Tamar Kordzaia: “When the television takes money from the government, it means that they are not independent”

“the televisions teamed up with the local governments,” – this is the title under which the magazine “Liberali” publishes an article. According to the article, 16 regional televisions made an official agreement with the local municipalities, including the television company “Gurjaani.”
“The agreement made with the local municipality of Gurjaani obliges the television company Gurjaani to operatively and objectively broadcast the events occurred in the municipality territory, for that the company receives 31900 lari,” -  states the article.

According to the lawyer of Young Lawyers’ Association Tamar Kordzaia, “The television has a general obligation to broadcast current events. “I can’t imagine what else the regional television companies can broadcast but the work of local governments. The fact that television receives money for this, directly means that it’s not being independent and this agreement is a big burden for its independence,” – states Kordzaia.

Television Company “Gurjaani” executive director Levan Aleksishvili explains, that in the framework of this agreement, the television company is preparing the weekly program “Dialogi,” in which the journalist invites municipality representatives. The topics for the program are agreed beforehand with the municipality. The program has “R” sign that means that it’s for commercial use.

“This money doesn’t cover the informational programs. We drew a line between informational and commercial topics. But we could refuse to take this money if we have stable income,” – states Levan Aleksishvili.

We need to note that the program “Dialogi” has had the “R” sign for about a week. Before, by the order of municipality the “Gurjaani” broadcasted the topics without the commercial sign.

According to Tamar Kordzaia, this fact directly violates the law on public broadcasting since the sponsoring of informational programs is prohibited.