The Georgian National Communications Commission (GNCC or ComCom) released the second media monitoring report on the pre-election period of the 2021 municipal elections that covers the period from September 2 to October 2.

According to ComCom, the media monitoring showed that part of the media is polarized and part is engaged in spreading misinformation, manipulating and trying to mislead the viewer in a pluralistic and diverse pre-election media environment. The use of hate speech by some broadcasters during this period is one of the most significant challenges, per ComCom. GNCC conducted qualitative media for six general national broadcasters, including the GPB First Channel.

According to media monitoring, GPB covered the news impartially. “The Georgian Public Broadcaster covered the news impartially. There was no omission of important information, open expression of political views by journalists and use of hate speech. The broadcaster covered the pre-election activities of all qualified electoral candidates in a neutral and balanced way, covered unqualified electoral candidates and live-broadcasted presentations, briefings and other pre-election activities of various political entities. GPB created a special section to inform its audience about the local problems in the cities and municipalities and the program priorities of the various mayoral candidates. News bulletins covered: “Georgian Dream” – 22.7% (positive – 10%, negative – 12%), “United National Movement” – 18.3% (positive – 16%, negative – 5%), Georgian government – 16.7% (positive – 5%, negative – 1%), and all other entities less than 5%,” ComCom said in a statement.

In addition to GPB, ComCom monitored five other general national broadcasters – Adjara TV, Rustavi 2, Imedi TV, Pirveli TV and Mtavari Arkhi. “The monitoring covered the prime-time from 19:00 to 24:00, and the socio-political programs’ monitoring was carried out throughout the day. ComCom has also conducted quantitative media monitoring on up to 50 broadcasters.

During the qualitative monitoring of the six national broadcasters, the Commission monitored the following: balance, accuracy, relevance, omission of important information, as well as hate speech and disinformation, discrimination and visual/audio manipulation,” ComCom said in a statement.

A full pre-election media monitoring report of the 2021 municipal elections in Georgia can be found here.