Tbilisi. The signatory organizations welcome the decision of the President of Georgia to veto the amendments to the Law on Broadcasting, which among others foresees the possibility to conduct the public procurement in non-transparent way, increasing the time for placing the commercial advertisements or sponsorship. The presented law significantly increases the risks of non-transparency and the corruption at Georgian Public Service broadcaster. Furthermore, the law will damage the private broadcasters and the Georgian media environment in general.

Accordingly, the signatory organizations call on the Parliament not to override the presidential veto and take into account the justified arguments provided by the president, members of the parliamentary committee on Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee, the private media and civil society in order to ensure that the amendments to the law will be formulated in way that will not harm the media environment and will be in line with the role and function of the idea of the public service broadcaster.

Source: www.transparency.ge