Maia Purtseladze and other non-identified journalists violated First and Fifth principles
14.03.2019
The media outlets published an article with the identical title and contents "Is Eka Beselia going to be arrested?" The article contained the elements of a criminal offence for which the Member of the Parliament and a Judge of the Supreme Court were accused of. None of the pieces of the information had been checked, and the credibility of the sources was dubious. The media outlets themselves referred to the source as "reliable" and "confidential". The Supreme Court requested the media outlets to correct the article in question. However, the media outlets took into consideration the statement of the Supreme Court, and they neither modified the information nor published the position of the Supreme Court. Only versia printed, but with very small shrift, which was not considered a an ethical standard of correction.

The Charter Council reviewed the case online and found the violation of the First (accuracy) and Fifth (correction) Principles. The respondent media outlets refused to cooperate with the Charter and neither provided the identity of the journalists responsible for the article nor submitted a written counterclaim.