Media Development Foundation

The Media Development Foundation, MDF, is a non-governmental organization aiming to promote:

Fundamental human rights and freedoms; Open, inclusive and pluralistic society;
Professional and institutional development of media; Establishment of media accountability and self-regulation mechanisms;
Critical thinking in a new media ecosystem and resilience building of citizens’ through conscious media consumption;

Established in April 2008 by a group of professional journalists, the Media Development Foundation, MDF, is a non-governmental, non-entrepreneurial (non commercial) organization aiming to promote:

Fundamental human rights and freedoms; Open, inclusive and pluralistic society;
Professional and institutional development of media; Establishment of media accountability and self-regulation mechanisms;
Critical thinking in a new media ecosystem and resilience building of citizens’ through conscious media consumption;

MDF launched its fact-checking and myth debunking platform - Myth Detector – in 2014, to uncover truth behind the lies, explore hidden agendas, raise the level of media literacy and inform both people and institutions of Georgia about the impacts of disinformation.

Since November 2019, Myth Detector is a verified signature of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) of the Poynter Institute, working alongside with 100 fact-checkers from more than 70 countries around the world and member of #CoronaVirusFacts Alliance and WhatsApp Coronavirus Information Hub.

In September 2020, Myth Detector partnered up with Facebook to fight against misinformation in the framework of Facebook’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program. Myth Detector reviews and rats the accuracy of content aiming to improve the quality and authenticity of stories in the News Feed. When rated false, Facebook shows the story lower in News Feed, significantly reducing its distribution and warning people who see the post or try to share the post that it has been marked as false. Facebook pays Myth Detector to perform this service for them but it has no say or influence over what Myth Detector fact-checks or what the conclusions are, nor does it want to.

Since 2016, MDF is cooperating with EUvsDisinfo - the flagship project of the European External Action Service’s East StratCom Task Force and is a member of the Open Information Partnership (OIP) bringing together think tanks, fact-checkers, independent media and grassroots organisations to support efforts to counter hostile information influence operations.

Organizational Structure

The educational, research and advocacy directions of the Media Development Foundation entail the following activities:

Education: Media literacy, professional development of journalists, cooperation with academia and teachers through trainings and training resources;
Research: Fact-checking, researching hate speech and anti-Western propaganda, identification and analysis of malign actors, researching the coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB) on social media, researching the financial transparency of media.
Advocacy: Advocating the rights of journalists and media consumers, as well as policy issues.

Tamar Kintsurashvili, Executive Director

Tamar Khorbaladze, Chair of the Board

Ketevan Mskhiladze, Board Member Director, Gender Program

Dali Tskitishvili, Board Member, Ilia State University

Beka Mindiashvili, Board Member, Tolerance Center of the Public Defender's Office

Levan Giorgadze, Board Member

Tamar Kintsurashvili, Executive Director	Tamar Khorbaladze, Chairperson of the Board

Davit Gadaladze, Financial Director	Mariam Pataridze, Lawyer
	Tamar Gagniashvili, Media Monitor
Tinatin Gogoladze, Head of Media Monitoring Department
Mariam Akhalkatsi, Communications and Social Media Manager	Zviad Mzhavanadze, Tech Administrator
Mariam Tsutskiridze, Graphical Administrator	Sopo Gogadze, Media Monitor

Maiko Ratiani, Duty Editor	Sandro Gigauri, English Content Editor
Nika Shekeladze, Researcher

Giorgi Minashvili, Researcher

Ani Kistauri, Researcher

Tinatin Tvauri, Researcher

Arabela Kordzakhia, Russian-language Editor

Code of Conduct of Media Development Foundation (MDF)

Employees of Media Development Foundation (MDF), or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries, performing work for MDF or on its behalf, are expected to act lawfully, honestly, ethically, and in the best interests of the organization while performing duties on its behalf.

Respect in the workplace

All employees of MDF should respect their colleagues. No discrimination on any ground or harassment in interpersonal relations is allowed.

Professionalism

All employees must demonstrate integrity and professionalism in the workplace. All employees should fulfill their job duties with respect toward stakeholders and the community and complete their duties with skill and in a timely manner. Management mustn’t abuse their authority.

Employees should try not to disrupt the workplace or present obstacles to their colleagues’ work.Employees should follow their schedules.

Exceptions from standard working hours are subject of negotiation between employee and administration.

Protection of Company Property

All employees should treat MDF’s property, material or intangible, with respect and care. They shouldn’t misuse organization’s equipment andrespect all kinds of incorporeal property, including trademarks, copyright and reports and any information produced by MDF. Employees should use them only to complete their job duties.

Confidential information

MDF’s business information is a valuable asset that everyone must protect. MDF’s Personnel are required to use confidential information of organization for business purposes only and must always keep such information in strict confidence. This concerns confidential information of third parties that we have received under non-disclosure agreements.

Editorial Independence and Impartiality

Media Development Foundation is not under the editorial control of the State, a political party or a politician. It should rely only on evidence and act in an independent, impartial and apolitical manner. MDF must apply identical standards and procedures in its research activities in order to avoid a selective approach.

MDF should explain to the audience the methodology used in any of its publications, and also inform them of ways of correcting errors and providing feedback.

MDF should provide the audience with detailed information about sources so as to enable others to double-check them too. Exceptions could be the cases when disclosure of a source may pose a threat to him/her or information has been provided on the condition of confidentiality.

MDF should disclose any possible conflict of interest or bias from the experts we quote or use that could potentially affect the quality of work we publish.

Conflict of Interest

Employees should avoid any personal, financial, political or other interests that might hinder MDF’s integrity and their capability or willingness to perform their job duties. Our employee shall not be a member of any party or publicly support any candidate or party for the office. MDF shall not conclude any agreement or partnership with a political party or any other public relations that could endanger the organization’s integrity, reputation, independence and impartiality.

MDF’s staff shall not make any partisan statements in the name of the operation or accept in a professional context any gifts, favours, or services with advantageous conditions that go beyond common social and courtesy items.

Open & Honest Corrections Policy

Employees should correct a mistake immediately once they learn about it. Correction is done clearly and transparently in line with the corrections policy, seeking so far as possible to ensure that readers see the corrected version.

Policies

All employees should read and follow our MDF’s policies. If they have any questions, they should ask administration.

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Disciplinary Measures for Violating the Code of Conduct

Violation of the codes of conduct of the Media Development Foundation, Myth Detector, and the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), in particular, specific forms, timeframes and implementation procedures, are regulated by the Labor Regulations Code of the Media Development Foundation (Chapter IX, Article 27). The measures are as follows:

Verbal warning - in case of accidental misconduct;
Reprimand - for negligent violation of codes of conduct and non-compliance with labour ethics requirements;
Financial sanction - in case of gross and/or repeated violations of codes of conduct;
Termination of the employment contract - in case of deliberate gross violation with prior knowledge of the internal regulations and codes of conduct of the organization and/or after implementing the measures listed above.

The obligation of adherence to the labor regulations code and the code of conduct is stipulated in the employment contacts of the Media Development Foundation.

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Financial report for the year 2021	Financial report for the year 2020
Financial report for the year 2019	Financial report for the year 2018

Self-regulation

Mission

About organization

Program Directions

Board members

Our team

Partners

Code of Conduct

financial report