No Signal – A media diary on Greek public broadcasting in transition

“No Signal” is a true story about a night that marks the history of a nation.

[iframe src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/pHVCf0P7U0g?rel=0″ width=”320″ height=”180″ style=”margin-left:5px;  border-left: 40px solid #0d5eaf ; float: right ;”]11 June 2013, the night that public television went black, is already considered a key event in Greece’s collective memory.  The Greek government’s radical  and unexpected decision to shut down the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation ERT (Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi) triggered a series of events affecting the political status quo and the social vision for the country’s future.

This media diary is an independent observer’s look on history as it happens. In a series of posts we are going to unfold a complex course of events. Starting from today, we are going to explore the history and significance of the former Greek public broadcaster, the events that led to and followed its shutdown and the unfolding public debate raised by this symbolically loaded action.

In these years of recession and turbulent transition of the public sphere, we think this is an important story to tell.

From the cradle of democracy, this is a story about civil rights, independence and control of power, a story about freedom of the press and solidarity. A story, fundamentally, about collective memory, about social bonds, about national identity in a Europe where the so-called “Troika” of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund is pressing the Greek government to privatise public infrastructure and lay off civil servants whereas the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) condemned the unprecedented shutdown of a public service broadcaster and urged the Prime Minister to reverse this decision.

We aim at creating a valuable chronicle for a unique historic moment and a resource library for an international audience seeking information on the subject.

Your contributions and comments are warmly welcomed.

Enjoy your reading!

Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos
Athens, 25 July 2013

Table of Contents


The Author

Vasilis Chrysanthopoulos was born in Athens, Greece.

He works as a producer for plays2place productions, developing feature films, theatre, cultural and digital media projects. He is also an independent news producer working mostly with the international TV agency Associated Press.

Connect with him at LinkedIn.

Editor Berit Schuck.

 

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