Tbilisi, October 11, 2023
Photo: sazu.ge
The media needs to be more professional and responsible in its coverage of the Georgian Orthodox Church and major feast days.
Unfortunately, the media works hard to create artificial scandals and tension surrounding the Church, and journalists sometimes misbehave at churches during services.
The statement, published by the Public Relations Service of the Georgian Church, reads:
On the part of some media outlets, unfortunately, there has been a systematic tendency to extract the significant spiritual content from important Church celebrations. For example, a year ago, and in July of this year, TV Pirveli journalists, from the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, devoted the entire report to a fictional topic—the expected resignation of the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia and the issue of his deteriorating health. The goal was to divert the attention of the audience from the sublime content of the feast to the impending scandal. In fact, it was artificially created tension.
As these cases have shown, on the eve of the feast, any scandalous and baseless statement of similar content is specially disseminated through any media, in order to give the journalist an opportunity to ask questions about this issue on the day of the feast.
In addition, some TV stations refused to comply with regulations at the Svetitskhoveli courtyard, violated the space allocated for journalists, and thus created a disturbance on the territory of the church.
Experience shows that any comment by a clergyman on an inappropriate question means the audience will watch a fictional topic. We ask journalists who receive accreditation to cover a feast not to use the privilege as an opportunity for sensationalism on the day of a feast.
Unfortunately, the Georgian Church has had to defend itself against media attacks for many years now, including after LGBT events in Tbilisi in recent years.
In March of this year, amidst the protests after the “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” draft law passed in its first reading, the Church called on state institutions and society to work to maintain peace and unity and distanced itself from the radical political statements coming from certain individual clerics.
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