Decision
June 14, 2018 


Head of the Council: Giorgi Mgeladze

Council Members: Lika Zakashvili, Nino Jafiashvili, Gela Mtivlishvili, Maia Mamulashvili, Tea Zibzibadze

Applicant: Dimitri Kumsishvili

Respondent: Eliso Kiladze

Description Part

Dimitri Kumsishvili applied to the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics. He thought that a weekly newspaper “Qronika+” article [05-12-June issue] “Corruption vs. Justice” violated the 1st and 11th principles of the Charter. Respondent journalist is the author of the article, Eliso Kiladze.

Representative of the applicant attended the hearing. Respondent journalist answered Council’s questions via phone call. Respondent of the applicant requested to withdraw the allegation of the violation of the 11th principle during the hearing.

Motivational Part

1st principle of the Charter – A journalist must respect truth and the society’s right to get accurate information. Applicant did not agree with the information about Dimitri Kumsishvili in the article. The author blames him in corruption and together with the ex-minister of Infrastructure, Zurab Alavidze, says that he is the “two-headed monster” of contemporary Georgian corruption which undermines national budget. According to the article, Dimitri Kumsishvili’s involvement in the corruption is already investigated by the prosecutor’s office. It is said that Giorgi Tvauri, the head of Levan Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau, is Dimitri Kumsishvili’s friend and relative. It was he who Dimitri Kumsishvili “ordered” to discredit prosecutor’s office in the expert statement about the murdering of minors on Khorava Street. The article says: “suddenly, by the order of Dimitri Kumsishvili, a legal-medical expert statement, made by the institution headed by Giorgi Tvauri, who was not appointed as a head of financial police, appears in the case of two minors murdered on Khorava Street. The statement discredits prosecutor’s office so covertly, by covering this with professional, expert terminology, by describing the parameters of damage on minor Davit Saralidze’s body and the cause and effect relationship of these with his death, that along with the victims, the whole society has a feeling that the murder is not solved and besides the two people arrested, there are more, unpunished murderers.

Eliso Kiladze mentioned that she based her article on a confidential source. When Council asked if she sought the comments from Dimitri Kumsishvili and/or Giorgi Tvauri, Eliso Kiladze said that government institutions and officials refuse to give comments to “Qronika+”.

Council mentioned that one of the main principles of ethical journalism is to respect audience’s right to get correct and verified information. When journalist works on corruption case, he or she may not have official source and rely on a confidential one, but this does not give him or her the right to not check the information with open sources. If it cannot be done they should notify their audience about it. This ethical obligation is more relevant, when the journalist accuses a person in crime, specifically – corruption and falsification of expert’s conclusion.

The material in question does not show that journalist followed this obligation. When journalist says that the prosecutor’s office had already investigated Dimitri Kumsishvili, she could have requested the official statement from them, if there was a criminal investigation against him. Prosecutor’s Office would have been obligated to answer the journalist, because this is the public information. If we say that it still was not possible to get the confirmation, journalist must have stated that the information was not verified and was based on confidential source, which was not corroborated with other sources/people. If the facts [for example the friendship and relation between Dimitri Kumsishvili and Giorgi Tvauri] were not commented on by Dimitri Kumsishvili or Giorgi Tvauri, journalist must have mentioned that it was impossible to check the information.

The council thinks that the public’s right to get verified information was violated; therefore, the 1st principle of the Charter was violated.

Resolution Part:

Based on the information provided above:

1. Eliso Kiladze violated 1st principle of the Charter