On November 3, 2025, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the Batumi City Hall with a general proposal to develop appropriate internal standards for establishing equality with respect to media outlets.

The Public Defender examined the application of a journalist who was not allowed to attend a working meeting in the Batumi City Hall on February 12, 2025.

As a result of the examination of the case, it was revealed that the municipal body does not have an internal rule that would regulate the procedure for equal access of media outlets and coverage of municipal activities (open/closed sessions, working meetings, commissions, etc.) by them, which creates significant challenges in practice.

The general proposal emphasizes the importance of the role of the media in the democratic governance of modern municipal bodies. It is noted that the promotion of diverse media in municipal governance ensures the transparency of local self-government activities, increases citizen awareness and strengthens political pluralism, which is a mechanism for the effective implementation of the principles of equality, accountability and good governance. Accordingly, in the process of covering the activities of municipal bodies, local self-government bodies should promote the equal involvement of media outlets, both through relevant internal legislative regulation and through strengthening them in practice.

In a general proposal, the Public Defender called on the Batumi City Hall to develop an internal legal act on the issues of inviting and admitting media representatives, including in relation to closed-format working meetings, based on predictable and objective criteria ensuring equality. At the same time, to introduce internal procedural regulations to regulate the standards of relations with the media, including an effective feedback and appeal mechanism.