Case – Shalva Mekravishvili VS Soso Goginashvili

Council chairperson: Nino Zuriashvili

Council members: Maia Metskhvarishvili, Geronti Kalichava, Jaba Ananidze, Nino Japhiashvili, Maia Mamulashvili

Applicant: Shalva Mekravishvili

Respondent: Soso Goginashvili

 Descriptive part

The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics received application from Shalva Mekravishvili. According to the applicant, a letter called "Bells of Alarm" published in the February 2, 2016 issue the Akhali Taoba newspaper had violated Principle 1,3, and 5 of the Charter. The content of the letter constituted the viewpoint/assessment of a group of individuals with respect to school subjects, which the newspaper had published in the unaltered form. Despite that the authors of the material in question weren’t journalists, its publication in the newspaper lays responsibility upon the editor, as the opinion suggested contained specifications and provided information to the society regarding school subjects. Based on that, the Council studied the applicant’s position that the latter was supposed to be considered as a journalistic material, and that the editor of Akhali Taoba, Soso Goginashvili, had to be defined as the respondent to the case.

The session was attended by the applicant. The respondent journalist was absent and didn’t produce any response. In the course of the session the applicant revoked his claim concerning Principle 5.

Motivational 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 material in dispute reads that the school subjects ("Society and I and "My Georgia") were adopted for the purpose of "depraving children by implanting obscene and vile homosexual consciousness in their minds, and to wipe out their religious-social identity". The statement concerns a teaching methodology used in books called "Compass" and "Compasito". For instance: "Let’s talk about sex! Have you heard that Peter’s gay? Choose several persons that openly declare their sexuality, including hetero/homo/be/transsexual orientation. "Advice to teachers as to the concept of the sexual relationship of homosexuals".

The examination of the evidence produced by the applicant (teaching agenda) and its concomitants revealed that neither "Compass" nor "Compasito" provide methodological guidelines for the implementation of "Society and I" and "My Georgia" program in the general education system.

The material at issue also suggested "Society and I" being a compulsory subject, which didn’t correspond to the truth, as the given program is not a new subject, and has been touch at schools for years now.

The Council also considers it reasonable to discuss the basic motives of the material, not in terms of relation to certain Principles, but from the standpoint of their nature. The Council has been left with an impression that the essence of the material was aimed at the enhancement of anti-Western sentiments. The material carries the following phrase-"the Ministry of Education to launch concentrated attack on our children in September by order of the European Union".

Directives of the European Council are considered as a basis for creating flagitious textbooks. The material under discussion contains certain excerpts from the curriculum, which have been considered irrelevant. For instance, the textbook says: "the holy book (Bible, Torah, Koran), and following sentence is evaluated as: "according to the seductive ideology of the European Union, they (the Ministry) force your children with different religious identity to regards as holy books the ones incompatible with their faith. For instance, the Jews to recognize the Gospel, and the Christians to recognize the Koran in this connection". The Council believes the enhancement of anti-Western sentiments based on inaccurate facts is a far more problematic issues.

Principle 3 of the Charter prescribes: "Journalist must report information based solely upon facts from confirmed sources. A journalist must not conceal important facts, nor falsify documents and information". The applicant’s position suggests the violation of Principle 3, as the material carried a falsified information; namely, that the authors’ evaluation didn’t correspond to the truth. The Council clarified that inaccurate evaluation cannot be considered as a falsified document of information.

Operative part:

Based on the above, the Council ruled:

1. Soso Goginashvili has violated Principle 1 of the Charter
2. Soso Goginashvili hasn’t violated Principle 3 of the Charter