TV & VIDEO - March 22, 1989

Glasnost Comrades: A reporter and camera operator from an Atlanta television station are involved in an unusual job-swapping deal in which they’ll spend six weeks in the Soviet Union, and then a Soviet reporter will spend six weeks at their station. WXIA-TV reporter Simeon Smith, who is fluent in Russian, and cameraman Richard Crabbe left Tuesday for Tbilisi, Atlanta’s sister city in the Soviet Republic of Georgia. There they will work for Gostelradio, the government organization that runs Soviet television. Smith said most of his work in Tbilisi will be relatively apolitical, “but if they have a hot story, like an earthquake, I’m part of the team.” When they return, they’ll be accompanied by Nugzar Ruhadze, an English-speaking Soviet newsman who will report to Atlanta viewers.