Solidarity with the workers of ERT, the Public Service Broadcaster in Greece, one year on

The overnight closure of ERT on June 11th 2013 sent a shockwave through the international community. A wave of protest movements and messages left no doubt as to the consternation generated by the unilateral decision, by Greek Prime Minister Samaras, to shut down a respected, long-standing public service broadcaster.

The recent EuroFIA meeting in Athens, Greece was a timely occasion to revisit the situation of the workers of ERT in their unique, ongoing struggle to keep ERT alive, through the operation of ERT Open, which, against all odds and with minimal resources, continues to fulfil a public service broadcaster mission in Greece. Meanwhile the new, so-called public broadcaster NERIT offers only minimal and regionally fragmented programming, is of highly questionable independence and operates without proper contracts or an open and transparent selection procedure for its staff.

Public service broadcasters benefit from protection by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), by virtue of the essential role and contribution of public broadcasting within a democratic society. European standards developed through the EU and Council of Europe mean that the European audiovisual model involves the establishment of sustainable, independent and pluralistic public service media.

EuroFIA stands in solidarity with the workers of ERT Open in their struggle to preserve cultural diversity, democracy, access to information, quality entertainment and content, media pluralism and the public service mission of the public broadcasting in Greece. Many of the EuroFIA members in Athens took the time to record personal testimonies of support and solidarity towards ERT. EuroFIA calls on the new European Parliament and European Commission to act in relation to the Greek government to reinstate a true, independent public service broadcaster to meaningfully fulfil its public service mission in relation to the Greek people.

During its meeting in Athens (5-7 June 2014) , the EuroFIA group of the International Federation of Actors also extended its full support to the Hellenic Actors’ Union in their fight to regain bargained minimum wages and decent working conditions. Read and download the full Resolution: