The opposition TV channel was fined in Georgia for violating the principle of impartiality.
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The Communications Commission of Georgia fined the opposition TV channel Formula five thousand lari for wording that officials deemed evaluative judgments and a violation of the principle of impartiality.
According to officials from the National Communications Commission of Georgia, journalists and hosts of the Formula channel resorted to "personal assessments", using phrases such as "government of dreams", "president of the Georgian dream", "prosecutor's office of dreams", "prime minister of dreams", "ministry of foreign affairs of dreams", "repressive laws", "repressions of the dream regime", writes "News-Georgia" on July 17.
The decision to impose a fine of five thousand lari (about two thousand dollars) was made due to the violation of Article 54 of the law "On Broadcasting", which requires media to adhere to the principles of fairness and impartiality.
This fine became the second for the channel since the beginning of the year. In April, Formula received a warning, and in May it was fined 2.5 thousand lari.
Channel employees refused to attend the regulator's meeting in protest. "It doesn't matter what arguments we present - they made the decision in advance," said lawyer Etta Katamadze.
Earlier, "Caucasian Knot" reported that in June, a lawyer Shota Tutberidze was fined 4000 lari for a comment on social media, with the complaint filed by the department for combating "hate speech".
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