Tbilisi: A prominent human rights organisation Social Justice Centre (SJC) criticised proposed amendment to broadcasting law of country as well as draft law proposed in this direction. The new draft has been proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party.
As per SJC this new draft would harm freedom of expression, media independence, and equality rights in country. Moreover SJC warns that the proposed changes, due to their ambiguous wording, could be exploited by the government to suppress media outlets and voice of opposition as well.
While opposing this move of ruling party organisation also shed light on controversial provisions. As per new law there will be requirement for broadcasters to ensure factual accuracy, fairness, respect for privacy, and balanced political coverage.
Although some of these rules may resemble existing provisions in the Broadcasting Code of Conduct, the draft proposed to convert enforcement authority from broadcasters’ self-regulatory bodies to the Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC), a state agency.
The GNCC on the other hand would also have power to issue warnings, impose fines, and revoke broadcasting licenses in response to complaints under new law.
The SJC also warned that these regulatory tools could be used to silence independent media and critical voices by ruling party. The SJC representative while taking further in this direction also likened the proposed changes to Hungary’s controversial media law. The Hungarian laws were criticized by the Venice Commission for its vague provisions on “balanced” media coverage
The ruling party claims the UK Broadcasting Code serves as a model for our policy formulation however SJC argues this comparison is misleading.
Foreign Funding Ban for Broadcasters is also a provision which is being criticised as well. It bans receiving funds except for commercial advertising, sponsorship, or product placement. The SJC while speaking further also condemned this as an unjustified restriction on media freedom.
The terms “gender,” “gender identity,” and “gender diversity” from broadcasting legislation will be also removed under new law. The SJC argues this change would allow all the broadcasters to air content inciting gender-based hatred and undermine gender diversity representation in public broadcasting throughout Georgia.
