The Communications Commission (ComCom), Georgia’s media regulator, fined opposition-leaning TV Pirveli channel GEL 5,000 [USD 1,915], marking the second such fine imposed on the broadcaster under controversial 2025 amendments that granted the regulator broader powers to regulate media content.
In an August 13 statement, the commission said its monitoring of TV Pirveli’s coverage on July 27 and 28 identified violations in news programs aired at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., including cases of “news coverage based on personal attitudes/opinions and violations of legal requirements on reporting the facts with due accuracy.”
According to MediaChecker, an independent media monitoring platform, the latest fine stems from phrases used in TV Pirveli’s coverage, such as “launched a major hunt,” “the scrolling and screenshotting agency” [referring to the Interior Ministry’s newly-established “hate speech” division], “Chechen-style squad,” “hunt for activists,” and “police lost their nerve,” among others. According to the platform, the regulator, “considering their context, form of dissemination, contents, and intensity,” deemed their usage expressions of the broadcaster’s own views in news coverage.
The regulator said this marks the third identified violation and second financial penalty imposed on TV Pirveli, with the first such case ending in a written warning. ComCom previously fined the broadcaster GEL 2,500 [USD 957] over its use of terms such as “prisoners of conscience,” citing violations of requirements on fairness and impartiality.
“This time, for committing an analogous violation, the law provides for a fine of up to 1% of the broadcaster’s annual revenue,” Comcom said, adding that “the Commission exercised its discretionary authority and imposed on TV Pirveli the minimum sanction prescribed by law for this violation — a fine of GEL 5,000.”
Commenting on the latest decision, Media Advocacy Coalition, a press freedom platform, said the process “once again” represents “gross interference with the editorial independence of the media” and amounts to “direct content censorship.”
“This constitutes the Communications Commission’s targeted persecution of independent media under the guise of implementing repressive legislation,” the watchdog said, adding that “this policy is aimed at restricting information that is unfavorable to Georgian Dream.”
The fine comes amid concerns from critics over the expanded powers granted to ComCom to regulate broadcasters’ content under last year’s legislative amendments to Law on Broadcasting. Critics have long accused ComCom, currently chaired by former ruling party lawmaker Goga Gulordava, of acting in line with the ruling party’s interests.
Most recently, on August 6, ComCom fined pro-government POSTV with GEL 2,500 over coverage that the regulator said included expressions of the broadcaster’s personal opinions and failed to present facts with due accuracy, marking the first known such fine against a pro-Georgian Dream channel.
Opposition-leaning Formula TV has also faced two fines. The broadcaster initially received a written warning, followed by GEL 2,500 fine. On July 17, the regulator imposed another fine, this time of GEL 5,000, with the regulator accusing the channel of expressing personal opinions and violating legal requirements on impartiality in its news coverage.
In April, Formula TV and TV Pirveli, as well as two pro-government broadcasters, Imedi TV and POSTV, received written warnings from ComCom over alleged “violations of the principles of impartiality.” The move followed the regulator’s warning that it would adopt a more proactive enforcement approach as it criticized the United Kingdom’s decision to sanction Imedi TV and POSTV over “Russian disinformation.”
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