Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze’s statement regarding the Charter of Journalistic Ethics

The head of the Public Relations Service of the Patriarchate of Georgia, Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze, responded on social media to the statement of the Charter of Journalistic Ethics, which concerned the fact of not granting accreditation to representatives of the TV companies – "TV Pirveli" and "Formula" – on October 14, the feast day of Svetitskhovloba. Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze accused the Charter of "biased" approaches and noted that the organization has turned into a "bureau for the protection of radical media directed against the Church." He also raised the question of whether it is time to create an ethics commission for the Charter of Journalistic Ethics. 1TV+5

The Charter of Journalistic Ethics considers the mentioned decision "alarming" and relies on Nodar Meladze's argumentation, according to which the Patriarchate did not explain the legal basis of the decision to the TV companies and cited only the incident that occurred in Martvili on March 8, 2021, as the reason. According to the Charter's assessment, drawing a parallel between the mentioned incident and the coverage of the Svetitskhovloba feast day is inappropriate, and the restriction of accreditation is a discriminatory attitude and an unjustified hindrance to the professional activities of journalists. 1TV+3

For his part, Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze states that the basis for the Patriarchate's decision was the repeated violation of the internal regulations in effect during church holidays by representatives of the mentioned TV companies. According to him, the journalists arbitrarily left the space intended for the media, followed clergy members with microphones and cameras, and created a situation unsuitable for divine service. According to the Archpriest's explanation, the goal of the decision was not to restrict information, but to protect the liturgical order and the interests of the believers. 1TV+3