A further change is planned in the Law on Broadcasting on the initiative of the Georgian Dream. According to the draft law, which was proposed by Rati Ionatamishvili, Davit Matikashvili, Irakli Shatakishvili, Davit Songhulashvili, Anton Obolashvili, and Aluda Ghudushauri, the number of members in the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s Board of Trustees will increase from 9 to 11. Additionally, the ban on re-electing a person for a second term on the Board is being abolished.
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The estimated date for the review of the draft law at the plenary session of the Parliament is May 30 - June 30. According to the proposed variant, Georgian National Communications Commission is given the right to nominate 2 candidates for membership of the Board of Trustees to the Parliament. According to the current legislation, out of candidates selected by the Competition Agency, 2 are elected by the public defender, 3 by the faction/factions within the parliamentary majority, 3 by the factions in the parliamentary opposition with the largest number of members of the parliament, and 1 by the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara.
According to the draft law, the entry that defines the length of the term for the member of the board – “no more than 6 years” will be updated by the term “6 years”. The terms of office of the chairman and deputy chairman of the council are increasing from 3 to 6 years.
The qualification requirements for a candidate for the General Directorship of the Public Broadcaster are changing. In particular, the norm establishing the said qualification requirements is defined as follows:
The candidate for the position of general director must be a citizen of Georgia who has a higher education and at least 10 years of work experience, including at least 5 years of experience in a managerial position and at least 5 years in the broadcasting and/or journalism, human rights protection and/or scientific-pedagogical field.
The employee of the Public Broadcaster retains the right to simultaneously hold a paid position at the Adjara Television and Radio of the Public Broadcaster.
The public broadcaster has the obligation to direct the allocations received from the state budget in the amount of at least 10% of the budget of the public broadcaster towards financing (including co-financing) Georgian feature TV films, Georgian documentary films, and Georgian TV series, as well as for the development of necessary equipment and material base, and for the promotion of Georgian national cinematography.
The amount of funding for Adjara Television and Radio from the Public Broadcaster is also changing. In particular, according to the current law, Adjara Television and Radio are financed by at least 15% of the Public Broadcaster's budget. For example, in 2023, 16,548,335 GEL was allocated by the Public Broadcaster to the Adjara Television and Radio. According to the draft law, it will be financed by 16% until January 2026, and by 17% from then on.
The draft law was proposed at the sitting of the Bureau of the Parliament today, May 22, and its review was entrusted to the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee (leading committee) and Sector Procedural Issues and Rules Committee.
