full text Source:idfi.ge

Tbilisi. A preparatory hearing on the claim of Editor of Media.Ge Maia Tsiklauri was held on November 18 in the Tbilisi City Hall. Maia Tsiklauri has addressed the Tbilisi City Court on June 11 this year. Editor of the web page requested the court to instruct the Tbilisi City Hall to issue public information and examine an administrative complaint on issuing the information.On November 18, the Court has heard legal representatives of the Tbilisi City Hall and Editor of Media.Ge. Head of the "Media Legal Protection Center" of the "Georgian Young Lawyers' Association" EkaTsimakuridze was defending Tsiklauri's rights.Next court hearing in the Tbilisi City Court is scheduled on December 9.For the full text. Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. On November 14, a discussion over the role of the social media in journalism and its perspectives was held at Education Multimedia Center, Tbilisi. Seminars have been held within the framework of the 4M regional forum, carried out by Canal France International with the financial support of the EU. 4M forum, which deals with social media and journalism, will be concluded on November 15.  Source:media.ge

Tbilisi. 13 November the Charter of Journalistic Ethics and UNICEF presented results of monitoring of coverage of children’s issues by Georgian media. During the monitoring period which started 1 June and will finish 1 September the Charter studied 2297 materials – video-reports, articles and short news which directly or indirectly related to children.  Thematically mostly were covered topics related to criminal and court; media paid less attention to such important topics as education and healthcare. Result of monitoring (geo) Source:qartia.org.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "The new Board of the Ajarian Public Broadcaster – did nepotism trump merits?”. "In a controversial move, the Supreme Council of Ajara last week finalized the appointment of members of the Ajarian Public Broadcaster’s Board of trustees. All five members were appointed by members of the Georgian Dream factions – in violation of the spirit of the law, which through a quota regime sought to give the opposition the opportunity to appoint two members for the newly established Ajarian Public Broadcaster", says the organization's web-page. For full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. The Batumi Civic Engagement Center has organized a discussion on November 7 on the election of Advisory Council of the Adjara Television and Radio of the Public Broadcaster. Local CSO and media representatives have attended the meeting. Members of the Adjara Supreme Council AkakiDzneladze and PetreZambakhidze were the speakers. Identities of all five members of Advisory Council of the Adjara Television and Radio of the Public Broadcaster are known. NataImedaishvili, ZazaKhalvashi, Giorgi Iremadze, Vakhtang Ghlonti and OlghaZhghenti will jointly determine the Broadcaster's priorities. The discussion evolved around the election of the very members of Advisory Council to the Broadcaster.

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition  released a statement on Election the Members of the Board of Trustees of Ajara TV and Radio. "Media Advocacy Coalition objects to  the November 5, 2013 decision of Ajara High Council which completely ignored "the Law on Broadcasting” and violated quota system envisaged by the law for election of members of the Board of  Trustees of Ajara TV and radio. Members of the "Georgian Dream”  disallowed minority members to nominate their candidates for the membership to the Board of Trustees, as provided by the "Law on Broadcasting”. As a result, by the decision of November 5, 2013 the Board of Trustees of Ajara TV was manned by one-party principle", says the statement. Coalition will use  all legal mechanisms for invalidation of illegal decision. For full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics has echoed the potential dismissal of the Head of Information Service of TV-Company "Adjara" Irina Kurua and released the statement. The Charter believes that "should Irina Kurua be dismissed as the Head of the Information Service, management of TV-Company "Adjara" must present to the public justified arguments of such decision." For the full text  Source: media.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Center released a statement  regarding Fact of Interference into Journalistic Reporting of Gela Mtivlishvili. "Human Rights Center expresses concern regarding the fact of interference into journalistic reporting of Gela Mtivlishvili, editor of Kakheti Information Center at Chikaani #14 Precinct Election Commission in Kakheti. Gela Mtivlishvili was verbally abused, unlawfully prohibited to film the electoral process and expelled from the electoral district", says the organization's web-page. Human Rights Center addresses CEC to "objectively study incident occurred at Chikaani #14 PEC and react adequately against the unlawful behavior of the head of the PEC and other members of the commission. Besides, Human Rights Center addressed Chief Office of Prosecutor to start investigation regarding illegal interference into journalistic reporting offence envisaged according to article 154 of the Criminal Code".  For full text Source:humanrights.ge

