Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) publishes a blog post: Political advertisements on Facebook and Instagram during the period of the 2021 elections. “According to the Facebook Advertising Library, political parties and their representatives/ candidates, participating in the elections, posted 8 126 political advertisements on Facebook and Instagram for the 2021 local self-government elections within the period from August 9 through November 6. Not less than USD 524 602 and not more than USD 536 086 were spent for this activity”. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) considers that non-involvement of international experts in the process of examination related to the case of Lekso Lashkarava, as well as disproportionate dissemination of an expert conclusion, reduces confidence in the investigation process. “GYLA, in agreement with the family of Lekso Lashkarava, will continue to protect rights of the family during the process of ongoing investigations. A lawyer of the organization is going to apply to the investigative agency requesting to hand over the expert conclusion, while public will be informed about additional information right after we get thoroughly familiarized with the mentioned document”, - is noted in the statement of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition responds to facts of threatening statements and harassment committed against Keti Tutberidze, a journalist of Public Broadcaster. “The December 24 rally - related footage shows that participants of the rally surrounded the journalist and abused her verbally. Later, the aggression against the journalist continued also on a social network, which fact encourages violence against Keti Tutberidze. Members of the Coalition call on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to investigate facts of threatening statements and harassment committed against Keti Tutberidze and to take respective legal actions immediately”. Read more... Source: The website of the Coalition on a social network

Tbilisi. Europe Foundation announces winners for Georgia Shining Light Award. The prize for the best investigation went to the story - The Lost Country by Tamar Gelashvili, Studio Monitor. The piece uncovers systemic failure on the part of the Government of Georgia, which spent more than a billion GEL on water infrastructure over the last 10 years and failed to address the problem at hand. Read more… Source: epfound.ge

Tbilisi. International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has released its final social media monitoring report for 2021. “From 2018, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, using open source social media, seeks to identify coordinated information campaigns, expose manipulative tactics and strategies, increase resilience against disinformation via voter awareness, and inform Facebook, the most popular platform in Georgia, about main findings”. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. The Media Development Foundation (MDF) has published its annual report – “Hate speech - 2020”. “The purpose of the study is to identify various forms of hate speech in the media and public discourse and to reveal their sources”. Read more… Source: mdfgeorgia.ge

Tbilisi. The Human Rights Center has published an analytical document: “Unlawful interference into professional activity of journalist, selective justice”. “In Georgia, facts of repression and violation of freedom of the media are more and more increasing in recent years, which has already become alarming. Various types of attempts to control the media, use of different forms of pressure, and progressive tendency of interference into professional activities of journalists, as well as of facts of physical or verbal assault upon them significantly harms the standard of protection of human rights in the country and send a strong signal of weakening democratic values and the standard of protection of human rights in the country”. Read more… Source: www.hrc.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes an article “Online informational manipulation: experiences, challenges and examples of international practice”. “On the background of informational waves and their increasing manipulation in the contemporary online space, agreement on facts and circumstances is one of the main challenges. International practice shows that the role of the state is not limited to just development of regulations, but also includes enhancement of strategic communications existing in dialogue with civil sector, in introduction of media literacy into the national educational program, as well as in state structures”. Read more… Source:idfi.ge

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition responds to the fact of injury caused to a cameraman of TV Company Kavkasia. On November 29, while covering a rally taking place in front of the Tbilisi City Court, a cameraman of TV Company Kavkasia lost consciousness. According to him, he had allegedly been sprayed with pepper spray in his eyes. “Unfortunately, representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have again failed to perform their duties properly and it still remains a problem to have police ensure security of the media during coverage of rallies. Media Advocacy Coalition calls on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to take into account the high public interest in the process and provide appropriate conditions for representatives of the media thus allowing them to perform their professional duties freely, without harm to their health or having their rights violated”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition member organizations consider that cases brought against “Mtavari Channel”, a broadcaster having the critical editorial policy, and its representatives are alarming. “While the tendency of sanctioning makes us anticipate that the Communications Commission aims to block the broadcaster and change its critical editorial policy. Unfortunately, the Communications Commission continues to apply a controversial practice related to regulation of content of the broadcaster, as it has been revealed during sanctioning of broadcasters on the ground of obscenity. Besides, with its new decision, the Commission attempts to limit the opportunity for civil activists to criticize the Government and have a chance to disseminate their opinions, different from those of the ruling party, through the media”, - is noted in the statement. Read more... Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. UN Women and the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics have started their cooperation for promoting the ethical coverage of women’s rights and gender equality. The respective Memorandum of Understanding was signed today by Kaori Ishikawa, UN Women Country Representative in Georgia, and Mariam Gogosashvili, Director of the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics. Read more… Source: The organization's page on the social network

