Georgia’s media ethics body halts election monitoring for first time since 2012

Georgia’s Charter of Journalistic Ethics has announced it will not conduct media monitoring during the upcoming municipal election period – the first time it has suspended the practice since 2012.

The body on Tuesday said the decision had been driven by “repressive laws” adopted by the ruling Georgian Dream party and what it described as damaging policies towards independent media.

The Charter said it had lost access to funding from Western donors whose support had enabled comprehensive monitoring projects in the past. “Georgian Dream’s efforts have made it impossible to carry out such work this year,” the statement read.

The monitoring, developed with international experts, has been considered an important tool for assessing political bias in media coverage of elections and measuring compliance with professional standards. The findings have also been used by media outlets themselves to identify and correct mistakes, the body noted. 

The Charter first launched monitoring ahead of the 2012 parliamentary elections and most recently carried it out before the 2024 parliamentary vote. In the 2021 municipal elections, it assessed news coverage and political talk shows across six national TV channels and nine online outlets.

For now, the organisation said it would continue its core functions on a voluntary basis, such as reviewing citizens’ complaints about breaches of journalistic ethics. However, it noted it was no longer able to deliver broader projects or provide services that had long supported Georgia’s media community.