The FINANCIAL — According to Civil Georgia, Giorgi Targamadze, an anchor and director of political programs at the Imedi TV, has strongly denied having plans to quit journalism and to go into politics.
Speculation about Targamadze’s possible political comeback has been circulating recently, but was further boosted after the General Prosecutor’s Office released on December 24 a covertly recorded video tape of conversation between MP Valery Gelbakhiani and the interior ministry official, wherein Gelbakhiani says that Targamadze’s going into politics “is already decided.” “He is slated to chair a new political party we are going to establish,” Gelbakhiani, head of presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili’s campaign office, said in a tape. Patarkatsishvili is a co-owner of Imedi TV.
“I am working in Imedi TV and I am going to continue working in Imedi TV,” Giorgi Targamadze told journalists on December 24. “And I want to continue my journalistic practice.”
He also said that Imedi TV’s editorial policy remained unchanged and it would continue adhering to a principle of unbiased reporting.
“We will not be engaged in any processes that may trigger tensions,” he told reporters. “We distance from any attempt to develop processes in direction of violence.”
Targamadze was in politics and chaired parliamentary faction of the ex-Adjarian leader, Aslan Abashidze’s party, but quit politics and the parliament in March, 2003.
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