Communications Commission (ComCom), Georgia’s public media regulator, fined TV Formula GEL 10,000 (USD 3,854) for what it described as violations regarding impartiality and the coverage based on broadcaster’s “personal views,” marking the fourth sanction against the opposition-leaning channel under controversial 2025 amendments that expanded the regulator’s control over broadcast content.
In an October 1 statement, the ComCom said monitoring conducted from September 14 to September 16 of Formula’s 5 p.m. news programs “identified instances of violations of legally defined requirements regarding dissemination of personal views and impartiality by presenters and correspondents.”
“The violations identified by the Commission included assessments made by correspondents and presenters during news programs that constituted coverage of current political and social issues based on the broadcaster’s personal attitudes, which is restricted by law,” the regulator said.
According to MediaChecker, an independent media monitoring platform, the latest case concerned phrases used by Formula TV, including “[Georgian] Dream prime minister,” “Georgian Dream State Security Service,” “[Georgian] Dream Parliament,” “Ivanishvili’s prime minister,” “[Georgian] Dream Finance Ministry,” and “Georgian Dream president.”
ComCom noted that Formula had already received three sanctions for similar violations over the previous year — a written warning and fines of GEL 2,500 and GEL 5,000 — further adding that, in such cases, “under the Law on Broadcasting, the broadcaster is subject to a fine of no more than 3% of its annual revenue, or no less than GEL 10,000.”
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 the 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.
The latest action follows a series of sanctions against broadcasters under the amended legislation. Most recently, on September 11, ComCom issued a written warning to pro-government broadcaster Rustavi 2, saying the channel had violated “impartiality principles” under the amended Law on Broadcasting.
Opposition-leaning TV Pirveli has also been fined twice under the amended rules. Pro-government POSTV was fined GEL 2,500 in August over coverage that the regulator said contained personal opinions and failed to present facts with due accuracy.
In April, pro-government Imedi TV also received a written warning along with other broadcasters over alleged violations of impartiality requirements, after ComCom said it would take a more proactive approach to enforcement, while criticizing the United Kingdom’s decision to sanction Imedi TV and POSTV over “Russian disinformation.”
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