The Georgian Public Broadcaster responds to the report published by Transparency International Georgia “Georgian Media Environment in 2016-2020”.

First of all, it should be noted that the part of the document related to the Public Broadcaster goes beyond the objective assessment and includes discussions based on the research, on which the Public Broadcaster has many questions and has already addressed the international and the non-governmental sector, as well as the Charter of Journalistic Ethics with this regard, however, no response has been received so far.

It is also noteworthy that the Public Broadcaster, through a specially created program and with the professional monitors carries out the pre-election monitoring, the results of which are published on the website of the First Channel.

As for citing the results of a study commissioned by NDI in 2019 on Broadcaster’s confidence rate, we would like to inform you that based on a survey conducted by Sonar Company in October, 36 per cent of viewers showed trust toward the First Channel. Furthermore, the research showed that Public Broadcaster has the lowest distrust rate (16 per cent) among TV Companies.

The presented assessment did not reflect and authors of the document left out of the attention the projects implemented by the Broadcaster in various directions, including the activities in 2016-2020: technical re-equipment and the start of construction of a new building; In 2020, 1/5 of the financing of the Georgian Public Broadcaster is directed to the development of the country’s domestic industry; A document regulating the standards of editorial and journalistic activities has been created; As a result of the cooperation between the Georgian Public Broadcaster and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a regional training centre has been established in Georgia.

After electing the new General Director of the Public Broadcaster in September, the focus remained on the continuation of these most important plans and projects, which will ensure the development and further strengthening of the Public Broadcaster.

Georgian Public Broadcaster calls on international organizations that cooperate and use the material prepared by local organizations as a source of information in the pre-election monitoring period to verify information concerning the Public Broadcaster before using it – as experience shows, these observations lack competent assessment and are more aimed at discrediting the Public Broadcaster.