A roundtable gathering members of the Council (representative and management body) of the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics (Charter) was organised in Tbilisi, by the Council of Europe Office in Georgia.

The roundtable was aimed at agreeing on the specific changes in the context of the Charter’s institutional reform, which should become part of the Charter’s upcoming institutional strategy (to be adopted by the end of 2023). This meeting was the follow-up of the roundtable held in May 2023, which focused on agreeing more generally about the need in reform.

The need for institutional changes of the Charter was identified earlier in 2020. The challenges such as lack of inclusivity of media organisations, lack of flexibility in decision-making process, lack of financial resources, etc. were among major concerns for the Charter. Since mid-2022, the Council of Europe, together with the Charter, works towards identification of specific areas of the reform and step-by-step guide for its implementation. The cooperation also includes proposals for specific changes, in line with the practice of European Press Councils. In this context, the Council of Europe experts have prepared:

• The study on the attitudes of media professionals and applicants of the Charter regarding ethical journalism and self-regulation mechanism, prepared in October 2022. This study was a good demonstration of the expectations towards the Charter;
• The Strategic Plan for Charter’s organisational and financial development, prepared in April 2023;
• Recommendations to the Charter of Journalistic Ethics for organisational development and structural changes, prepared in August 2023.

At the roundtable of 7 September, the Council members of the Charter, together with the Council of Europe experts, discussed the above-mentioned research papers and agreed on the new rules related to the formation of the Complaints Commission, membership to the General Assembly and the Board, membership fee, the composition of Complaints Commission in a long-run and the procedures for considering complaints.

The Q&A session allowed the attendees to share their opinions on the proposed reform models, to assess their compliance with the Charter’s current needs and potential challenges to be faced during the institutional reform. The session has also examined the readiness of the Charter to follow and implement the recommendations issued by the Council of Europe experts in this main area.

The event was held in the framework of the Project “Strengthening Media Freedom, Internet Governance and Personal Data Protection in Georgia”, which is funded by the Council of Europe 2020-2023 Action Plan for Georgia