NGOs call on the ruling GD party not to encourage violence against journalists

The Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics and Coalition for Media Advocacy have called on the ruling Georgian Dream party not to encourage violence against journalists.

The charter believes that aggressive rhetoric by the ruling party on election day will have a negative impact on the safety of journalists”, the charter said.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili called Mtavari Arkhi journalist ‘an ordinary abuser’ and ‘provocateur’. 

Coalition for Media Advocacy says that representatives of the ruling party were calling journalists of Mtavari Arkhi, TV Pirveli, Formula TV and online media outlet on.ge ‘activists’, ‘disinformers’, and ‘representatives of the opposition’.

Coalition for Media Advocacy also reports that a journalist of TV Monitoring was physically abused by a representative of the United National Movement party at polling station No. 2 in Kareli municipality.

Coalition for Media Advocacy calls on the representatives of the ruling party to stop violence against journalists and not to encourage aggression against them.

The coalition also calls on the Interior Ministry to respond promptly to each offence committed against journalists.