New York, March 31, 2025 —The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Georgian authorities to discard two bills that could severely restrict the operations of broadcasters, after a parliamentary committee on March 31 paved the way for their final adoption, which is expected later this week.
“Together with a revamped ‘foreign agent’ law nearing enactment, repressive amendments to Georgia’s broadcast law look tailor-made to muzzle the country’s vibrant and defiant independent press,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Georgian authorities should withdraw these restrictive media laws and reverse their deepening press freedom crackdown.”
The first bill would allow complaints over broadcasters’ ethics and impartiality to be heard by the Communications Commission (ComCom), a nominally independent regulatory body elected by parliament with the power to fine broadcasters up to 3% of revenue or suspend and revoke their licenses for infractions. At present, disputes over ethics and impartiality are adjudicated by broadcasters’ own self-regulatory bodies.
Ruling party officials argue that the changes introduce a “British model” of broadcast regulation. But analyses by local rights groups say the bill contains vaguer clauses than the UK’s Broadcasting Code and will be used to further government authoritarianism.
CPJ has previously criticized the expansion of ComCom’s powers to regulate and sanction broadcasters over content due to fears of partisan use.
A second bill would ban broadcasters from receiving “direct or indirect” funding from a foreign source.
The government’s move shuts off a potential avenue of survival for government-critical national broadcasters, who are already facing acute financial problems.
CPJ’s email seeking comment from the ruling Georgian Dream party did not immediately receive a reply.
Separately, on March 31, Georgian authorities denied entry to French photojournalist Jérôme Chobeaux, who has been reporting on ongoing anti-government protests. Authorities have previously denied entry to several Western photojournalists covering the protests, as well as multiple journalists from Russia, Belarus, and elsewhere.
Editor’s note: Carlos Martinez de la Serna’s title has been updated in this alert.