Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics will examine the complaint made against author and host of “Archevani”, show on media channel “Rustavi 2”, Giorgi Gabunia by “Young Barristers” on July 26, 2014, 15:00. Ethics Charter notified the organization about this fact.
„Young Barristers“ consider, that journalist Giorgi Gabunia, on April 8th, 2014, with him making a statement and spreading the information on air, violated the charter of journalistic ethics’ 1st paragraph, according to which: “Journalist should respect the truth and the will of society – accepting the right information”, 3rd paragraph of the charter: “journalist should transmit the information only if the source of the facts is validated. Journalist should not hide important fact, should not fraud any documents and information” and paragraph 5 of the charter: “media is responsible to correct the inaccurate information, which leads society into misunderstanding”.
According to organization’s evaluations, journalist Giorgi Gabunia did not respect the truth and will of society, did not try to get valid information about the topic, which would have concrete assertion from the valid source. The journalist was responsible to air information about “Young Barristers” and their actions only on the basis of facts from the valid source, and in the given circumstances, media company “Rustavi 2” was obliged to examine and correct essentially inaccurate information. Media company chose to ignore the letter from Young barristers” on April 10, 2014, and did not correct the journalists’ deliberate mistake.
For the information: journalist Giorgi Gabunia, on April 8th, 2014, during the interview with the first guest in the show, Minister of Defense of Georgia, Irakli Alania, to show that a certain group in government has deliberate antagonistic campaign and that there are certain non-governmental organizations, who amplify this position, “Young Barristers” were mentioned among such organizations. In addition to that, the journalist aired a fraud information, saying that “Young Barristers” were working under the patronage of Ministry of International Affairs, although, the journalist does not have any concrete document about the validity of this information.
„Young Barristers“ made a complaint to Georgian Charter of Jurnalistic Ethics against Girogi Gabunia on May 2nd, 2014.
