EBU President: ERT shutdown is gagging democracy

En soutien au peuple grec au Ch telet : Jean... par Mediapart

EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot told a public meeting in Paris last night, organized by Mediapart and Reporters Without Borders, how and why the EBU is taking such an active role in the international push to have Greek public broadcaster ERT returned to air. Lire lappel du Ch telet

Describing the events before and after the shock closure of ERT, on 11 June, Mr Philippot said that the Greek Government's apparent aim has so far not been to build a new media body" but, through all legal means and threats, "to muzzle journalists doing their job .

He also described the position taken publicly on the matter by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso as ambiguous .

The meeting, held at the Ch telet Theatre in the French capital, was addressed by a number of prominent figures from media, academia and art, all offering their support to the Greek people.

Full transcript in English:

Thanks for organizing an evening that is, unfortunately, indispensable. Thanks for mobilizing yourselves through your presence, underlined by an indispensable fight, because this is a fight, which is pretty paradoxical in 2013 in the Europe we're leading.

As president of the EBU I have had two very unusual weeks, two weeks I would not have expected to have to devote myself to. It started with an intense lobbying with European parliamentarians and the Commission to highlight that in the founding acts of Europe diversity figured as a keystone of an original model, founded on pluralism, respect for cultures and enrichment through diversity. I did not think that in 2013 we'd have to remind so insistently that the mandate for discussing business would have to exclude certain values, such as these values of cultural diversity.

(applause)

1'25" This week continued with a panic-stricken phone call from our colleagues at ERT on Tuesday, telling us that a decision taken by two ministers representing the government would lead to the immediate closure of their institution with a threat, at that time, to cut the transmission. On Tuesday we lived through the last hours and minutes of ERT as a public institution of television and radio in Greece. With of my colleagues on the phone at 23h15, Belgian time, crying, telling me it was over, leaving me with the unimaginable picture of TV screens shutting off.

2'18" You will do and already have put it better than I can, but to remove a journalist's microphone, to confiscate his pen, to turn off his camera is to gag democracy. There's no other way of putting it.

Today I want talk to you about what happened these past few days, the very concrete actions that we carried out, and also speak to you about values, and the paradox that I cannot get out of my head. I'll try to do both.

Firstly, in this regard, you and we cannot tolerate the stoppage of a European public TV or radio. I will not comment today on the quality of management or transparency of the accounts or the independence of ERT's operations. This is a matter for the Greek people, their representatives and professionals of its public bodies. However, the principle of having a public operator in a democratic country in Europe in 2013, this principle is inalienable. And it is in the name of this principle that we did various things.

We wrote to the President of the European Commission we await his reply. We wrote to the Greek Prime Minister we await his reply. We asked the Greek Prime Minister two things: first that he reverse his decision, and second that he re-establish the signal. We also said to him that we take no position on the reforms and reorganization of ERT, but that we as the EBU were ready to help our Greek colleagues and to share with them our professional practices. We wrote to Mr Barroso to find out the exact position of the Commission. Mr Barroso, in a communiqu on Wednesday, mentioned three things. First he expressed his wish that those who had been laid off would be treated according to the usual rules.

(crowd jeers)

4'33" Secondly he repeated the values of public service and the necessity of public service in a European democracy. Thirdly, he said he was not qualified...

(cheers from crowd) ...

...not qualified to intervene in the Greek case and lastly he looked forward to a new public service coming to light quickly. These positions are ambiguous (crowd murmurs) and today I learn from Mr Ollie Rehn's spokesman that he now admits that the troika, not that it asked for the closure of ERT but that it had recommended that slimming down measures be applied.

So we proceeded in two ways: first by supporting our Greek colleagues. Very concretely we sent satellite capacity that we set up in the forecourt of their institution (applause) to retransmit the signals that were continuing to be produced on the premises by the staff who were occupying and who keep the house running today without a contract, without even a legal basis, and to be able to help and contribute to sidestep the unbelievable measure of sending in the police to stop the transmitters.

6'17" We quickly learned as well that the website, the domain name ert.gr had been axed by the government. If you tap into Google today ert.gr it tells you the page is no longer valid. This returns to the problems we have seen in the past of cutting electronic media, it's a very modern problem. I don't think democracies do these sorts of things. What did we do? We took in ERT's satellite signals in Geneva and we are hosting on the EBU website in Geneva the content produced by ERT.

(applause)

7'05" In addition we are broadcasting ERT's signal via satellite capacity that we lease, which ERT was using previously, across Europe. On Friday we went there. On Friday we met the former managers of ERT to demonstrate ou

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