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Is changing of the national flag and emblem inevitable?

The Georgian flag and emblem may change, declared Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.“If there is an inevitability of changing the flag and emblem, there will be initiative groups and society will decide it,” he said.

About the anthem, Prime Minister said that it belongs to Georgia and Georgians. “Mikheil Saakashvili tried hard to misappropriate this hymn. You remember the 27th of May, when we held our first large demonstration? There the author of this hymn is Dato Maghradze; the music also is not Mikheil Saakashvili’s and we showed that, this hymn is Georgia’s and Georgian’s.”

Is there a necessity of changing the flag and emblem? With this question, the newspaper Mteli Kvira asked Georgians on the street.

Vakhtang Tatishvil (Singer): “If there is such an initiative I will support it.” With Bidzina Ivanishvili, whatever he says I agree with everything. I cannot say how necessary it is to change the flag and emblem or not.

Nato Gelashvili (Singer): “I do not see the inevitability. If they consider it’s necessary, let's change it. However, if I told you it is important for me, it will be lie. I do not know how they will decide, I do not see its necessity at this stage, if they create something more original, more beautiful, of course I will support it... But at this stage it is not so urgent.”

Marina Beridze (Musician):”I think that it is not necessary to change the flag and emblem. Both of them are very beautiful. We first of all want to change our life”.



Imedi prepares a film about TV Company’s raid on 7th of November

According to Prime Time, Imedi will keep the journalists who have been working there for a long time. Some of them decided to prepare a film about the raid at Imedi on the 7th of November, 2007. According to them, a 10 minute film will be ready by the 7th of November. After November 7, 2007 many journalists left the company, but some stayed and continued work. However, some of them have been dismissed recently after new management took over at the company. Reorganization was named as a reason, which affected 36 employees.

The Imedi Company was returned to the family of its founder– Badri Patarkatsishvili in October of this year. After that, the informational program was stopped and the reorganization started.

The journalists with Prime Time say that the dismissal was not unexpected. “They had the complete right to take this decision, especially at the time of reorganization. I accepted the decision very normally,” said former journalist of the information program Kronika, Tamar Gedevanishvili.

Executive Director of the NGO the Journalistic Ethics Charter, Tamar Kordzaia, said that reorganization does not mean the dismissal of the employees.

“It is necessary to see the agreements and legal documents. In the case that the dismissal was legitimate, the employer has the right to dismiss, but compensation should be offered with a month’s salary,” said Kordzaia.