The Georgian broadcaster at the center of the latest furor over a fake TV news report said on Monday it was sorry it might have inconvenienced some people and would honor the code of journalistic ethics.
The Imedi TV channel sparked panic in Georgia on Saturday with a broadcast that said Russian tanks had invaded the capital and the country's president was dead.
Georgia's National Media Commission ordered Imedi to apologize to the public for the report and examine complaints from all "victims" - people who had reportedly suffered heart attacks and experienced other health problems over the report.
"We respect the commission's decision and agree with its judgment," Imedi head Georgy Arveladze said.
He said earlier in the day that the special report was a warning against possible danger.
"Our objective was not to scare society but to show the dangers facing our country," he said.
He added that he assumed full responsibility for the report and apologized for its negative consequences.
The broadcast, which used the channel's normal news graphics, began with a warning that the program showed a sequence of possible events that could occur "if Georgian society is not united against Russia's plans."
Dunja Mijatovic, an OSCE representative on freedom of the media, told Civil Georgia, an online news service, the report was "irresponsible journalism."
"My mandate... does not allow me to deal with media content. However, I must underline that this particular issue is not about content; it is about irresponsible journalism and the impact it may have on media freedom and security," she said.
She added that the report had contravened Georgian broadcasters' professional code of conduct by carrying no clear warning that it was fictitious.
The Georgian government immediately moved to calm public fears caused by the report, which intended to illustrate a studio discussion on the chance of a renewed conflict.
"I can say with confidence that, on the declaration of the president, real danger, which was imagined in the transmission... does not currently exist for our country," a spokeswoman for President Mikheil Saakashvili said in the Imedi studio shortly after the broadcast.
The news item included clips of panicked residents trying to flee Tbilisi and reported that there was panic in Gori, Mtskheta and other regions.
The staged images and words rung true, however, when viewers who did not see the introduction took the report at face value. People from all over the country began to call each other and the TV studio to find out what was really happening.
Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia recognized as independent in August 2008 after its forces repelled a Georgian attack on the latter republic, dismissed the TV channel's stunt.
Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh called the fake news report "tremendous idiocy" that warranted no attention at all.
TBILISI, March 15 (RIA Novosti)
