#rbnews weekly bulletin 06-12 July 2013

The text companion to this week's #rbnews international show is now online. You can read it after the jump.

#rbnews weekly bulletin 15-21 June 2013

The text companion to this week's #rbnews international show is now online. You can read it after the jump.

Bulletin d'informations du 22 Juin 2013 en Grèce #37

                            Rbnews bulletin en francais 20130622 by Irategreek on Mixcloud

A la une de #rbnews international cette semaine:

• Les réactions à la décision du gouvernement grec de fermer ERT mène l'un des trois partis au pouvoir à quitter la coalition gouvernementale. 
• Les réactions à un appel d'offre truqué pour la sélection d'un fournisseur de réseau de télévision numérique se multiplient. 
• Le gouvernement grec ferme des hôpitaux, des écoles primaires et des maternelles.
• Les violences policières se poursuivent en Chalcidique, alors que le Syndicat régional des policiers demande des renforts permanents de police anti-émeutes.
• L'ancien recteur de l'Ecole polytechnique d'Athènes et le président du Parti ouvrier révolutionnaire sont menés en procès pour diffamation par l'Aube dorée.

More truths and lies about ERT: was government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou an ERT employee?

In the statement he delivered in the evening of Tuesday 11 June on behalf of the government, when the shutdown of Greece's public broadcaster ERT was officially announced, spokesman Simos Kedikoglou justified the government's decision by saying, among other things: "The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, ERT, is a typical case of unique opacity and incredible waste of public money (...) It is governed by opacity in the sector of contract management."

The irony of this statement was not lost on ERT staff, who were prompt to note that Simos Kedikoglou was himself recruited as an ERT journalist in 1995, at a time when his father, Vasilis Kedikoglou, was a member of parliament with then-governing party PASOK. This was also denounced by SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, in response to whom Kedikoglou's office published a statement, that was reported by To Ethnos newspaper on 14 June:

As noted by his collaborators, Mr. Kedikoglou was never appointed at ERT. Quite the opposite, he worked at ERT on a fixed-term contract, "and his first job was a night shift from midnight to 6 am during the first Gulf War."
"ERT was then looking for journalists who speak foreign languages, who were uncommon at the time, for the needs of its round-the-clock coverage, and Mr. Kedikoglou speaks fluent English, French and Russian." (...) [1]

In an article published today on tvxs.gr, former ERT news director Giorgos Kogiannis chose to expose Mr. Kedikoglou by releasing the document that ratified Mr. Kedikoglou's recruitment by ERT on an open-ended contract - meaning that Mr. Kedikoglou was recruited by ERT as, essentially, a civil servant with tenure.

Kogiannis further notes that Kedikoglou's recruitment came at a time when hundreds of ERT employees were on two-month contracts and were being paid with delays of several months. By the time a decree by then-Minister of Interior Prokopis Pavlopoulos gave permanent positions to temporary workers in the civil service in 2006, some journalists had been on short-term contracts for 25 years (implying, also, that these journalists constantly risked being fired if they didn't toe the government line). In 1995, no open-ended positions were available in the Greek civil service at large, meaning that Kedikoglou's position was created specifically for him. Kedikoglou was subsequently sponsored by ERT to attend training with CNN, before finally joining a talk show on private TV station MEGA.

[1] Editor's note CORRECTED: This post initially mistranslated the Greek expression "γερμανικό νούμερο" as "German-language coverage" It actually means night shift. 

<<< Previous post in this series: Truths and lies about ERT: A former news director answers the Prime Minister's claims

Next post in this series: Greece: the battle for ERT and the difficult but necessary path from protest to political change >>>

Truths and lies about ERT: A former news director answers the Prime Minister's claims

On 16 June, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras wrote a long opinion piece for the Sunday edition of newspaper Kathimerini (which, incidentally, was published despite the fact that all media were officially on strike) to justify his decision to shut down Greece's public broadcaster ERT. Former ERT news director Giorgos Kogiannis wrote in turn an answer to the Prime Minister on the newly established ERT workers' blog, in which he points out several contradictions between Samaras's claims and some actual facts and emphasizes that Samaras's criticism of ERT should apply, first and foremost, to his own choices and those of his entourage. We are summarizing this indirect dialogue below.

A map of Greece’s media corrupt relationships (part 1)

Edited by @galaxyarchis and translated by @inflammatory_

If we wish to keep track of Greece’s media corrupt relationships and especially those between media owners and the state’s political power, we’d need to write a book. Add their historical background on top of this and we have managed to fill a whole bookcase. Although it’s not considered to be solely a Greek phenomenon, what is most interesting is that the media-politics relationship within Greek borders, boasts a unique past, present (and future) as well as drama.

