Broadcast Law: The Regulator and the Field
Broadcasting in Georgia is regulated by the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting. Article 2 of the law assembles the basic terms of the field and defines the regulator: the Commission — the Georgian National Communications Commission — whose regulatory scope covers the fields of media services and video-sharing platform services. Regulation means the adoption of legal acts by the Commission and the carrying out of monitoring, supervision, control and coordination.
The law describes the field in two directions: one is classical broadcasting, carried out through a broadcasting schedule and chronological order, and the other is on-demand audiovisual media services and video-sharing platform services. The distinguishing criterion between them is editorial responsibility: a broadcaster and a provider of on-demand audiovisual media services exercise effective control over the selection and organization of programs, while a provider of video-sharing platform services delivers user-generated videos without editorial responsibility.
Types of Broadcasting and Their Criteria
Article 2 of the law also defines the types of broadcasting by their reach: local broadcasting is available to at least 90% of the population of the service zone determined by the license or authorization, and national broadcasting to at least 90% of the population of Georgia. General broadcasting is carried out with programs of at least 2 themes — including news and socio-political themes — while specialized broadcasting rests mainly on programs of a single theme.
Public, community, university and private broadcasting are defined separately: the public broadcaster is a public-law legal entity financed from public funds, independent from the government and accountable to society, while community and university broadcasting are forms of broadcasting not aimed at profit. This classification is practical, because the requirements imposed on a particular broadcaster vary according to its type.
Prohibited Content: Hate Speech and Incitement to Terrorism
Article 55-2 of the law regulates content prohibitions. It is prohibited to disseminate a program or advertisement that incites violence or hatred toward a person or group of persons on grounds of disability, ethnic or social origin, sex, nationality, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, skin color, genetic characteristics, language, political or other views, membership of a national minority, property, birth place or age — except where this is necessary in view of the context of the program and there is no intention to disseminate hate speech.
The same article defines the boundary of protection: a program or advertisement may not be considered to contain hate speech solely because of its offensive or critical content — criticism as such does not justify the prohibition. The second paragraph establishes separately that it is prohibited to disseminate a program or advertisement containing incitement to terrorism. For a media service provider these two prohibitions are boundaries to be taken into account directly in the preparation of content.