Council of Europe in cooperation with the State Inspectorate’s Service of Georgia held a workshop on “Safeguarding Privacy in the Media”. Also, the Guidelines on Safeguarding Privacy in the Media – a publication prepared by the CoE has been presented and distributed.  Producers and journalists from of more than 15 media outlets were present at the workshop.

The workshop has been opened by State Inspector of Georgia, Londa Toloraia and the representative of the Council of Europe, Tamar Kobakhidze.

Bertil Cottier (Professor of the Faculty of Communications, University of Lugano) and Nata Dzvelishvili (Executive Director at Publishing House “Indigo” and former Director at the Charter of Journalistic Ethics of Georgia) presented presentations about legal and ethical issues while covering private life of persons by the media.

Some of the issues discussed at the workshop are:

• balance between freedom of expression and right to private life;
• coverage of public persons vs. private persons;
• crime reporting;
• use of hidden cameras, drones, disguised identity.