The Russian-speaking TV channel PIK (Первый информационный кавказский) broadcasted from Tbilisi is interested in cooperation with TV producers, directors and journalists from Armenia. During the presentation of the channel and pik.tv web-site in Yerevan, the director of the channel Robert Parsons said that the broadcasting aims to introduce the Caucasus to the foreign audience, and to fill the information gap about neighboring countries in the region itself.
The head office of the channel is in Tbilisi, but “it is not a Georgian television, though we broadcast from Georgia. Our channel is Caucasian,” assures Parsons.
The Caucasian channel has its own correspondent in Armenia, and there are several representatives of Armenian Diaspora in Georgia working at the channel.
PIK is the successor of the “First Caucasian Channel”. PIK started broadcasting at the end of January 2011. By the decision of the Board of Trustees of the Georgian Public Broadcaster, in July 2010 the channel managemet was handed to “K-1” Ltd., founders of which are Robert Parsons (former BBC correspondent) and Yekatirina Kotrikadze.
The Russian-speaking TV channel PIK (Первый информационный кавказский) broadcasted from Tbilisi is interested in cooperation with TV producers, directors and journalists from Armenia. During the presentation of the channel and pik.tv web-site in Yerevan, the director of the channel Robert Parsons said that the broadcasting aims to introduce the Caucasus to the foreign audience, and to fill the information gap about neighboring countries in the region itself.
The head office of the channel is in Tbilisi, but “it is not a Georgian television, though we broadcast from Georgia. Our channel is Caucasian,” assures Parsons.
The Caucasian channel has its own correspondent in Armenia, and there are several representatives of Armenian Diaspora in Georgia working at the channel.
PIK is the successor of the “First Caucasian Channel”. PIK started broadcasting at the end of January 2011. By the decision of the Board of Trustees of the Georgian Public Broadcaster, in July 2010 the channel managemet was handed to “K-1” Ltd., founders of which are Robert Parsons (former BBC correspondent) and Yekatirina Kotrikadze.
As a broadcasting language was chosen Russian because it is the main language of communication in the region, according to Robert Parsons, who is English by nationality. Meanwhile, it is planned to create the English version of the site and to translate some of the programs into English.
“Many people get introduced to the channel’s products through the web-site. In 3-4 weeks, the English version of the site will be available,” says the web-site project manager Nodar Davituri. Besides, a 24-hour broadcasting is intended instead of a 6-hour one in the near time. The TV company encourages civil journalism.
According to «Кавказский узел», the Georgian Public Broadcaster has allocated 4.7 million lari for the channel maintenance. Meanwhile, according to Parsons, there is an agreement with the government of Georgia that they will not interfere with the editorial works.
During the press-conference in Yerevan, the Russian side’s anxiety regarding the anti-Russian propaganda by the channel was touched upon. Robert Parsons said, that even Russian politician Sergey Markov, who performed harsh accusations concerning PIK openning, during the TV-bridge Moscow-Tbilisi said that the then broadcasted content of the TV channel was objective.
Answering JNews.am correspondent’s question, on what the General Director of the TV channel thought of the blog posts by the leading journalist of PIK Oleg Panfilov who frequently used xenophobic remarks against Armenians and other peoples of the Caucasus, Robert Parsons said: “Oleg Panfilov often speaks in sarcastic mood. I’m acquainted to his posts, and I may not agree with many of them, but I see no xenophobia in them.”
PIK Informational TV Channel implements a 6-hour broadcasting (19:00 – 01:00 Tbilisi time) in Russian from Tbilisi and covers territories of South and North Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus, Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey and Iran. The channel is aired through the Hot Bird satellite and in on-line format on www.pik.tv web-site.
Source: JNews.am