On October 3, the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics found a violation of Principle 2 of the Charter by the Deputy Director General of Imedi TV, Nikoloz Laliashvili,1 in connection to an application filed by journalists of Business News program of Maestro TV Company. The principle prohibits forcing journalists to act or express opinion against their conscience, in the process of fulfillment of their duties.

The Charter found that attempts to interfere with the journalists’ editorial independence had been made. Nika Laliashvili was giving instructions to journalists about how to cover an issue in a way that would not harm the ruling party interests. The Charter underlined that some media managers wish to turn the journalists into biased henchmen in the war between political forces.

Such facts and extremely polarized media environment in the period leading up to the elections are extremely damaging to the interests of providing unbiased information to citizens and holding elections in a fair environment.