Tbilisi. The Charter of Journalistic Ethics has released a statement on the work of media during the election day. "Although compared to previous elections the presidential election of October 27 was held much more peacefully, the facts of obstruction, pressuring and insult against professional activities of journalists have been reported, which the Charter finds alarming... the Charter of Journalistic Ethics believes that obstructing the professional activities of journalists is unacceptable, as well as incorrect interpretation of resolution adopted by the Central Election Commission last year", says the organization's web page. For the full text (geo) Source: qartia.org.ge

Tbilisi. Eight NGOs opened a joint electoral media center on October 22. On October 27, the 2013 presidential elections day, representatives of the NGOs will provide journalists with the information regarding the course of the elections. The Center has been opened with the financial support of Open Society Georgia Foundation and will function until the announcement of the results of the presidential elections. On October 27, Press-conferences will be held every half an hour starting from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Source:media.ge

Tbilisi. October 21, the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics held the presentation of the Second preliminary report on media coverage of the 27 October presidential election. the second preliminary report that includes the main monitoring findings covering three weeks of the official campaign period (16 September – 10 October). This project is conducted in cooperation with the Slovak media-monitoring organization MEMO 98 and with the support of the Open Society Foundation Georgia (OSFG). Report Source:qartia.org.ge

Tbilisi. Representatives of UNICEF and the Georgian Charter of Ethics have organized a meeting-discussion with the students of the TSU specializing in journalism. The meeting aimed to discuss the coverage of children's issues. Source: UNICEF's page in the social network.

Tbilisi. The Election Media Center will be launched from October22, through which CSOs will provide journalist with the results of monitoring over electoral processes in a permanent regime. Any interested journalist can work in the Media Center. Making live broadcasts will be also possible. Address of the Media Center: 34/36 Kobuleti Str., 4th Floor. Source: osgf.ge

Tbilisi. On October 15, 2013 representatives of the Media Advocacy Coalition and the Coalition for Freedom of Choice met with CEC chairman and submitted alternative recommendations worked out by NGOs for regulation of photo-video recording at polling stations on the election day.  On September 24, 2012 the Central Election Commission adopted resolution determining the rule of photo-video recording at the polling stations on the election day. For full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia released a blog post - "Crisis Uninterrupted: the story of the Georgian Public Broadcaster". "Less than three weeks ahead of the presidential elections, the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) is broke and broken. Even diligent observers can no longer make any sense of internal developments and decrypt the political or personal motivations that may lie behind many of the recent developments. Thus, it might be a good time to reflect on the almost 10-year old history of the GPB, the few ups and many downs the broadcaster has experienced since it was transformed from a state-controlled to a public service station in 2004", says the blog post. For full text Source:transparency.ge

Tbilisi. GYLA’s Media Legal Defense Center has been representing Giorgi Baratashvili’s interests in the court. "It is noteworthy, that by the October 9, 2013 ruling the court suspended announced open competition on the vacant position of the general director of the public broadcaster", says the organization's page. For full text Source:gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Since September, CSO "Media Portal" implements the project "Monitoring of Secret and Political Advertising during the 2013 pre-election period. As part of the project, "Media Portal" carries out qualitative and quantitative media monitoring of ads aired from 19:00 to 24:00 on five television channels (Public Broadcaster, Imedi, Rustavi 2, Maestro, Kavkasia). Monitoring was launched in September and will last until November 1. The organization has already released one report, which covers the period from 1 to 30 September. The project is implemented with support from the "Open Society – Georgia" Foundation. Report (geo) Source: mportali.com

Kakheti. NGO "Media Portal" has trained the students of the journalism faculty in the news coverage on October7-8 in the Telavi State University. The training led by journalist Nana Sajaia was followed by the master-class delivered by the BBC correspondence, journalist Irakli Imnaishvili.

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition released a statement on the Current Situation in Georgian Public Broadcaster. "Two members of the Board of Trustees wrote an application on resignation, while others link their decision to the implemented pressure on the Board. Other members also alleged about coercion", says the statement. For full text Source:gyla.ge

Adjara. A media camp - "Media and Journalist - Profession and a Professional" was held in Chakvi on September 26-29, with participation of 15 members of civic clubs of the ShidaKartli schools. The participants were divided into 5 groups and each of them was trained in various sectors of media: TV, radio, photo journalism, media direction. At the camp closing evening ceremony the teams have presented a television program, newspaper, radio story, photo story and an online story. Source: "Biliki's" page in the social network.