Tbilisi. A platform On.ge prepared an article with the support of the East-West Management Institute (EWMI ACCESS): Hundreds of people died due to disinformation spread on COVID 19.  “The coronavirus pandemic has been followed by an infodemic in the world - the term refers to a crisis caused by spread of fake news. In the first three months of 2020, at least 800 people died worldwide due to spread of fake news in regard to the coronavirus. Most of them died as a result of drinking methanol and alcohol-based cleansers. While about 5800 people were hospitalized”. Read more… Source: The website of the organization in a social network

Tbilisi. Civil society organizations release a statement in regard to coverage of the case of Tamar Bachaliashvili in the media. “We, civil society organizations, respond to the process of problematic coverage of the case of Tamar Bachaliashvili in the media, especially to an interview that took place in the “Main Accents” program of “Mtavari Channel” on August 9, 2020 at 23:00, and consider that it is essential to have the media realize importance of inviolability of private life and its responsibility in the process of building a legal and democratic society that is based on ideals of respect for human rights and dignity. Questions asked by a host at “Mtavari Channel”, as well as a material prepared by some other means of media, were related to details of personal intimate relations of the deceased Tamar Bachaliashvili, which fact is a rough interference with the right to private life of the deceased, on the one hand, and her friends, on the other hand. Although we perfectly understand existing high public interest in the case and a special role of the media to control public authorities, besides, despite the fact that we observe defectiveness of the ongoing investigation and challenges in its openness and transparency, we consider it essential to have a public hearing on the case with strict protection of and respect for human rights. Such an approach is crucial in terms of protection of dignity, private life and moral safety of members of the family of Bachaliashvili, as well as her friends”, - is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a blog post – “12 years since the August 2008 war: Russian disinformation and real facts”. “In 2020, 12 years have passed since the start of the August 2008 Russian-Georgian war. As in 2008, Russian propaganda, related to the Russian-Georgian war, is active today too. Through disseminating disinformation, it attempts to convince population of both Russia and Georgia, as well as the international community that the war in August 8, 2008 was initiated by Georgia against ethnic Ossetians, while Russia was “forced” to perform military intervention into Georgia to “protect” them. In fact, this conflict has a much longer history, which proves that the initiator of the war was not Georgia”, - is stated in the blog post. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. Within the scope of its new program – Watchdog Journalism for Change – Europe Foundation (EPF) is pleased to announce a grant competition to provide legal aid to journalists and media outlets. The grant is designed to ensure that organizations with experience and expertise in media law and in providing legal advice to various media sources receive Europe Foundation support, enabling them to offer free legal counsel to those journalists and media outlets which pursue investigative reporting. Europe Foundation will fund those projects designed (1) to raise the awareness of journalists and media organizations regarding their rights and obligations; (2) to provide investigative journalists with any legal counsel they may need in the performance of their duties; and (3) to represent the legal interests of journalists and media organizations in dealing with the courts and administrative bodies. Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) responds to the fact of dismissal of employees from Adjara Public Broadcaster and considers that their dismissal is one more obvious example of persecution of employees having critical attitude towards Director and the management of Public Broadcaster.  “Based on the initial legal evaluation, we consider that the decision of Director of the broadcaster is a legally unjustifiable one, which, in turn, clearly shows the approach of the management of the broadcaster to neutralize critically minded journalists of the broadcaster by all possible means and apply the most tough sanction like dismissal to punish them exemplarily”, - is noted in the statement released by EMC.  Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. With the support of the EU, the winners of the photo contest, "Pandemic and Women in Georgia", was announced: First place – Nino Zedgenidze;  Second place – Salome Benidze;  Third place – Guranda Benidze. The aim of the photo contest was to increase support for gender equality, empower women and strengthen public support in the fight against domestic violence.  Read more  Source: The page in the social network

