“One month ahead of the October 31, 2020 parliamentary elections, Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) turned out to be in the center of political evaluations.

Amid the pre-election period, statements of some political subjects about abolishment of Public Broadcaster and against its functioning in the current form aims at discrediting, that, unfortunately, is preconditioned only with the political agenda and not with any type of argument.

We fully realize that everyone has the right to have his/her standpoint and viewpoint about Public Broadcaster, forms of its financing or conception, and this may become the issue of healthy discussions. However, ahead of the elections, especially with harsh distortion of facts, the demand to abolish Public Broadcaster is undemocratic, it is politically motivated and represents a direct attack not only on Public Broadcaster but on the idea of public broadcasting and can be evaluated as an assault on the media.

It is regrettable that existence of balanced and objective media outlet is unacceptable for some representatives of the political specter. It is important to note that independence and freedom of Public Broadcaster from state agencies and political or commercial bias is ensured by the law. All institutions and primarily, political subjects are required to protect the supremacy of law, respectively.

We, members of Board of Trustees of Public Broadcaster, believe that ungrounded statements made under political motive negatively affect the business reputation of Public Broadcaster. It may also be assessed as an attempt of pressure on journalists.

The GPB Board, as being the only managing body of the broadcaster, will maximally protect the editorial independence of the broadcaster and professional and creative freedom of every employee.

Also, Board of Trustees urges Diplomatic Corps accredited in Georgia, international organizations, Public Defender and non-governmental sector to monitor the ongoing developments around GPB and evaluate the attempt of discrediting the idea of public broadcaster in the country on part of certain political subjects.

With this statement, Board of Trustees applies to Diplomatic Corps, international organizations, Public Defender and the non-governmental sector.”