ERT (Hellenic Radio Television)

Click here for the 2013 thread relating to the closure of ERT

On 11th June 2013, the New Democracy lead coalition government in Greece led by Antonis Samaras closed with six hours notice the public radio and television company ERT leaving over 2500 people jobless.

ERT as it was certainly had it's issues. There were people there (as at all Greek public sector companies) who earned very large salaries for doing nothing or at the best very little. However these people were put there by the governments of PASOK or New Democracy (who each used to be the winners of Greek elections) so of course it was surprising that the coalition government that consisted of them both were the ones who made these claims in order to close it. It also resulted in the junior member of the coalition quitting.

However it's important to say that the majority of workers at ERT earned standard wages and worked very hard. The pressure on ERT had begun long before it's closure when the government installed management suspended the breakfast show hosts over comments made that were critical of the government. Click here for a Guardian story related to press freedom in Greece from back in 2012.

The main reason for the closure was the government needed to meet targets set by the troika relating to public sector layoffs and as ERT workers counted towards this total, dismissing over 2500 with six hours notice ensured they met this target.

There was an interesting documentary made on ERT's closure called THE LOST SIGNAL OF DEMOCRACY. If you search it on Google then you'll find the program, in its entirety and it makes for interesting watching.

So... (and this is me trying to keep this story short), after many months of a single channel called DT (Public Television) being broadcast, NERIT (New Hellenic Radio Internet and Television) was launched and has two channels (N1 and N Sport which later became N Plus). The new channel was supposed to be free of government involvement but the same allegations that were linked to ERT are also present at NERIT. Right back to day one when concern was raised at the process used to hire workers and this resulted in a director resigning saying he wasn't free to do his job

During this whole time, ERT have been broadcasting via the internet (their site is www.ertopen.com). Cut forward now to 2015, the radical left (SYRIZA) party refused to endorse any of the candidates that were put forward by the government to replace Karolos Papoulias as president. This prompted early elections that Syriza clearly won (although they fell two seats short of taking a majority meaning they too have had to enter into a coalition).

One of Syriza's pre-election promises was the restoration of ERT. It's taken some time (as it went quiet post election) however movement seems to be being made. One of Syriza's MP's is Aglaia Kyritsi who has been part of the ERT struggle and even broadcast the nightly news broadcast from Mesogeion Avenue in Athens the evening after the riot police evacuated the workers from the ERT building to allow NERIT to move in.

The latest update is that the government are going to table a bill next week to reinstate ERT, it was supposed to happen this week but has been delayed. The government plan to finance this by increasing the charge Greeks see on their electricity bill for public radio and television.

The Greek press are speculating that the change from NERIT to ERT will take place in April but remember this is Greece. Everything will happen in it's own time.

Click here for a story in English from Capital.gr relating to the re-opening of ERT

The Greek parliament has passed a bill today to re-open the former state broadcaster whose abrupt closure by the previous government caused a wave of controversy.

Surely all this nonsense caused more money than it saved, even if the workforce is smaller.

Absolutely. It was undoubtedly a political move by New Democracy to 'punish' what it perceived as a broadcaster that was no longer towing the government line. ERT had been accused in the past of being very pro-government but it was starting to become a lot more critical, in line with the growing public disquiet with the state. Some people will argue that - from a financial perspective - it's better to just leave NERIT to get on with the job and reform the new broadcaster. However, it's more of a principled argument of righting a wrong rather than a financial one. ERT was actually running a budget surplus before closure and had a rule of reimbursing the government if it had spare funds. NERIT no longer does. The result? The New Democracy Government lost a lot of revenue for the sake of a political swipe!

A word for the oft-maligned EBU whose reaction to the ERT closure certainly grabbed global attention, and dare I say enabled this conclusion to be arrived at. If it wasn't for them acting sometimes with a stretched mandate a couple of years ago this story would almost certainly have been a single issue within the complex Greek tragedy that continues to unfold and been lost in the 'noise'.

ND's decision in this respect was a major catalyst in the Tsipras Syriza movement gaining traction leading to their Government today.