Tbilisi. Media Development Foundation presents a report – “Anti-Western Propaganda – 2019”.  “The fifth annual report on anti-western propaganda reflects the results of media monitoring and fake news debunking in 2019. The monitoring report, which traditionally focuses on detecting anti-western messages, observing the process of their framing as well as shifting narratives over time, also identifies sources of these messages and verifies them when they contain fake information”, - is mentioned in the preface of the document.  Reade more  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. Today, Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) is going to presents to the public a study – “Needs of ethnic minorities, Public Broadcaster and the pandemic”. “On March 23, 2020, Marneuli and Bolnisi, two regions densely populated with ethnic minorities, were closed due to internal spread of the new coronavirus (Radio Liberty, 2020). A light panic that followed the threat of uncontrolled spread of the virus in the country, soon transitioned into another wave of xenophobia and nationalism, which fact was most clearly reflected in comments of users in a social network Facebook (Kevanishvili, 2020). During the following days, population, locked up in regions declared as “red zones”, had to simultaneously fight against the coronavirus, the fear of economic poverty and ethno-nationalism. Instead of spending efforts of local activists on dissemination of information related to the coronavirus, prevention of the virus and avoiding economic complications, they had to launch an internet campaign, main message of which was – “I am a citizen of Georgia”, - is stated in the introduction to the study. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. “Media Advocacy Coalition” member organizations respond to the bill on intended amendments to Laws of Georgia on both “Broadcasting” and “Electronic Communications” submitted to the Parliament of Georgia. “We consider that proposed amendments contain risks of unjustified restriction of freedom of expression and their adoption will cause great damage to the media environment. We call on the Parliament of Georgia to prevent approval of this bill, taking into account pre-election and election processes. We demand to have the Parliament of Georgia review proposals, provided by the Communications Commission, with the participation of broadcasters, authorized people, domestic and international experts”. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by Transparency International Georgia, the competition for selection of members of the Board of Trustees of Public Broadcaster is carried out with procedural violations. “The election commission has presented eight candidates for three vacant seats to the Parliament, while according to the rules of procedure of the Parliament, the parliament should nominate “at least three times more candidates than those to be elected”, i.e. not less than 9 in this case”. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition considers that launching a criminal investigation into the story prepared by the TV Company “Mtavari” is a harsh, disproportionate response and a very dangerous precedent of interfering in the freedom of media.  “In the circumstances when a negative attitude of the Government specifically against the TV Company “Mtavari” is obvious (as a matter of fact, government officials publicly boycott the channel) and when Georgia has repeatedly appeared at the center of world attention due to abundance of facts of anti-Western propaganda instigated by disinformation and false reports, it is particularly concerning that SSG names the story, broadcasted on the “Mtavari” channel, as “sabotage”. This action gives an impression of using a repressive mechanism selectively. We think that launching a criminal prosecution under the article of sabotage due to the TV story may have an irreversible stinging effect on all means of media that are critical of the Government and affect an idea of control of the Government by citizens”, - is noted in the statement.  Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. The Coalition for Equality responds to developments that take place at Adjara Public Broadcaster and expresses its full support to the struggle of employees of the broadcasters for Public Broadcaster. “It is completely inadmissible that persecution of employees at Adjara Broadcaster continues to take place due to their critical positions. Intolerance of the management policy often costs employees of Adjara Broadcaster their jobs, transfer to other positions, and working in a hostile and stressful environment. Signs of hindrance of activities of the alternative trade union, founded by employees of the broadcaster, are obvious too”, - is noted in the statement. Read more…  Source:phrgeorgia. wordpress.com

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition member organizations respond to the initiative of Kakha Kaladze, Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of “Georgian Dream”, in regard to creation of a new platform for media criticism. “We consider that initiation of such a campaign by a high-ranking political official against critical means of media does not meet expectations of a democratic society. It roughly contradicts to ethical values and principles of high-ranking officials. Especially when there is a risk of promoting aggression against journalists, verbal and physical assault”, - is noted in the statement. Read more…  Source: The website of the Coalition in a social network

Tbilisi. The Georgian Center for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims – GCRT expresses its concern in regard to a story broadcasted through the air of “Mtavari Channel”. The story was about a porn trafficking of minors from 6 to 16 years of age.  “It is categorically unacceptable to spread photo and video material with nude, erotic content about children through the mass media, regardless of whether their faces are covered or not. This action is contrary to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. Hiding faces of children cannot prevent the risk of their identification by people who are personally familiar with juveniles involved in this process. Besides, the risk of retraumatization is high - nobody knows how strong feelings viewing this material will cause in adolescents who have experienced violence against themselves. It should also be noted that by publicizing these shots through the television, we practically leave photo and video material about children in the Internet for ever and victims will be able to see them even years later”, - is stated on the website of the organization.  Read more… Source: gcrt.ge

Tbilisi. According to information released by Myth Detector, Google is going to start verifying search results for photos in order to stop spreading disinformation on the platform,. “Why it is important: The threat of a text-based disinformation may be overshadowed by a misleader, manipulative and fake photos/videos, including convincing deep fakes that are generated through artificial intelligence”, - is stated on the website of Myth Detector. Read more… Source: mythdetector.ge

