Media Coverage of Justice Issues

Media Development Foundation, MDF publishes the results of media monitoring aimed at evaluating of protection of media-ethics and professional standards. The presented monitoring has no connection to the pre-election monitoring. The subject of present monitoring is Media Coverage of Justice Issues. The research was implemented by the journalist George Mgeladze. 

The practice and cases of one month period coverage of justice sphere by 5 Georgian TV companies are given in the report. The goal of the research is to reveal and reflect mistakes made while covering the sphere of justice by TV journalists and provide with recommendations all interested sides. Within the frames of the report monitors observed the period from March 12, 2012 to April 12, 2012.

The monitoring was implemented on prime time news programs aired by five TV companies (Public Broadcasting Television, Rustavi 2, Imedi, Kavkasia and Maestro).

Among the stories prepared during one month observation by all five channels 63 TV stories dedicated to the coverage of justice had been selected and each of them was evaluated in details. The goal was identifying whether the rules stated by the law or journalistic principles had been violated by these stories.

According to the observation of the researcher journalists make 2 types of mistakes: 1. exposing the facts of violation of innocence presumption, and 2. intervention in personal life of story’s heroes.

The detailed report can be found in an attached file or on the website only in Georgian language – http://www.mdfgeorgia.ge/.
 
See article on the same topic: MDF - "The journalists violate presumption of innocence and interfere in personal lives of Story Heros”