MDF and TDI vs. Rezonansi newspaper

Complaint: On 12 March, 2014 Rezonansinewspaper published an article headlined "The Hollywood stars who hate homosexuals". On 5 April Media Development Foundation, MDF, and Tolerance and Diversity Institute, TDI, lodged a complaintto the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics against the article with the request to study the case.

NGOs argued that the headline promoted hatred towards the LGBT persons and breached Article 7 of Charter of Journalistic Ethics, on unacceptability of discrimination. According to the complaint, the newspaper also violated Article 1 (Accuracy) of the Charter since the headline did not fully correspond to the content of the article which provided opinions of those who defend LGBT rights or whose attitudes towards LGBT groups could not be regarded as the expression of hate.

Decision: Charter of Journalistic Ethics upheld a complaint of Media Development Foundation (MDF) and Tolerance and Discrimination Institute (TDI) vs. Rezonansi newspaper at the meeting held on 10 May.

Motivation:The Charter shared the opinion of MDF and TDI that the article breached Articles 1 (accuracy) and 7 (discrimination).

According to Article 1 of the Charter, a journalists must respect the right of the public to receive accurate information; while Article 7 states that "the journalist shall be aware of the danger of discrimination being furthered by the media, and shall do the utmost to avoid facilitating such discrimination based on, among other things, race, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinions, and national or social origins".