Tbilisi. Media Checker publishes a blog post of Maia Metskhvarishvili: Threat of extortion, revelation of fakeness - what TV wars serve. The material touches upon stories prepared by TV channels that have critical attitude towards the Government (TV Pirveli, Mtavari). These stories, on the other hand, are used by TV channels, loyal to the Government (Imedi TV and POSTV), to make a subject of discussion out of them and interpret them as so called fake news. “In all this controversy, it is certainly a spectator who appears to be affected and does not receive accurate, impartial, balanced information regarding processes that take place in the country. Particularly against the background of the fact that in Georgia TV stations still remain to be the main source of information”, - is stated in the blog post. Read more… Source:www. mediachecker.ge

Tbilisi. Coalition for Euro-Atlantic Georgia member organizations respond to the intention of possible assassination of Giorgi Gabunia, a journalist, and consider it as a Russian plan to destabilize Georgia. “In its reports, the State Security Service also emphasizes a threat posed by the Russian soft power. On this background, taking a journalist as a possible target can be considered as an action directed against security of the country and towards possible destabilization. We, the signatory organizations condemn actions taken by representatives of Russian authorities and those under their control against sovereignty of Georgia and its citizens. We call on the Government of Georgia to conduct an investigation transparently, ensure engagement of experts from friendly countries in it and provide public with complete information regarding the planned crime”, - is noted in the joint statement. Read more… Source: transparency.ge

The Civil Society Institute (CSI) is accepting applications for an online course – “Journalism for social changes”.  In the epoch of modern technologies and various social platforms, each citizen becomes not only a recipient of information, but often a source of information or a facilitator of spread of information.  In order to promote positive and necessary changes, it is essential to know: how to spread information quickly; how to manage informing broader layers of public; how to use modern technologies, platforms for this purpose; how to not become a victim of manipulation; when and how to verify information; how to not become a spreader of disinformation.  Read more…   Source: civilin.org

Tbilisi. Media Advocacy Coalition member organizations call on the Government of Georgia to respond respectively and demand to have investigative bodies release timely and substantiated information about news broadcasted by “Mtavari Arkhi” in regard to planning assassination of Giorgi Gabunia.  Read more… Source: The website of the Coalition in a social network

Tbilisi. The Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC), on the order of Transparency International Georgia, conducted a public opinion survey within the period from February 27 to March 18, 2020.  “Majority of those inquired have heard about Facebook pages created to spread fake information. A large part of the population also thinks that the Government interferes in media activities. Fighting against misinformation in social media is one of the biggest challenges. In Georgia, this problem intensifies particularly in a pre-election period, when political forces, most actively the ruling party among them, use fake pages to discredit their opponents, and not only them” – is stated on the website of the organization.  Read more… Source: transparency.ge

According to European Commission’s report the coronavirus pandemic has been accompanied by a massive wave of false and misleading information, attempts by foreign actors to influence domestic debates in the EU, breeding on the fertile ground of people’s most basic anxieties and the rapidly changing news cycle.  Misleading healthcare information, dangerous hoaxes with false claims conspiracy theories and consumer fraud endanger public health. False or misleading information around coronavirus can damage societal cohesion, but above all, it is a threat to public health. False or misleading narratives come in different forms that require different responses. •content may not be illegal as defined by law, but still harmful •it can range from disinformation (defined as intentional) to misinformation •it can include misleading healthcare information, consumer fraud, cyber-crime, illegal hate speech as well as targeted influence operations by foreign actors. •the motivation behind it can range from economic gain (online scams) causing public harm, to political purposes •foreign actors and certain third countries, in particular Russia and China, have engaged in targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighbourhood, and globally. False claims such as ‘drinking bleach or pure alcohol can cure the coronavirus infections’: on the contrary, drinking bleach or pure alcohol can be very harmful. Belgium’s Poison Control Centre has recorded an increase of 15% in the number of bleach-related incidents. Conspiracy theories, such as the claim that coronavirus is 'an infection caused by the world’s elites for reducing population growth'. The scientific evidence is clear: the virus comes from a family of viruses originating in animals that include other viruses such as SARS and MERS. Claims that '5G installations would be spreading the virus'. These theories had no specific substantiation and led to attacks on masts. The EU needs to empower citizens, raise awareness and increase societal resilience. The EU will share best practices on resilience-building measures in the coronavirus context. The Commission will support and promote media literacy projects, critical thinking and digital skills, as well as civil society organisations. It will strengthen coordination among institutions, networks and Member States to share awareness-raising material and best practices. The Commission will pay particular attention to vulnerable groups, in particular children and young people, who face a higher risk of being misled. Read more… Source: ec.europa.eu