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Media Continues Providing Balanced Coverage of Elections- Second Interim Report of Journalistic Ethics Charter

October 22, 2013
Gela Bochikashvili, www.media.ge

Today, October 21, Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics published the second interim report (September 16- October 10) of a media-monitoring of media outlets. According to the results of the monitoring, the media in general continues providing balanced coverage of the elections. The major part of the media spares relatively less time on the government, while other part of the media has increased the amount of time dedicated to the coverage of political parties and political candidates. The televisions allot the biggest part of their time to covering Georgian Dream and United National Movement(UNM).

Since September 2, the Charter, with the financial support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation, has been carrying out observation over 6 TV channels together with MEMO 98. Those channels are: the First Channel of GPB, Rustavi 2, Imedi, Maestro, Kavkasia and Adjara TV. The monitoring staff involved in the research has been observing the balance and accuracy currently pertaining to the activity of media outlets, as well as the concept of story selection, usage of the language of hatred and priority order of the stories. In addition, the analysis of the time dedicated to each of the candidates and representatives of the government has as well been included in the report.

According to the second interim report, Rustavi 2 and the First Channel of GPB dedicated more time to Davit Bakradze, whereas Giorgi Margvelashvili has turned to be the one having received the greatest portion of broadcasting time on Maestro and Adjara TV.

The opinion of the monitoring staff says that the TV companies haven’t presented in their newscasts in-depth and analytical materials, which would have helped the voters to better assess the qualities of the candidates participating in the presidential elections.

During the period of the second interim report, the newscasts of the First Channel of GPB provided balanced and impartial coverage of all important events. A new political talk-show was launched on the Channel on October 1, the final block of which was dedicated to the presidential candidates. Several violations were also identified during the same period in the news programs. In the story of Moambe dedicated to the expulsion of three families from conflict regions, the journalist hadn’t mentioned the fact that those three families had received a financial compensations and living cottages from the former government. In addition, the main Moambe issue of October 10 began with the close-up of a photo of an inmate that died in prison. Based on the content of the story, the monitoring personnel came up with the conclusion that demonstrating the close-up of that kind of photo to the viewers didn’t give them viewers any additional information.

During the monitoring period, Rustavi 2 was mostly providing balanced , impartial and objective coverage of information. Two social-political talk-shows- “the Elections” and“Position” were broadcasted by the Channel. The guests invited to those programs were selected in compliance with the balance. The monitors identified, however, several violations, when journalists providing the viewers with incomplete information had breached the balance. The story regarding arsenic contamination in several areas of the Lentekhi district, shown on October 5 by the main newscast, had been prepared on the basis of information provided by 3 local residents. The story didn’t contain any positions stated by the government representatives, and didn’t seem to have any attempt in order to obtain comments from the given officials. Moreover, after a critical statement made by Secretary General of the UNM Vano Merabishvili and Secretary of the Security Council Giga Bokeria, the second party hadn’t been given a chance to response.

No instances of breaching the balance have been identified on the part of Imedi. The Kronika newscast frequently featured materials showcasing successful accomplishments of the government and giving it a positive assessment. The channel was showing two political shows during the monitoring period- “Politico’s Time” and “Open Air”. The presenters of the programs didn’t express peculiar bias in favor of any political party.

The stories shown in the information newscasts of Maestro have as well been balanced and impartial. Several violations were still identified though, when the presidential candidate of Georgian Dream had been highlighted in more advantageous position as compared with the other candidates. The channel at the time was showing three political talk-shows- “Subjective Opinion”, “Arguments” and “Polymeter”. According to the monitors, no language of hatred has been used in the talk-shows. A story showcasing the position of only one party has been shown just once in “Arguments”.The monitors haven’t identified any violations of the journalistic standards at Adjara TV. Technical flaws are the only issues considered as violations on the Channel - respondents shown weren’t supplied with the appropriate titles. Only two presidential candidates had been invited on the Channel at the time, and without the opponent in both cases.

According to the monitoring, there have been many instances of the repetition of information shown by the newscasts, and the newscasts of Kavkasia have been scarce from the information point of view for that matter. Nonetheless, the materials have been mostly prepared in a balanced way. There have been instances when the balance was breached and the second party wasn’t give a chance to express position. 4 talk-shows were shown by the Channel during the monitoring period- “Spectrum”, “Hot Line”, “the Barrier” and “Elections 2013”. Representatives of the current government were positively presented by “Spectrum”, whereas representatives of the former one were given a negative depiction. None of the UNM representatives have been invited to this program. The Presenter of “Spectrum” frequently used phrases insulting to the viewers and concrete groups. Presenter of “Hot Line” Alexandre Elisashvili was notable for emotional evaluations. The program’s guest used the language of hatred and hadn’t been warned by the Presenter to refrain from such expressions.

Within the framework of the media-monitoring, the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics will publish 3 interim reports and 1 final conclusion, which will contain recommendations and advice for the media outlets participating in the monitoring.

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