Greek government shuts down National Broadcasting Services
A ‘no signal ‘ sign appeared on the public Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT, NET and ERT3 channels) after the government’s decision to suspend national broadcaster and radio broadcaster ERT (AFP) for an unspecified period of time, laying off over 2,600 workers. The conservative-led coalition said that the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, or ERT, will reopen with a newly hired workforce.
According to the Guardian, the government’s spokesman Simos Kedikoglou – a former journalist who worked at ERT from 1990 to 1995 – claimed that “ERT is a typical example of unique lack of transparency and incredible waste” that “costs three to seven times as much as other TV stations and four to six times the personnel – for a very small viewership, about half that of an average private station,” whilst Greece’s POESY media union accused the government of sacrificing the broadcaster to appease its creditors. It is undeniable that the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation lacks significantly the prestige and popularity of other private broadcasters. However, for a long time it was seen as a bastion of quality programming in the media landscape which has been absorbed by commercial stations.
Meanwhile, journalists and other staff at the country’s public television and radio stations continue broadcasting online, after the police forces switched off all the transmitters yesterday, while thousands of media workers remained outside ERT’s headquarters through the night expressing their disagreement with this decision. The protests were joined by supporters of opposition parties (namely of the Communist KKE and SYRIZA), trade unionists and ordinary citizens who criticized this move as being undemocratic. In addition, the Athens Journalists Union (Esiea) called a 48-hour strike on all news broadcasts on television and radio stations from 6am on Wednesday and a 24-hour strike in newspapers from 6am on Thursday.
“Congratulations to the Greek government,” newscaster Antonis Alafogiorgos said toward the end of ERT’s main TV live broadcast. “This is a blow to democracy,” he added. “I was hoping up until the last minute that the reports were not true. It’s unbelievable,” news reader Stavroula Christofilea said moments after the move was announced (The Guardian Online)
The French Le Monde condemns this unacceptable, unprecedented and unexpected decision of the Greek government by stating that it was a move that neither during the years of military dictatorship could one see. Le Monde acknowledges that ERT is funded by the public and its low ratings but acknowledges its “great respect and contribution in the field of culture” while likening the Greek government with Ceausescu’s regime Romania, with the exception that the former has been elected by the people.
Whilst opinions within the Greek society are highly divided, to estimate the stance of the majority of the public opinion is not an easy task, given the complexity of this issue, the unstoppable rise of unemployment, and the constant fear regarding the continuous flirts of New-Democracy (the current ruling party) with authoritarianism. There have been voices claiming that the newly hired workforce might be consisted by strong supporters of the pro-memorandum and Neoliberal parties, given that for many years ERT has been used by successive governments have provided safe jobs for political favourites (EnetEnglish). In addition, the neo-fascist Golden Dawn has backed the shutdown. For this reason Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the opposition left-wing party SYRIZA called this action as a coup “targeting ERT employees but also the Greek people who pay for public broadcasting and have the right to objective information [..] We warn the government not to illegally shut down the broadcast signal, and we are prepared to coordinate the struggle of employees and the Greek people for democracy” (EnetEnglish)
http://eagainst.com/articles/greek-government-shuts-down-national-broadcasting-services/