Two online meetings on the development of Institutional Strategy and Action Plan for the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics (CJE) were organised by the Council of Europe Office in Georgia on 12 September and 20 December 2022, involving the experts with international and local expertise.

The first meeting of September covered the assessment of the previous Strategy and Action Plan of the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, as well as of the current organisational needs and challenges. The Council of Europe experts reviewed the planned working process and presented the concept and questionnaire developed for the study, aimed at identifying the stakeholders’ opinions on the work of the Charter and on ethical media coverage. As a result, online focus group discussions with 6 applicants and in-depth interviews with 20 media representatives were conducted.

The results of the research were further discussed at the second online meeting of December 2022. The experts suggested few institutional changes that could have a positive effect on the CJE work. The experts will now start working on the draft Strategy and Action Plan for the CJE, taking into consideration the results of the research, the needs outlined by the Charter and expert recommendations.

The CJE has already established a strong practice in enhancing journalism ethics and standards within the country. By supporting the development of the Charter’s new Institutional Strategy and Action Plan, the Council of Europe aims to enhance the work of the CJE and its capacity to better deal with the new challenges in the field of professional media in Georgia.

The activity 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.