Decision N179

March 15, 2018


Head of Council: Giorgi Mgeladze

Member of Council: Nino Jafiashvili, Lia Zakashvili, Maia Mamulashvili, Tamar Uchidze, Maia Merkviladze, Gela Mtivlishvili

Applicant: Broadcasting company Hereti

Respondent: Ana Marshania

Description part: 

Broadcasting Company Hereti applied to the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics. They thought that the article published on webpage interpressnews.ge violated the 1st and 3rd principles of the charter. The article was about the research study that said that most of the audience in Tbilisi listened to radio “Palitra” news broadcasting. According to the article, the IPR & Analytical Center conducted a research of radio audience in October-November of 2017 to analyze which radio news show was the most popular. The research results show that 21.2% [the most] of the participants named radio “Palitra” news show. Respondent was chosen to be Ana Marshania. Applicant doubted the reality of the research and thought that such a research was not conducted at all.

Respondent Ana Marshania provided her position and evidence electronically to the Council.

Specifications of the case:

• It was decided to gather the opinions of council members distantly. According to the Charter regulation: “Council members can share their opinion on the case by any means/can participate in Council work via electronic communication tools (Social network, e-mail, online video and audio calls)”.

Motivation Part 

According to the first principle of the Charter – “Journalist must respect truth and the society’s right to get precise information”. As is shown in the description part, applicant thought that the research was not real. Respondent showed the evidence of the research and mentioned that it was done by the center created on the balance of LTD “Kviris Palitra” which does research work and has call-center functions. Council evaluates only that the research was done, not how reliable or correct the research methods, results, etc. are. Therefore, the evidence presented to the Council proves that the research mentioned in journalist’s report was real. Therefore, the first principle of the charter was not violated.

According to the 3rd principle of the Charter “Journalist should only share information based on the facts of which the source is checked. Journalist should not hide facts, falsify documents and information”. Council thinks that in this case, 3rd principle of the Charter was violated. The journalist did not mention an important fact about research, which said that “Palitra” news show was the most popular in Tbilisi, was made by holding “Kviris Palitra” call-center itself.

Council understands that there are groups in society for which the media ratings and reliability are important. In this case it is necessary to disclose who conducted the study so that an interested party can evaluate the reliability of the results. According to the “Guidelines to report on research” of Georgian Charter of Journalistic ethics, it is important to tell the audience who conducted the research. If the information is or cannot be given than the research should not be mentioned, because we can’t check its reliability. Therefore, it should have been mentioned in the article that the research was conducted by the center on the LTD “Kviris Palitra” balance. Article mentioned IPR & Analytical Center which is the name of the research according to the respondent. By sharing the information in this way, audience had an impression, that the research was conducted not by “Kviris Palitra” itself, but another, unbiased company. By hiding this important fact, information made an incorrect impression on the audience.

Resolution part 

Based on the information above:

1. Ana Marshania violated Charter Principle 3.

2. Ana Marshania  did not violate Charter Principle 1.