Respected Commentator Mulls Running for Public TV Head
Political commentator and journalist Ia Antadze has emerged as a possible nominee for Director-General of the public TV after a group of individuals initiated a campaign supporting her.
Ia Antadze, who provides weekly political commentary to the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Georgian service, said she would agree to take the position only if there were broad consensus on her candidacy.
“I hope my candidacy will be acceptable to both sides [the opposition and the authorities]; otherwise I would not agree to such a proposal,” Antadze told the Georgian daily Rezonansi.
She said she hadn’t been approched by either side yet. She said that either Lasha Tugushi, the editor-in-chief of Rezonansi, or journalist and commentator Zviad Koridze would also be acceptable nominees for the position.
The director-general must be elected by the nine-member board of the GPB. The board itself must, however, first be selected by Parliament on the basis of cross-party consensus, as agreed by the opposition and the government. The process is expected to be finalised by the end of February, according to Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze.
So far only one person, Lali Moroshkina, a former anchor at the State TV channel (the GPB is its successor) has publicly announced her wish to become the new GPB director-general.