Tbilisi. Transparency International Georgia has studied current situation and key trends at the advertising market in 2020. The study contains an overview of how restrictions, imposed to eliminate spread of COVID-19, and finances, spent by political parties on advertising during the parliamentary elections, were reflected upon the advertising market. According to one of the findings: in 2020, compared to 2019, the television advertising market increased by GEL 7.7 million (11%) and amounted to GEL 75.2 million. The increase was mainly entailed by finances that political parties spent on television advertising during the parliamentary elections. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition calls on the Ministry of Justice to stop discrimination against journalists. “On November 11, 2021, media representatives critical of the Government were not invited to the briefing planned by the Minister of Justice of Georgia and only a part of the media was able to attend it. We consider that such a discriminatory approach breaches the right of media representatives to perform their professional duties, to receive and disseminate information on important issues. Besides, it limits the opportunity of society to monitor ongoing processes based on various sources”, - is noted in the statement. Read more... Source: The website of the organization on a social network

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI) publishes an analysis of decisions made by the National Communications Commission on the issue of protection of rights of children. The organization has reviewed decisions made in regard to unsuitable programs for minors and considers that the Commission finds it difficult to set specific standards for general and, in some cases, vague perceptions stipulated by law. Read more… Source: gdi.ge

Tbilisi. ISFED has presented the fourth interim report on social media monitoring. “It describes activities of Facebook pages of political parties participating in the elections and mayoral candidates of municipalities, as well as results of observation on anonymous and open Facebook pages operating for political and elections purposes, and other important trends”. Read more… Source: isfed.ge

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition member organizations call on the Government of Georgia to provide explanations in regard to the refusal to let Ukrainian journalists enter Georgia. “According to information released on October 27, 2021, Dmitry Gordon, a Ukrainian journalist, and his wife Alecia Batsman, an editor, were not allowed to enter Georgia. Dmitri Gordon links the refusal to enter Georgia with his intention to meet Mikheil Saakashvili, former President of Georgia, who is currently in prison”. Read more... Source: The website of the Coalition on a social network

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition calls on the Parliament of Georgia not to vote for the bill on amendments to the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting and to withdraw the disputed document immediately. “Proposed changes do not serve to improve the electoral environment and reduce polarization in the country, besides, they restrict freedom of political expression and the media and endanger democratic development of the country”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights House Tbilisi launches a deceased cameraman Lekso Lashkarava Award and calls journalists, cameramen and other media professionals aged 18+ for participation in the competition. Applications for the competition are accepted in the following areas: Video-reporting on protection of human rights; Article on protection of human rights; The prize for each category is GEL 2000. Read more… Source: The website of the organization on a social network Photo: on.ge

Tbilisi. Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI) defends interests of journalists: Keti Nadibaidze, Marta Kurasbediani, Mariam Geguchadze, Nodar Rukhadze, Tatusha Arveladze, Nanuka Bregadze and Tina Bokuchava, a member of the Parliament. “In the publicized material, journalists and the member of the Parliament found information about unlawful eavesdropping of their conversations. They suffered direct damage as a result of the crime, their right to inviolability of private communication had been violated. On September 30, 2021, GDI applied to the State Inspector and requested to verify legality of eavesdropping/surveillance of private conversations of defendants. The State Inspector confirmed that secret eavesdropping/surveillance of 6 journalists and the member of the Parliament, found in files of the State Security Service, did not take place within the frames of her supervision. Respectively, the State Inspector forwarded the application of GDI to the Prosecutor’s Office in Tbilisi to respond. This circumstance further reinforces the suspicion that eavesdropping/ surveillance of GDI defendants was not lawful. At the same time, the Prosecutor’s Office does not grant the status of a victim to those affected by unlawful eavesdropping/surveillance”, - is noted in the statement of the organization. Read more… Source: www.gdi.ge

Tbilisi. To honor and promote outstanding achievements of Georgia’s investigative journalists who often work in hostile environment to unearth difficult issues, no matter who may be involved in them, Europe Foundation decided to establish a Georgia Shining Light Awards. Read more… Source: epfound.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) has submitted an application to the Prosecutor General’s Office on behalf of 9 affected journalists demanding to investigate actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs during developments that occurred on July 5-6. “Despite the fact that GYLA has been calling on the Prosecutor’s Office so far to assess how effectively mobilization of police forces was planned and implemented in order to avoid/prevent violent developments, the investigation in this regard still does not take place. Up to this time, the investigative body works just to reveal criminal acts committed by certain individuals, which is insufficient”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. According to the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), civil society and media organizations have formed an “Information Integrity Coalition”. “The main purpose of the Coalition is to raise public awareness about disinformation and anti-Western propaganda and establish a common national and public approach in order to respond to these threats. This is especially important during elections when voters have to make an informed choice.  The Coalition is based on democratic values, principles of freedom, equality, conscientiousness, and accountability”, - is stated on the website of the organization.   Read more…    Source: idfi.ge