Name | Rustavi 2 |
Category | General Entertainment |
Country | Georgia |
Rustavi 2 is a Georgian free-to-air television channel based in Tbilisi, it was founded in 1994 in the city of Rustavi. It is an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union. Its news programs have offices and regional journalists in the most important cities of the country (Kutaisi, Batumi, Gori, Poti, Zugdidi) with permanent correspondents in Washington D.C., Brussels and Moscow.
It was founded in 1994 and has had a position opposed to the government of Eduard Shevardnadze. A year later, the channel closed down allegedly for losing its broadcasting license. The Georgian authorities tried many times to close Rustavi 2. Giorgi Sanaia, a well-known journalist of the country who worked for the channel, was murdered in July 2001. This case was considered as a political massacre related to his program Mensajero Nocturno and investigations of allegations of government corruption.
In October of the same year, the raid by the Georgian police on the channel's offices caused public outrage and led to mass protests against the government's pressure on independent media that forced Eduard Shervardnadze to dismiss his entire cabinet. Rustavi 2 was the main mass media used as the mouthpiece of the opposition leaders during the Rose Revolution in November 2003.