We have further developments...

After the government signed into law the bill to re-open ERT, the Greek press are now reporting that ERT will be back on air as of Monday 11th May.

The reports suggest the TV channels will be named ERT1, ERT2 and ERT3 (as opposed to ET1, NET and ET3 previously) and that the radio stations will go back on air across the country.

The re-launch would be a soft re-launch and just be a change of the logos and perhaps some people in front of the cameras (again from the report) and that the full launch would happen in September.

The problem is going to come from bringing the people together who applied for roles at NERIT when ERT was closed along with the people who successfully have continued to broadcast TV and radio via ERTopen. The employees at ERTopen believe they should play a dominant role in the structure of the new ERT (and to be fair... they could be right).

I'm flying to Greece tonight but leave Monday afternoon, I can imagine this re-brand happening at 18:00 the same way the DT -> NERIT change happened so I'll miss it.

One thing from me though, I really hope they bring back the ERT theme tune for the news programming.

And it seems that ERT will be back on air on Monday, the 25th of May

It's still a little bit 'up in the air' as to whether ERT will go live tomorrow. On the 11th (the date above), the ERT workers went back into the HQ in Agia Paraskevi but that seemed to be it.

It seems that there's been conflict between many of the ERT staff and some SYRIZA MP's against the new management team that has been proposed.

Tspiras made a speech to the SYRIZA committee yesterday which was broadcast live on all the Greek channels. The speech was overall about the situation with Europe however he did mention ERT and said they should already have been operating. He also referred to foot dragging and added “ERT is not re-opening so certain people can get their jobs back but so that people can have a pluralist source of information".

BUT... he didn't confirm or deny if tomorrow would be date ERT would go live. So I guess it's a case of watch this space.

By the way, what happened to the Israeli government's plan similar to NERIT?

The date for closure has been pushed back a few times. It's now looking like September this year, although lots of journalists and staff members who would be due to go on that day are saying they reckon they'll be kept on for 'at least' a few more months. The similarities to Greece are quite striking. It's been quite a messy affair. However, the public are a little more on-side with the Government as the closure will see their TV licenses scrapped.

ERT is set to return on June 11! The sign on top of the Athens broadcasting house has already been altered to remove the N and the I.
http://www.nerit.gr/eidiseis/ellada/to-logotipo-tis-ert-xana-sto-radiomegaro/

The schedules for opening day on ERT1 and ERT2 are available on NERIT's website:
http://www.nerit.gr/featured/i-ert-anigi-gia-tous-polites/

There will apparently also be an ERT3. It appears they are going to replicate the old structure of ERT1 and 2 being based in Athens with ERT3 as a continuation of the protest broadcast from Thessaloniki.

Thinker is right - we finally have a date. I was watching the 21:00 news from NERIT tonight and it was followed with commercials featuring the logos for ERT1, ERT2 and ERT mixed with some footage from two years ago when ERT was closed. The message was ERT is back, 11th June.

ERT3 isn't launching on Thursday but the new head of ERT went up to Thessaloniki to meet with the workers there. It'll basically be the same as the old ET3 which was the ERT channel from northern Greece.

So I've had a look at the schedules and I'm looking forward to two things. One, the news at 15:00 with Antonis Alafogiorgos (he's a great presenter and was passionate about the ERT closure) and the fact they're showing 'The Lost Signal of Democracy' (the documentary about the ERT closure at 22:00). Also they're having a concert at the ERT building in Agia Paraskevi which will be carried live on ERT1 and the ERT radio.

One thing I am curious of though, the new schedule kicks in on Thursday and I can see the information programs and the associated presenters (some of the names very recognisable - such as the presenter who was suspended from NET for questioning the government policy of New Democracy). However the presenters who worked for ERT and moved to NERIT (e.g. Stavroula Christofilea who presented the news on NET, in fact she was the one who broke the story of the closure and who now presents the 'Six-Ten' morning information show on NERIT) don't seem to be mentioned on the line up.

Have they been sidelined do you think?