ComCom Fines Mtavari TV for Not Airing Georgian Dream’s Political Ad
On September 12, the Communications Commission (ComCom) fined the opposition-leaning Mtavari TV GEL 5,000 (about USD 1,800) for not broadcasting political ad from the ruling Georgian Dream party, a day after ComCom issued a protocol of administrative violations against the station.
Mtavari TV says it will appeal ComCom’s decision to the Court of Appeal.
The TV channel refused to broadcast the advertisement, claiming that the video contained “hate speech” and could violate the Broadcasting Law or the Advertising Law of Georgia.
The channel specifically pointed to two frames from the video: in one frame, CSO representatives are shown in black with the words “Say no to moral degradation” written over them in red; in another frame, opposition politicians are also shown in black with blood stains over them and the words “Say no to the dark past” are written over them, again in red ink [See the frames here].
Mtavari’s lawyer, Tamta Muradashvili, said that the GD’s political ad is “controversial” and “violates the law” because “it targets several people, especially representatives of civil society, who are neither political subjects nor political subjects registered with the Central Election Commission.”
She argued that according to the law, the political ad must support one political figure or party or obstructs another, while the GD’s political ad portrays non-political individuals and depicts them as “moral destroyers of society.” But, she added, “the Communications Commission considered that such an ad should be broadcast.
Mtavari says that neither other opposition media, including Formula and TV Pirveli, have aired the ad, anticipating that ComCom will fine them as well.
Update: Later in the day, ComCom issued a press release regarding the alleged violations identified in connection with several TV channels, with regard to the distribution of the air time for election ads by parties, stating that the Commission is asking the court to exempt the TV companies from responsibility due to the “precedent-setting nature” of the cases.
The press release specifically reads: “The Communications Commission satisfied the complaint of the political association of citizens “Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia” against the public television channels “Main Channel”, “TV Company First” and “Formula” and issued a protocol to the TV companies for violation of the law, but it is asking the court to exempt the TV companies from responsibility. Due to the precedent-setting nature of the case, the Communications Commission believed that the broadcasters should not be fined.”
This news was updated at 20:27 to include ComCom’s press release regarding the exemption request to the court.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
