Kakha Bekauri: “Media Must Distinguish Between Facts and Opinions, and Provide Objective News Coverage”

Chairman of the Communications Commission, Kakha Bekauri, spoke on Teleimedi about the amendments to the Law on Broadcasting and noted that one of the main problems in the media is disinformation, fake news, and the conflation of facts with opinions, which prevents audiences from making informed choices. According to him, the amendments to the law impose on broadcasters fundamental principles that were already required under journalistic standards; however, since this proved insufficient, it became necessary to regulate these matters by law. 

Specifically, under the amendments to the law, broadcasters are obliged to provide viewers with news and fact-based information with due accuracy, ensure adherence to the principles of fairness and impartiality, and clearly distinguish between facts and opinions. According to Mr. Bekauri, the changes also require broadcasters to provide the person against whom allegations are made in a programme with the opportunity to give a timely and proper response. “Any journalist, based on the code of ethics, knows that facts must not be distorted, that events must be covered impartially and fairly, and that if an issue concerns a person, that person must have the right of reply. These issues, which moved into the regulatory framework nine months ago, had long been part of the broadcasters’ Code of Conduct and had been mandatory for media outlets and journalists to observe since 2009. However, compliance and reviews of violations were handled by self-regulatory bodies, which was not effective. Therefore, we used the UK legislation and the established European practices as our guide,” Kakha Bekauri stated.