RFE/RL Launches Second TV Show in Georgia

(Prague, Czech Republic–November 27, 2007) Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty today inaugurates a one-hour weekly show on Georgian Public Television (GPB) which introduces to the young generation forgotten or undiscovered cultural figures and political themes of Georgia’s Soviet communist past.

RFE/RL Georgian Service Director David Kakabadze says “it is of paramount importance for Georgians to examine and come to terms with their past and reconnect with a rich and almost lost, cultural heritage. That is what ‘The Red Zone’ series aims to achieve.” Today’s first program is about “Enemy Voices (Vracheskiye Golosa),” the Soviet era label for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other foreign broadcasters.

Inspired by an RFE/RL Georgian Service radio program, “The Red Zone” is the second such program to move to local television. It follows RFE/RL’s “Tea and Liberty,” a Sunday talk show launched in April 2006 on privately-owned Imedi Television, Georgia’s most popular television network.

RFE/RL’s Georgian Service began broadcasting to Georgia in 1953 and is currently on the air three hours daily on all major frequencies. During a 10-day news blackout in Georgia that resulted from anti-government protests earlier this month, RFE/RL went to emergency broadcasting on short wave and was the only non-government news source for Georgians. Georgian Service programming is available via the Internet at the service’s website tavisupleba.org; English-language news about events in the Republic of Georgia can be found on the RFE/RL website.