Decision

7 June 2019

Case N275


Head of Council: Nana Biganishvili

Members of Council: Giorgi Mgeladze, Kamila Mamedova, Lika Zakashvili, Laura Gogoladze, Gela Mtivlishvili

Applicant: Lela Kurdghelashvili Respondent: Mariam Gaprindashvili

Description Part

Lela Kurdghelashvili applied to Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics. She thought that the material “Trolls for “opponents”” in “Saturday Kurieri” aired on Rustavi 2 on 16th of March, 2019 violated Charter principles 1, 3, 4, 5 and 11. Author and therefore, the respondent was identified to be Mariam Gaprindashvili.

The applicant attended the hearing. The responding journalist did not attend the hearing or provide a response.

Motivation Part

According to the first principle of the Charter: Journalist must respect truth and the society’s right to get precise information. Material in question is about “trolls”, which, according to the journalist, create fake news as ordered by the party Georgian Dream. One of the anonymous respondents in the material says that she was asked to create fake news and make fun of politicians. For this purpose he/she met with Koka Kandiashvili in Georgian Dream office before the elections of Tbilisi Mayor. After the meeting he/she continued communications with Lela Kurdghelashvili. Lela Kurdghelashvili knew the reason of meeting with Koka Kandiashvili. Audience gets the message that Lela Kurdghelashvili has a close connection to “trolls”, “factory of trolls”.

It is clear, that the journalist is basing opinions on one confidential source and states that Lela Kurdghelashvili was cooperating with people who share fake news and mocking facts about politicians, opposition members, citizens who criticized government. The applicant denies this information.

During discussion of the material, Council also viewed the material aired in “Saturday Kurieri” on Rustavi 2 on 9th of March, 2019. The author was again, Mariam Gaprindashvili. The material was also about “trolls”. Lela Kurdghelashvili was mentioned as a person who worked in “factory of fake news of trolls”. This “factory” was located on 12, Rustaveli Street. 9th March material contains a phone interview with Lela Kurdghelashvili, who denies any connections to “troll factory” and says that the address is where her project “Es Persona” office is located.

According to the information provided above, it is clear that Mariam Gaprindashvili was aware that Lela Kurdghelashvili denied connection to “trolls”, but still blamed her in material of 16th of March. The latter issue also did not include Lela’s opinion. She was not allowed to state her position about accusations voiced. Author did not include and/or mention the phone call recording of 9th of March either. Because the respondent, a confidential source, was describing specific situation about Lela Kurdghelashvili [meeting in the office of Georgian Dream in 2017], it was advisable to procure a comment/position from Lela Kurdghelashvili about this fact. Because there are no evidence connecting Lela Kurdghelashvili to “troll factory”, except this one source and Lela Kurdghelashvili did not have an option to respond to accusations, the first principle was violated. Journalist did not respect truth and provide the audience with balanced positions. According to the 3rd principle of the Charter, a journalist should only share information based on facts, the source of which is proven. Journalist should not hide important facts, falsify information and documents. Applicant thought that 3rd principle was violated because journalist hid important facts. Charter also thinks that this principle was violated in hiding part of the principle. In the discussion of the first principle, Council said that journalist knew about Lela Kurdghelashvili’s position that she denied connection to “trolls”. Nevertheless, she did not use the phone recording of 9th of March in a show of 16th of March. She hid an important fact – second party position. The journalist did not even mention in her text that Lela Kurdghelashvili denied the connection with trolls.

According to the 4th principle of Charter: when collecting information, photos or documents, the journalist should use conscientious and fair methods only. In the material, journalists ask the anonymous respondent about Lela Kurdghelashvili and at that time, Lela’s photo is shown. Lela Kurdghelashvili said that photo was taken unconscientiously. Charter council did not share this opinion, because as was proven, the photo was taken from united database of electors, which was created by Central Election Committee, and is public. The ID number can be found out from official public databases if a person owns any property or is a director/shareholder of any company.

According to the 5th principle of the Charter: media is obligated to correct incorrect information shared, which misleads the public. The applicant provided the Charter Council with evidence, that she had contacted Nodar Meladze [informational agency head] and Mariam Gaprindashvili after the material was aired and informed them about her opinion about the material of 16th of March. Nevertheless, the material was not corrected in any way, there were no additional comments delivered to the public from Lela Kurdghelashvili, which violated Charter principle 5.

According to the 11th principle of Charter: Journalist should count the following as a severe professional crime: conscious distortion of facts. In the discussion of the first principle, it was mentioned that Lela Kurdghelashvili’s position [denial of the accusation] was not shared with the public; therefore the information was not full and was distorted. Council decided that the material was not correct and journalist did not verify it. Moreover, it was necessary to provide an audience with the respondent’s views too. Journalist knew her opinion, had recorded her but did not provide it to the audience. This implies that the violation was not a mistake and a journalist and editorial staff wanted to provide information this way. Other material analysis of Rustavi 2 about this topic leaves the same impression, because they are just incorrect, unverified facts. According to everything above, the Council thinks that the journalist distorted facts on purpose.

Resolution Part:

According to the aforementioned information:

1. Mariam Gaprindashvili violated Charter principles 1, 3, 5 and 11.
2. Mariam Gaprindashvili did not violate Charter principle 4.