The ruling Georgian Dream party is set to initiate a new media law aimed at “establishing stricter standards for media objectivity and journalistic ethics”, announced Mamuka Mdinaradze, chairman of the Georgian Dream faction.
Mdinaradze said, “We will start work tomorrow and introduce” a media law, which he claimed would be based on the British model and which would define media objectivity and journalistic ethics. “Funding” of the media from foreign sources will be limited, he said, “except for funds from commercial advertising.”
“The law will establish standards of media objectivity, as well as journalistic ethics. Institutional mechanisms for monitoring and protecting these standards will be determined,” Mdinaradze stated.
One of the key provisions of the proposed legislation will be restrictions on media financing from foreign sources.
Mdinaradze also announced the adoption of an “exact copy” of the American-style FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) in place of Georgia’s existing Foreign Agents Law. He said: “Last year, the parliament adopted a light version of FARA, which we have not yet even fully implemented” and noted that “several dozen of the richest and largest recipients of foreign funds” have not yet registered as such “pursuers of the interests of a foreign power.” He said: “Therefore, in its place, we will adopt a new, American law, the direct copy of its existing edition, and will ensure its full implementation.”
