International Radio and Television Organization

(organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion et Television, OIRT), a democratic organization dealing with radio broadcasting and television; established in Brussels in 1946. Until 1959 it was called the International Broadcasting Organization. In 1950 several national organizations left OIRT and became members of the European Broadcasting Union; OIRT then transferred its headquarters to Prague.

OIRT consists of the national broadcasting and television organizations of Albania, Algeria, the Byelorussian SSR, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the Estonian SSR, Finland, the German Democratic Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, the People’s Republic of Korea, the Latvian SSR, the Lithuanian SSR, Mali, the Moldavian SSR, the People’s Republic of Mongolia, Poland, Rumania, the Sudan (the television organization only), the Ukrainian SSR, the USSR, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

OIRT’S purposes are to establish and extend cooperation among the broadcasting and television services of various countries; exchange technical information; and check on the strict observance by all members of all rules contained in international conventions on broadcasting and television. The highest governing body is the general assembly, which convenes annually and which elects an administrative council for a two-year term. OIRT publishes the journal Radio and Television (six times a year, in English, French, Russian, and German) and a monthly release, OIRT Information.