HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WENY) -- Over the course of the week, WENY has been host to staff from a news station all the way from the country of Georgia. It's part of an exchange program, giving participants an idea of how news operations work across the globe.

"Before I came over, I goggled the town and the station," says Eka Eradze, Anchor/Reporter with Marneuli TV."I found out Mark Twain was from here. Even today, he is still a very popular children's author in Georgia. But the overall reality of America exceeded my expectations once I was here."

The technology is also very different compared to what they have at their studios at Marneuli TV.

"Some participants, it's their first trip oversees. It's a lot of cultural differences," says Maya Mateshvili, Manager of the Georgian Media Partnership Program. "The bottom line is the same. We all do news and we care about the viewer so i think the common ground is bigger than the difference."

Among those differences--the way news is presented. 
    
In Georgia, rarely do reporters or anchors appear on-camera. Neither does a weather forecast. 
    
But the end goal, no matter where the broadcast is, remains the same. 

"Shooting and editing video and writing scripts--that's all similar," says Eradze. "We're all covering stories that effect us locally and effect our viewers--that doesn't change. At the end of the day, both WENY and Marneuli TV want to be sure viewers are informed and satisfied."

Their news team, comprised of nine people in total, has seen how we operate day-to-day, shadowing reporters and anchors, sitting with directors and even taking a stab at it themselves. 
    
They've also immersed themselves in the American culture. For example, trying American Chinese food for the first time and planning their first ever bowling experience for later this week. 

"There's a lot to learn and everybody at the station has been amazing in teaching us, so I think we are going to bring back a lot of experience and we look forward to WENY staff visiting us," says Mateshvili.

As part of the program, staff here from WENY will head to Georgia and see how they operate in the coming months.