Activity Details (ID# 4592)

Activity Synopsis

The objectives of the seminar were to present to journalists and politicians:
- the standards of the Council of Europe regarding freedom of expression in particular during election time and to discuss the Georgian legislation in this field (some provisions of the electoral code were being discussed at the time)
- some particular and practical aspects of the coverage of election campaigns by broadcast media.
 

During the first session, Mr Gavin Millar, Barrister, gave a general presentation of Article 10 as developed by the case law of the Court, in particular concerning the right and the limits of criticism in a democratic society. Questions were raised about the compatibility of sanctions for defamation with the European Convention of Human Rights.

The second session was divided into three parts :
1. The Council of Europe standards in the field of media and elections (presentation of Recommendation No R (99) 15 on measures concerning media coverage of election campaigns- a Georgian translation of the Recommendation was distributed to participants).
2. The conformity of the Georgian Election Law with European standards - presentation by Mr KUTSNASHVILI, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Legal Affairs, Law Enforcement and Administrative Reforms of the Parliament of Georgia.
3. Media monitoring in Georgia, presentation by Mr CHIABERASHVILI, Executive Director of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy.

As regards the Georgian Election Law, it was noted that the paid political advertising on TV needed improvement. The issue of election polls and of the “day(s) of reflection” gave rise to a lively discussion and remained to be resolved. Among the subjects of concerns regarding the media monitoring was the difficulty of selecting those media to be included in the monitoring body because of the lack of transparency of the media themselves.

The last session was dedicated to the particular responsibility of the broadcast media to ensure pluralism during election time. During his presentation, Mr Kees Boonman, Deputy Editor of Netwerk TV, insisted on the respective role played by journalists and politicians in a democratic society, on the distinction between the report of a fact and the report of an opinion and spoke of the different kind of political programmes that can be of interest for the public. He showed examples on videos, which was much appreciated by the participants. In his presentation, Mr KOPLATADZE, Director of the Centre for Democratic Innovations, underlined the difficulty in finding a fair system of allocation of air time, the need for more media monitoring and the need for more professionalism from journalists.


 

The seminar was a real opportunity for politicians and journalists to discuss together the different remaining legal and practical shortcomings which make it difficult to ensure a fair and balanced coverage of election campaigns. The debates were in general very lively.

The seminar was covered by the media, newspapers as well as TV.

At the end of the seminar, the participants underlined that if there were any attempt to regulate the mass media issues, and in particular those discussed during the Seminar, the mass media should be associated in the discussions.

 

Journalists, Editors in chief, Broadcasters, members of parliament, members of the central commission of elections, representatives of NGOs 

Mr Gavin Millar, Barrister, London UK
Mr Kees Boonman, Deputy editor, Netwerk (KRO) the Netherlands
 

Ms Charlotte de Broutelles, Media Division, Directorate General of Human Rights