At today’s public meeting, the Communications Commission discussed the cases of violation of the Election Code by 10 broadcasters during the pre-election period. The Commission issued Mtavari Arkhi, Imedi, Formula and Palitra TV with protocols for violating Article 50 of the Election Code by publishing results of a public opinion poll within 48 hours before the vote. TV Formula failed to include mandatory information while publishing the results of its exit poll.

The Commission also reviewed the cases of TV Pirveli, Adjara TV, Mega TV, Talk TV, Palitra TV and TV Georgian Channel, who published the results of exit polls commissioned by other broadcasters. Having also heard detailed explanations from the broadcasters in question, the Commission decided that issuing them with protocols for violating the legislation was not necessary.

Although the Communications Commission did not issue the aforementioned broadcasters with protocols for violating the legislation, it was made clear to them during the meeting that broadcasters must comply with all the rules for publishing exit polls, even when such polls are commissioned and published by others, and even when the polls are only being reported on during news programmes.

Representatives of Adjara TV of the Georgian Public Broadcaster, TV Pirveli, Mega TV, Talk TV, Palitra TV and TV Georgian Channel explained during the session that they reported on the exit polls commissioned and published by other channels in order to keep the public informed. Furthermore, as the events were being broadcasted live on air, with broadcasters trying to promptly deliver the information to the public, they failed to transmit all the information required for an exit poll. The broadcasters asked the Commission to take the aforementioned circumstances into consideration during the decision-making process.

“We are the media regulator because we know how to differentiate and assess the context, we know what publication of an exit poll means, and we know what news coverage means. Covering the exit polls on news programmes does not preclude violation of the rules for publishing exit polls. In case of TV Pirveli, such breaches did occur, but having considered the full context, we took the decision not to issue the protocol. However, broadcasters must take today’s meeting and discussions into consideration during their future activities. We are asking the relevant department of the Commission to compose a document based on today’s meeting and publish it as a recommendation for all broadcasters to prevent future violations of rules and regulations,” the Chairman of ComCom stated during the meeting.

At today’s public meeting, the Communications Commission discussed the cases of violation of the Election Code by 10 broadcasters during the pre-election period. The Commission issued Mtavari Arkhi, Imedi, Formula and Palitra TV with protocols for violating Article 50 of the Election Code Code by publishing results of a public opinion poll within 48 hours before the vote.

In case of Imedi TV, the broadcaster violated both the 48-hour requirement and the legal requirements for publishing exit poll results. More specifically, the broadcaster did not include information about margins of error and polling methods. In case of TV Formula, the broadcaster failed to include mandatory information while publishing the results of its exit poll.