The Media Advocacy Coalition finds alarming the call by the ruling Georgian Dream party[1] for the Communications Commission to impose sanctions on three critical channels, Formula TV, Mtavari Arkhi TV and TV Pirveli, for broadcasting the “Back Home to Europe” campaign clip.
The disputed clip [2] was broadcast by the channels as an announcement of the pro-Western, anti-Russian rally on 24 June. As per Georgian Dream’s evaluation, the material circulated between 23rd to 25th June has political pre-election content, portrays Georgian Dream and its idea in an adverse way and aims to hinder the free choice in future elections. Thus, the governing party itself acknowledges that its aim is to remove adverse messages about the party from the media and to restrict dissenting views on topics that are not in their favour.
Banning videos critical of the ruling party has no legal basis and threatens pluralism in the country. Such an attitude is incompatible with the principles of modern democratic governance.
It should be noted that this is not the first time that the issue of political advertising by critical media is being discussed in the Communications Commission. In 2020 and 2021, the Commission sanctioned the Mtavari Arkhi TV twice with the toughest measure; the decisions, which were taken in complete disregard of the clear legal basis and the principles of proportionality, were assessed by the coalition as an attempt at censorship[3].
It is important to note that in accordance with the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting, pre-election advertising is considered to be advertising aimed at facilitating the election of the President of Georgia, the Parliament of Georgia, the representative body of the municipality – the Sakrebulo, the executive /highest body of the municipality – the Mayor.
In accordance with the practice established by the Tbilisi City Court[4], in order to determine the violation, the pre-election/political characteristics of the advertisement placed on the broadcast network should be assessed first. Only then should its formal aspects be examined. In the clip distributed under the “Back Home to Europe” campaign, none of the electoral themes – none of the candidates running for public office – can be seen. Therefore, the material does not satisfy the cumulative conditions which, in combination, would be relevant to its classification as pre-election campaign material.
The Media Advocacy Coalition urges the Communications Commission not to continue the practice of restricting critical media and to consider both the importance of the issue at stake and the risks of restricting media freedom when making its decision.
[1] Georgian Dream’s statement on the imposition of administrative liability is available at: https://bit.ly/3vV1P77
[2] Back Home to Europe campaign video is available at: https://bit.ly/3BTxcmp
[3] Statement of the Media Advocacy Coalition: The trend towards sanctioning mainstream media bears the hallmarks of censorship. Available at: https://bit.ly/3i1JT3j
[4] The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association – 2021 Local Self-Government Elections Monitoring Mission Report p. 144 Available at: https://bit.ly/3vRKSL3
