---
title: "Media Regulation Compliance"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/media-entertainment-and-sports-law-en/media-regulation-compliance-en"
field: "Media, Entertainment & Sports Law"
description: "Media law: the defamation regime, absolute source protection and the good-faith defence under the Freedom of Speech Law of Georgia. Legal.ge."
reviewed: "2026-07-09"
updated: "2026-10-14"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Media Regulation Compliance

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/media-entertainment-and-sports-law-en/media-regulation-compliance-en

## About this service

The central sanctioning stamp of media law within freedom-of-expression legislation is the defamation regime — and it is precisely there that the main source of journalistic risk lies. The Law of Georgia on Freedom of Speech and Expression builds this field on several supports: the absolute protection of professional secrecy and its source, the differing standards of defamation of private and public figures, the boundaries of liability and the procedure for compensating harm. This page reads those norms from a media-compliance standpoint: what an editorial office must know so that published material does not become the subject of a claim, and what arguments remain in its hands if a claim is brought nonetheless.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/media-entertainment-and-sports-law-en/media-regulation-compliance-en

### Is a journalist's source protected?

Yes — under Article 11 of the law the source of professional secrecy is protected by an absolute privilege and no one may demand its disclosure.

### What standard applies to defamation of a public figure?

For a public figure the respondent is excused even if the statement proves false — it suffices to prove good faith: all necessary reasonable verification measures were taken before dissemination and the falsity was unknown.

### Who bears the burden of proving truth in a defamation dispute?

The respondent: liability is not imposed if it proves that the statement contains no substantially false fact about the claimant.

### What redress is possible for defamation?

Publication of an acknowledgement of the court's decision, and if that is insufficient — at the claimant's request, compensation of property and/or moral harm; an apology is excluded by law.