The Communications Commission (ComCom), Georgia’s state media regulator, has issued written warnings to four television channels, including pro-government Imedi TV and POSTV, and government-critical TV Pirveli and Formula, citing “violations of principles of impartiality” under the country’s Law on Broadcasting.
In its April 8 statement, the regulator said monitoring conducted between February and March found violations across all four broadcasters, with the highest number recorded at Formula (20) and TV Pirveli (18), followed by PosTV (7) and Imedi (4). ComCom said the violations included “spreading personal opinions,” one-sided coverage, and failures to present facts with “due accuracy.”
The warnings follow the regulator’s recent announcement that it would more proactively enforce the restrictive broadcasting law, in a statement that also slammed recent UK sanctions against Imedi TV and POSTV.
According to ComCom, the monitoring found that news broadcasts on all four channels included “instances of anchors/correspondents spreading personal opinions, and violations of the legally established requirements for impartiality and conveying facts with due accuracy.”
ComCom said four violations were identified at Imedi TV, noting that “program anchors were covering news on the basis of personal opinion and attitude.”
In the case of POSTV, the regulator identified seven violations, including breaches of “the prohibition on anchors of news broadcasts expressing personal opinions and the requirement to convey fact-based information with due accuracy.”
Regarding TV Pirveli, the regulator recorded 18 violations, stating that “instances were found of news broadcast anchors/correspondents covering news on the basis of personal opinions/attitudes, presenting only one side’s position (one-sided coverage), and violations of the due accuracy requirement.”
In the case of Formula TV, ComCom identified 20 violations, saying the breaches were “primarily related to the impartiality principle, in particular, the coverage of news based on personal opinion/attitude.” It added that “violations of the balance requirement were also observed, where only one side’s position was presented.”
While ComCom has not cited specific examples, Mediachecker, an independent media watchdog, said the use of phrases such as “Georgian Dream Prosecutor’s Office,” “Georgian Dream Parliament,” “Ivanishvili’s Prime Minister,” and “judicial clan” was flagged by the state regulator as breaches.
Citing the Law on Broadcasting, amended by Georgia’s disputed Parliament last April, ComCom noted that the legislation prohibits “reporting news and individual socio-political programs based on personal attitude or opinion” and requires that news be covered “with balance and proper factual accuracy,” so that the public receives “objective, multifaceted information.”
“Since no sanctions have been applied in the past year for similar violations by TV Imedi, PosTV, TV Pirveli, and Formula, the Communications Commission issued written warnings to the broadcasters,” the ComCom said.
Under the law, ComCom’s sanctions for content violations range from verbal warnings to the eventual revocation of a broadcasting license. The regulator has previously found violations under the rules in two opposition-leaning channels for using terminology questioning the legitimacy of the Georgian Dream government, though no fines have been imposed.
ComCom’s latest decision comes as Georgian media outlets not aligned with the ruling party, both broadcasters and online platforms, struggle for survival under a series of restrictive laws that are widely believed to be severely limiting their funding options.
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