We won’t engage with historical flashbacks, although they could fully explain the media’s role in the current political landscape.  Instead we may use a “map” designed by Nikos Smyrnaios last April. This is his third chart in a  row (1,2) that illustrates the relationship between dominant media and the business elite, the transformations imposed on media-ownership and the emerging dynamics among publishers and businessmen in the last years. 

Click to enlarge.

The conclusions drawn from the chart on how media landscape has been shaped since 2008 are the following:

In focus: Why is the Greek government trying to shut down ERT? - The role of digital network provider DIGEA

On Tuesday 11 June 2013, the Greek government announced its decision to shut down the country's public broadcaster ERT and proceeded with taking all ERT television and radio channels off the air.

This came as a public consultation is under way to determine the terms under which a network provider will be selected to complete the country's transition to digital television.

Radiobubble interviewed on Friday 14 June 2013 ERT senior technician Nikos Michalitsis, whose analysis of the call for expressions of interest for digital network providers bears ominous signs for the future of press freedom in Greece. We are posting the interview below.

You can listen to this week's full #rbnews international show here.

<<< Previous post in this series: #rbnews international show 15 June 2013 - Why is the government shutting down ERT?

Next post in this series: A map of Greece’s media corrupt relationships (part 1) >>>

#rbnews international show 15 June 2013 - Why is the government shutting down ERT?

This week on #rbnews international, our guest was Michael Nevradakis, who also runs a web radio station, Dialogos Radio, and who has been actively following the government shutdown of Greece's national broadcaster ERT. We summarized how the Greek government is trying to close ERT and the reasons behind this decision.

You can follow Michael on Twitter @dialogosmedia.

And of course, you can listen to the podcast after the jump.

#rbnews weekly bulletin 18-24 May 2013

The text companion to this week's #rbnews international show is now online. You can read it after the jump.

"Attaquez Vénizelos en jus­tice maintenant !" de Kostas Vaxevanis

De Kostas Vaxevanis

Traduit du grec par @Okeanews, édité par @IrateGreek (source sur okeanews.fr)

Y a-t-il un pro­cu­reur pour faire ce qui s'impose ? Oui, je sais, cette phrase a été écrite et dite des mil­liers de fois, mais je ne sais vrai­ment plus quoi écrire.

Les docu­ments des auto­ri­tés fran­çaises sont offi­ciel­le­ment parvenus à la com­mis­sion par­le­men­taire qui enquête sur l’affaire de la liste Lagarde [1]. Ces docu­ments décrivent com­ment la liste est arri­vée en Grèce. Ils confirment pleinement les révélations de HotDoc: nous avions écrit que la liste avait été officiellement reçue de France, accom­pa­gnée de docu­ments offi­ciels de réception-livraison, afin d'être utilisée à des fins fis­cales. Tout ce que nous, journalistes, avions révélé sur la base d'infor­ma­tions du minis­tère fran­çais des affaires étran­gères et de l’ambassade de Grèce à Paris a maintenant été officiellement trans­mis au parlement.

"Sue Venizelos now!" by Kostas Vaxevanis

By Kostas Vaxevanis

Re-posted and translated from Pandora's Box by @IrateGreek

Is there a prosecutor to do the obvious? Yes, I know, this sentence has been written and said thousands of times before, but I don't know what else I can write anymore. The Parliamentary Committee investigating the issue of the Lagarde list [1] has now officially received from the French authorities documents describing how the list arrived in Greece. This fully confirms HotDoc's findings: we wrote that the list arrived through official channels from France, together with official handover and delivery notes, in order for it to be used by the tax department. Everything we uncovered as journalists with information provided the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Greek Embassy in Paris has now been forwarded, officially, to Parliament.

#rbnews "weekly" bulletin 6-19 April 2013

Prepared by the #rbnews international team, translated by @IrateGreek

The text companion to this week's and last week's #rbnews international show is now online. You can read it after the jump.

#rbnews international weekly bulletin 23-29 March 2013

The text companion to this week's #rbnews international show is now online. You can read it after the jump.

#rbnews international show - 29 September 2012

The English-language news show on radiobubble, hosted this week by @IrateGreek and @Pexlibanis. We discuss

• the anti-austerity demonstration on 26 September and subsequent arrests (guest: Chrysa Petsimeri), 
• the Geron Pastitsios blasphemy arrest, 
• a massive case of money laudering involving several prominent Greek politicians (guest: @Okeanews), 
• news from Belgium and the rest of Europe (guest: @Krotkie).

You can listen to the podcast after the jump.