Kakha Bekauri, the Chairman of the Georgian National Communications Commission (ComCom), on Wednesday elaborated on the media challenges while delivering the commission’s 2021 report to the parliament.

According to him, the media monitoring of the 2021 elections of municipal bodies revealed that the media was pluralistic and diverse but also sharply polarized and politically biased. Bekauri pointed out that, like in 2020, the main challenges of the media outlets were hate speech, fake information, manipulation and political bias during the pre-election period of 2021.

Bekauri said the amendments to the Law on Broadcasting initiated in 2022 under the European Union directive would resolve some problems. The changes will come into effect on July 1.

ComCom Chair discussed the problem of obscenity in media content, which, according to him, violates human rights and contradicts ethical norms. According to Bekauri, “the task of the Commission is to introduce a high journalistic standard and eliminate obscenity from media programs.”

Kakha Bekauri also focused on the media’s financial transparency, noting that as the nine-year court dispute has ended, the broadcasters have been submitting the forms defined by the law on financial transparency since January 2022.

ComCom Chair summarized the projects and achievements in the direction of media literacy. He discussed the activities of the Media School and Media Lab.

Bekauri also elaborated on the Log in Georgia project, implemented by Open Net and Communications Commission. The project aims to increase access to high-speed broadband connectivity for populations in rural areas.