On 22, 26, 29 June and 9-10 July 2016, the Council of Europe (CoE) in partnership with the Georgian National Communications Commission, the Georgian Public Service Broadcaster and the Georgian Association of Regional Broadcasters held a serious of trainings for the representatives of the Georgian Communications authority, Tbilisi and regional based broadcasters as well as the Public Service Broadcaster about the duties and responsibilities of the communications commission and broadcasters during the pre-election campaign.

During the trainings the CoE expert presented the Election manual prepared in line with the best international experience and the national legislation and reviewed the specific legal provisions applicable to the national, regional or public broadcasters. The provisions covered the following issues such as the norms regulating program airtime, the rules for the allocation of paid and free political advertising, the disclosure of funding’s, the legal and ethical standards of media coverage of elections as well as the rules on conduct of political debates and publishing the election polls/surveys etc.

The event is organised within the framework of the joint CoE/EU Program “EU/CoE Joint Project Promoting freedom, professionalism and pluralism of the media”. The project was launched in January 2015 and aims to improve freedom, independence, pluralism and diversity of media, to review media legislation and regulation to bring these in line with European standards, including ethical standards for media professionalism as well as to support the implementation of legal frameworks, including remedial actions and to promote the safety of journalists.