Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili explains why he made the decision to ban online media representatives from entering the parliament.
As Papuashvili told journalists, media representatives have the accreditation of the parliament to carry out journalistic activities, while abusing it in order to express a citizen's position is a violation of journalistic ethics.
According to Papuashvili, "Parliament is the highest legislative body of Georgia, where there should be an appropriate working environment, and it is not a space to hold rallies."
"The number of journalists from online outlets is several dozen, and all journalists came here to protest. Their protest is understandable - they can publicly express their protest outside, as for going inside and protesting here, it is a violation of journalistic ethics. You are accredited to carry out journalistic activities, while abusing it in order to express a citizen's position is a violation of journalistic ethics. There is no accreditation for this", said Shalva Papuashvili.
Papuashvili recalled the protest expressed by the journalist of Publica in the parliament during the session of the bureau last week and said that the goal of the representatives of that media outlet yesterday was again to express protest.
"First of all, we should say what the purpose of the presence of the media in the parliament is - the purpose is to cover the activities of the parliament so that the public can understand what processes are going on in the parliament, what is discussed, how, etc. That's what accreditation is for. 340 journalists are accredited in the parliament, 290 of them are representatives of telemedia, 17 are representatives of television. Accordingly, according to this regulation, which still exists today, 290 journalists from 17 television stations can freely enter the parliament. As for the online media, when there was a session of the bureau, a journalist from the online publication Publica came in to protest. He unfolded a poster. Yesterday, the goal of these media representatives was again to protest. They had prepared posters, stood in front of the parliament and expressed their protest. Therefore, their goal was not journalistic activity, but a protest, which is understandable, but this is not journalistic activity. You should not abuse the journalistic accreditation, enter the institution pretending to be a journalist and in reality, to fix your professional and civic position," said Shalva Papuashvili.
