“What Georgian Public Broadcaster has done with its Second Channel turning into education channel, is really innovative move,” Noel Curran, the Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) stated.

Curran pointed out that “Georgian First Channel is a very important and valuable member of the European Broadcasting Union, which carries on working in a very difficult time for Europe, unprecedented since World War II.”

“During this period we have seen the huge and important role of public media throughout Europe, as well as how the audience of public media has grown. The size of the audiences of some members of the European Broadcasting Union has increased three times, four times, even by five times. Their digital traffic increased as well. This is a sign that the audience turns to the public service media at such a difficult time. The reason is that we have trusted, independent news and people know that we are not here for making money,” Noel Curran stressed.

The Director General of EBU further said: “We are not commercial entities, we have a different set of obligations to the public. I think we have seen it in a range of programming.”

“It is not just news, although the news is hugely important and we at the EBU have been distributing news stories to our member around the world, but it is also education programming. What Georgian Public Broadcaster has done with its Second Channel turning into education channel, is really innovative move, I absolutely applaud and recommend it. We will get through this. I think the relationship of public service media with the public will be even better as a result of this horrendous crises,” said Noel Curran.