Kakheti Information Center Files Complaint against “Channel First”

Kakheti Information Center files complaint against public broadcaster “Channel First” in its self-regulatory body. Kakheti Information Center accusses the journalist of news program Moambe Nino Gomarteli in violation of professional standards and principles of journalistic ethics, namely, the plagiarism.

The case concerns the reportages broadcast on Moambe on April 20th of 2011 at 16:00 and 20:00 pm concerning the door painted by Georgian painter Pirosmani. Both reportages used the exclusive photos of Kakheti Information Center without indicating the author of the material.

“On April 19th of 2011, the journalists of Kakheti Information Center Natia Danelishvili and Madona Batiashvili prepared a photo reportage from the village Bodbiskhevi of Sighnaghi region covering the fact of seizure of door by police officials from Vano Kvrivishvili’s house painted by Pirosmani. Other media sources could not take the photos as they came late. The photo reportage was broadcast on April 19th at 19:07 pm in the internet-magazine of Kakheti Information Center. The end of reportage reads: © Kakheti Information Center. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to use the material published on the web-site without the consent of the editorial staff. Nevertheless, the author of the Moambe reportage Nino Gomarteli used the photos of Kakheti Information Center (6 photos) without permission of the editor or author of photos. The reportage did not indicate that the photos belonged to Kakheti Information Center. All photos of Kakheti Information Center have a logo entitled: ick.ge. The reportage did not show the logo either as it was covered by the subtitles of the TV Company,” – states the complaint.

According to the editor of Kakheti Information Center Gela Mtivlishvili, on April 21st, he called Nino Gomarteli and asked her to explain why she used the photos of Kakheti Information Center by violating journalistic standards. Gomarteli stated that the photos were not blocked.

“We think that the the public broadcaster applied plagiarism when it used somebody else’s materials in its reportage without permission or indicating the source. According to the article I (professional standards – accuracy) of Ethics Code of Public Broadcaster plagiarism is the major violation of professional standards. The journalist was obliged to indicate the source when using somebody else’s material. Therefore, we address the self-regulatory body of the public broadcaster with a complaint and request to immediately correct the mistakes with the relevant measures,” – states the editor of Kakheti Information Center Gela Mtivlishvili.

According to him, the news, audio, video and photo materials of Kakheti Information Center are often used by national TV companies and information sources without indicating the source. Kakheti Information Center is going to react upon all cases of plagiarism and violation of rights of authorship.

Kakheti Information Center