Representatives of Georgian media outlets and high-level election officials exchanged views on improving the media environment during elections at the conference – “Media and Electoral Processes: upcoming 2024 Parliamentary Elections”, 25-26 March 2024. The Council of Europe provides support in this area through the communication platform which brings together the representatives of media outlets and the Central Election Commission.
Giorgi Kalandarishvili, Chairperson of the Central Election Commission of Georgia, Svetislav Paunovic, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia and Franck Daeschler, Elections Programme Co-ordinator at the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly, underlined in their opening remarks the increasing importance of the role of media in electoral processes, the need to promote pluralism and diversity to enable citizens to make informed choices, during the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Representatives of major media outlets, TV channels, online and printed media - heads of editorial units, producers, and journalists from Georgian Public Broadcaster, TV Imedi, TV Palitra, TV Pirveli, Rustavi 2, Palitranews, Interpressnews, as well as Palitra and Fortuna, Tabula radio stations – actively engaged in discussions about challenges in the context of the forthcoming 26 October 2024 elections. These included media coverage of elections in the digital era, elections and media assistance, generative Artificial Intelligence and its impact on elections, election day and reporting, election blackout, exit-polls, public opinion polls, post-electoral coverage and tackling disinformation in the context of elections. Election officials also provided information about the new electronic voting machines which will be used for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia.
The conference provided an effective and beneficial platform for high-level election officials and journalists to engage in discussions facilitated by the Council of Europe experts about solutions and steps forward to improve the media environment and enhance the transparency and integrity of electoral processes. The journalists underlined the importance of the existing communication platform between representatives of media outlets and the election administration of Georgia in contributing to a fair competitive electoral environment.
The conference was organised within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Supporting Transparency, Inclusiveness and Integrity of Electoral Practice and Process in Georgia”.
