Case – Liberali Magazine VS Shorena Gabunia

Members of the Council: Maia Metskhvarishvili, Tazo Kupreishvili, Giorgi Mgeladze, Jaba Ananidze, Nino Narimanishvili.

Applicant: Liberali Magazine

Respondent:  Shorena Gabunia

Descriptive part

The Liberali Magazine submitted a complaint to the Charter of Journalistic Ethics against journalists Tamar Skhuluadze and Mariam Kajaia. The applicant’s position suggested the journalists having violated Principle 1 and 5 of the Charter.

The statement reads that the principles were violated in a video material upload on 17maisi.org online edition. As a result of the subsequent consultation with the parties, Editor of 14maisi.org, Shorena Gabunia, was defined the defendant, as she’d presented herself as the one carrying editorial responsibility for the story in question.

On January 18, 2015 Liberali, referring to Interfax information agency, published an information on the website claiming that Armenia had appealed to UNESCO to recognize 450 churches located on the Georgian territory as Armenian. The information was also spread by other media outlets. As shown subsequently, the material turned out and was confirmed incorrect. The story in question was prepared on media outlets’ dissemination of incorrect and unverified fact, specifying that the information released didn’t correspond to the truth, and also listing the media outlets responsible for the circulation of inaccurate information. The story contained the text of the presenter which read: "In this case we’re dealing with a deliberate encouragement of hate towards certain religious or ethnic group. Especially surprising is the fact of that coming from a Georgian media outlet that has set the protection of the supreme standards of Journalistic Ethics as top priority".

The session was attended by the applicant’s representative, Zurab Vardiashvili, and the defendant journalist, Shorena Gabunia, which were further questioned by the Council members.

Operative part

As per Principle 1 of the Charter: "Journalist must respect the truth and the right of society, in order to receive accurate information". The controversial story, after naming all the media outlets that had spread incorrect information, contains (02:08) the following phrase of the journalist: "In this case we’re dealing with a deliberate encouragement of hate towards certain religious or ethnic group. Especially surprising is the fact of that coming from a Georgian media outlet that has set the protection of the supreme standards of Journalistic Ethics as top priority". The phase expressed by the journalist in the affirmative imparts the society that the incorrect information, encouraging hate towards a religious or ethnic group, had been deliberately circulated by all the listed media outlets (including the Liberali Magazine), with the purpose of causing strife. Moreover, the story contains no references to the circumstances making the journalist affirmatively stress "deliberation". During the verbal consideration of the case the Council asked the defendant journalist if she had evidence suggesting it was purposeful effort on the part of Liberali to cause strife. The defendant claimed the absence of evidence, and that also she herself believes that the magazine didn’t have any such intention. Based on the above the Council concludes that the phrase: "in this case we’re dealing with a deliberate encouragement of hate towards certain religious or ethnic group" violates Principle 1 of the Charter, as the fact of "intentionality" hasn’t been confirmed.

According to Principle 5 of the Charter: "The media is liable to correct substantially incorrect information which misleads society". The information submitted to the Council by the applicant reads that the applicant’s representative contacted the Editor of 17maisi.org, Shorena Gabunia, and asked her to correct the inaccurate information, so as to ensure against "deliberate encouragement of hatred" being associated with the Liberali Magazine. The defendant responded that they had complied with Liberali’s request, and presented the proof-material under the heading: "Liberali Corrects Its Mistake". The Council studied the journalistic material and revealed that the phrase: " in this case we’re dealing with the deliberate encouragement of hatred towards concrete religious or ethnic group", present in the material of the case in question as of today, isn’t associated with the Liberali Magazine. In this respect, the issue implied the Liberali Magazine correcting its mistake. Therefore, the Council rules that the defendant hasn’t made correction, i.e. has violated Principle 5 of the Charter.

Operative part

Based on the aforementioned the Council ruled:

1. Shorena Gabunia has violated Principle 5 of the Charter.