Goga Gulordava: “The Media Must Accept its Share of Responsibility and Follow the Law”

“Due accuracy of facts, fairness, impartiality, and respect for privacy are not only Georgian standards, but universally recognised standards that apply in Europe, including the United Kingdom. I would like to emphasise that in terms of content regulation, our legislation is based precisely on the British model,” Chairman of the Communications Commission Goga Gulordava stated on the air of Imedi TV.

According to him, sanctions and punitive mechanisms related to content regulation are much stricter in other countries than those set out in the Georgian legislation.

“Neither at the time the law was adopted nor afterwards has the Commission’s goal been, or will be, to use punitive mechanisms or sanctions against any broadcaster. The approach will be equal for everyone. However, everyone must clearly remember and act with the responsibility that any broadcaster carries today due to the scale of its influence on society. Facts must not be distorted on air, false information must not be disseminated, and hate speech must not be used on any grounds. In my view, responsible media should not even need legal requirements to maintain high standards. These standards should be upheld naturally by the media itself. The role of the Commission, first and foremost, will be to protect the interests of society and enforce the law equally with regards to all broadcasters, given the significant influence they possess. Ultimately, the media space should be cleared of negative, false and misleading information, and the environment should be improved. The media will have to assume its share of responsibility—laws exist in order to be enforced,” the ComCom Chairman stated.