In Athens, RWB calls for Greek media’s transformation

On the second day of a two-day visit to Athens in the wake of the Greek government’s abrupt closure of state broadcaster ERT’s three TV stations, Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire called today for a “media spring” in Greece. In interviews for various media, including those of ERT, and in an address to thousands of demonstrators outside ERT headquarters today, Deloire stressed RWB’s solidarity with the Greek public, Greece’s journalists and ERT employees following the closure, which led RWB to ask in a release yesterday whether the government was trying to “economize on democracy.” Deloire urged the Greek Council of State to “take all necessary measures so that the reopening of the ERT group and a resumption of service by the disconnected TV stations can be carried out as soon as possible.” Recalling the democratic requirements for European Union membership and article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which says that, “The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected,” Deloire called on EU bodies to “take a position on the legality of the Greek government’s decision to close the state broadcaster.” But Deloire also referred to the many other difficulties experienced by news providers in Greece in recent years and stressed that “reopening ERT will not be enough.” “It is the entire media system that must be transformed,” he said. “It is time to end the conflicts of interest, the lack of transparency and the political affiliations. A transition from a state broadcaster to a public broadcaster that really serves the Greek people should be a government priority.” Deloire also stressed the importance for Greek democracy of “independent journalists in both state and privately-owned media, journalists who resist government pressure, personal interests and self-censorship, journalists without links to political party, journalists capable of playing the role of watchdog and reporting the truth to the Greek people.” To ensure the media’s independence, Deloire said, “a new basic law on media freedom, guaranteeing pluralism, must be adopted and implemented.” He also urged the Greek authorities to “stop intervening in the media and stop prosecuting journalists in connection with their reporting.” He finally urged the Greek authorities “to be uncompromising in dealing with violations of freedom of information” and to “end the climate of impunity surrounding the repeated acts of violence against journalists.”