Imedi Field Trip

On October 14, the journalism squad went on a field trip to one of Georgia’s biggest TV stations.

Located in the old "Georgian Film" territory, Imedi has been a news station since 2002, and it has been privately owned up until a legal dispute in 2007. It was given back to the owners several years ago and today, they vow to remain unbiased in their reporting.

Stage for the Voice of Georgia

Given a tour by the manager, the students got to see a set of a Georgian TV Show: Ertxel Saqartveloshi (“Once in Georgia”), the stage for the Voice of Georgia, and what surprised us the most, the newsroom. The newsroom was slightly larger than our science lab, and it was used for talk shows, live interviews, weather, and of course broadcasting news: “There is a full scale of what you can do with a camera, without a set and lights, it looks like nothing... but then you do the magic” Giorgi from Imedi. It was shocking, especially with the Voice stage, how everything is so small compared to what we see on TV.

Newsroom

How do you gather information?

We have 160 people for this, not easy.

Why was the channel named Imedi?

Imedi means hope, and I believe in 2002 when the channel was launched there was a very hard political and economic situation, I guess this name was created because everyone needed “Hope” at the time.

How do you get people for your live audience?

We have people assigned for this, those who have contacts with students, people who are free, who like to be on TV, they call them and they show up.

Newsroom

How do you get your international stories?

We have some contacts outside, we don’t have any offices, they’re quite expensive. We have freelancers who work with us, we sometimes send our reporters and cameramen if it is an important event. Such as governmental visits, or the UN General Assembly, they’re covered by our people. Also international news stations contact us for information, like with the flood on June 13th.

Would you say you’re the most government friendly?

No, well, the opposition hates us, the government hates us. That means we’re doing something right. Nobody loves us, we’re trying to be absolutely unbiased when it comes to this. Our owners have no political agenda, they had it before, but not anymore. Our short history with losing the station, and getting it back with the recent political elections means that this channel is never going to have a political agenda ever again.

By: Annemarie Imnadze