Key Imedi TV Figure Quits

Giorgi Targamadze, an anchor and head of Imedi TV?s political programs, said he was quitting the television station and suggested he might make a political comeback.

Targamadze cited the failure of ?both the managing company, News Corp. and the owner [Badri Patarkatsishvili] to resolve the current impasse.? Targamadze warned recently that most of the remaining Imedi journalists would only continue working at the station if Patarkatsishvili distanced himself from Imedi and gave ?all the necessary guarantees that New Corp. would assume full responsibility? for managing the station.

?We have offered the managing company and the owner several options to help resolve the impasse,? Targamadze said at a news conference on January 12. ?Unfortunately not a single concrete step has been taken so far. It is unclear to me why the owner has failed to do that. It is unclear why News Corp. has taken such an approach.?

He said that one of the options proposed by the staff to Patarkatsishvili was to hand over 2% of the shares to them, with the remaining equally distributed between him and News Corp. ?In this scenario no one would have had a majority stake,? Targamadze said. ?Unfortunately it was rejected and yesterday we were told that Patarkatsishvili was not going to give up his majority holding.?

Imedi TV staff and management said on December 26 the television station was ?temporarily suspending? broadcasts in an attempt ?to distance ourselves from dirty political games? and in protest against both Patarkatsishvili and the authorities. Many leading Imedi journalists had earlier quit.

Three other leading journalists also quit the television with Targamadze on January 12.
Targamadze also said that at this stage there was no possibility of Imedi TV ?resuming the way it worked in previous years.?

He also confirmed that ?speculation? about his possible political career was ?close to the truth.? ?But this decision does not only depend on me; I have to consider this together with my family and [take into consideration] the opinion of the Patriarch [of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia II],? Targamadze said.

He refused to rule out joining the political party formed this week by politicians associated with Patarkatsishvili.

If Targamadze goes into politics it will amount to a complete volte-face. On December 24, he vehemently denied he had any political ambitions.

Speculation about Targamadze?s possible political comeback – Targamadze was head of ex-Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze?s party until March 2003 – was rife in December, especially after the General Prosecutor?s Office released on December 24 a covertly recorded video tape, in which a Patarkatsishvili ally, MP Valery Gelbakhiani, is heard to tell an Interior Ministry official that the decision on Targamadze going into politics ?is already decided.?

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