RFE/RL extending broadcast to Georgia

Text of press release published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on 11 August
Tbilisi, Georgia: Until further notice, [US-backed] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Georgia Service will be adding a fourth hour of live, primetime news coverage to its listeners in Georgia and surrounding areas. Since the fighting broke out, RFE/RL’s Tbilisi bureau has deployed correspondents throughout the country, reporting from the front lines of the battle zones.
“With the Russian and Georgian media providing, at times, wildly different accounts of what is actually happening on the ground, our listeners are depending on us for accurate, objective information,” says David Kakabadzian, RFE/RL Georgia Service director. “Our journalists are sorting through the ethnic and nationalist passions stirred up by this conflict in order to let people on both sides of the conflict know what is really taking place in their cities.”
(Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website, Washington, D.C., in English 11 Aug 08 via BBC Monitoring/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Turkmenistan authorities release RFE/RL reporter

Turkmenistan’s authorities have released a reporter working for US-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after two weeks of detention, RFE/RL said in a statement. RFE/RL said last month that Sazak Durdymuradov, a contributing reporter on its Turkmen service, was detained and tortured after he refused to stop working for the Prague-based broadcaster.
“The move came amid growing pressure on Turkmen authorities to release Durdymuradov from a remote psychiatric hospital known as the ‘Turkmen Gulag’,” RFE/RL said. ”According to information received by RFE/RL, Durdymuradov was severely beaten and tortured with electroshock after refusing to sign a letter pledging never again to take part in RFE/RL broadcasts.”
Turkmen officials have not been available for comment.
Ogulsapar Muradova, another reporter with RFE/RL, died in a Turkmen prison in 2006 after she was sentenced for illegal possession of weapons, according to RFE/RL.
(Source: Reuters/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)