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
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
17/07/2025
Early Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate voted to cut federal funding for PBS and NPR in a bill that also included cuts for foreign aid. In a 51-48 vote, the act...
17/07/2025
GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions across IBC2025 (12 15 September, RAI Amsterdam) feature a remarkable 34 companies, each providing unique, innovativ...
17/07/2025
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers today introduced its Content Provenance and Authenticity (CPA) in Media Study Group (S...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Despite widespread concerns about a soft advertising market, NBCUniversal said it closed its 2025-26 upfront negotiation cycle with a record ad sales v...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Television advertising remains an effective means to market and influence younger baby boomer and Generation X consumers approaching retirement age, ac...
17/07/2025
ALLENTOWN, Pa. & JERSEY CITY, N.J. Service Electric Cable TV and OpenVault have announced that the operator is deploying the OpenVault Proactive Network Manage...
17/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following up on his first major policy speech just two ago, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is promising to buck the usual summ...
17/07/2025
Luxembourg, 14 July 2025 - SES received the final regulatory approvals for the SES-Intelsat transaction, including the US Federal Communications Commission.
O...
17/07/2025
Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2025 Emmy Awards Twenty-three Berklee alumni received nominations across categories in sound mixing, sound editing, and compositi...
16/07/2025
It's Emmy nominations day, and Sundance Institute storytellers are basking i...
16/07/2025
Spotify's podcast editorial team is always on the hunt for shows and episodes that spark conversation, push boundaries, and keep us coming back for more. As...
16/07/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
16/07/2025
Join us at IBC this September and take control of your content. Discover how we're bringing a new level of purpose and precision to the application of AI in...
16/07/2025
Warsaw - Poland, June 24, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, has released its latest May All Screens Video Landscape...
16/07/2025
Bluey Tops Nielsen's Overall Streaming List with More Than 25 Billion Minutes Streamed from January through June 2025
Big June Vaults Squid Game into Top O...
16/07/2025
TV SIM, the SBT affiliate serving Esp rito Santo state in Brazil, has launched a transmitter upgrade initiative with the installation of a Rohde & Schwarz R&S T...
16/07/2025
Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, is turning its vision to the future of automation with its demonstrations ...
16/07/2025
Ikegami announces a new addition to its UNICAM-XE product range with the introduction of the UHK-X700RF wireless portable camera: The new version has the same f...
16/07/2025
Today, Amazon Web Services added TwelveLabs as a new model provider to Amazon Bedrock, delivering what could be the most significant breakthrough in enterprise ...
16/07/2025
NEW YORK Streaming platforms continued to dominate TV viewing patterns in June, with data from Nielsen's 50th monthly report of The Gauge showing that strea...
16/07/2025
MAHWAH, NJ Ikegami has introduced the the UHK-X700RF wireless portable camera, a new addition to its UNICAM-XE product range with the same feature set, operatio...
16/07/2025
LONDON IBC2025 organizers said global attendees will have access to a new feature that will integrate Amsterdam's GVB public transport pass into the officia...
16/07/2025
July 16th, 2025
Tribeca Films to Release the Acclaimed LARPing Doc WE CAN BE HEROES by Carina Mia Wong and Alex Simmons, Alongside a Slate of Festival-Favori...
16/07/2025
Deltatre Acquires Endeavor Streaming in Major Streaming Industry Move The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 By Brandon Costa, Direc...
16/07/2025
SVG Regional Sports Production Summit 2025: All Sessions Now Available to Watch ...
16/07/2025
Wednesday 16 July 2025
Sky and ITV today announced an extension of their long-standing partnership, which will see ITV's content and services remain seamle...
16/07/2025
Sky Sports lifts the lid on Lions life with hilarious behind-the-scenes mockumentaryWednesday 16 July 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cooki...
16/07/2025
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA Apple TV+ today earned a record-breaking 81 Emmy Award nominations across 14 hit Apple Original titles for this year's 77th Emmy Awa...
15/07/2025
Independent media outlets in Brazil and Colombia are invited to apply for a new programme aimed at strengthening the long-term resilience of journalism in the f...
15/07/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
15/07/2025
Spotify une fuerzas con DiDi, la app l der en servicios de movilidad, delivery y...
15/07/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
15/07/2025
L3Harris put its CORVUS-RAVEN counter-small UAS capability into the hands of soldiers at VANAHEIM, showcasing its ability to provide passive signal detect, enha...
15/07/2025
Netflix Viewing Up 13.5% vs. May, Represents 42% of Monthly Gain for Streaming
...
15/07/2025
SAN FRANCISCO and BENGALARU, India Sangeeta Chakraborty has been named chief revenue officer at Amagi, a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology pro...
15/07/2025
As part of its mandate, the Advanced Television Systems Committee the U.S. organization tasked with developing advanced broadcast TV standards promotes ATSC 3.0...
15/07/2025
QuickLink, the leading global provider of multi-camera video productions and remote contributions, announces the launch of two innovative control panels Studi...
15/07/2025
Chris Kontopanos has joined leading high-quality microphone solutions manufacturer, DPA Microphones, as the company's new Regional Sales Manager for the Mid...
15/07/2025
Magnifi by VideoVerse, a global leader in AI-powered video automation, has launched a major platform upgrade built to simplify live and archival video editing f...
15/07/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will preview its latest innovations at IBC2025, Stand 7.B21. This year's showcase highlights how...
15/07/2025
IBC2025 is set to transform the onsite experience for its global attendees with the launch of a pioneering new feature: full integration of Amsterdam's GVB ...
15/07/2025
Music, sport and technology collided in spectacular fashion as ASB GlassFloor powered the debut of Beats N Buckets, Germany's first Basketball meets Hip-Ho...
15/07/2025
The Collectv, the Emmy award-winning broadcast solutions and workflows consultancy - and winner of Broadcast Tech's Team of the Year is delighted to announc...
15/07/2025
SipRadius, the expert in secure, low latency media transport, will showcase how broadcasters and media companies can take control of fragmented IP workflows at ...
15/07/2025
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, today announced its strategic partnership with beIN ASIA PACIFIC, a leading multi-platform sports media...
15/07/2025
Company marks 15 years of innovation at the show
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and monetization at scale, will return to IBC (Hall 1, Stand F83. RAI, Amster...
En soutien au peuple grec au Ch telet : Jean... par Mediapart
