Last week, Greece’s National Radio and Television Council (ESR) suggested to television stations to refrain from displaying images of homeless and other people in need, showing the misery of Greeks. Such images and camera shots could be broadcast only after consent of the persons involved.
Real News owner Nikos Chatzinikolaou described the decision as “censorship” and demanded that the ESR needed to define “misery”.
“Do the images of people standing line for a bag of free food show misery? Are the media allowed to display them or not? Is it allowed to show people searching in the garbage bins for for? ESR needs to define what they want us to display and what not. And further, the ESR needs to explain the reasoning for such a decision and thus for each and every image 0 whether it’s allowed or not. Is it allowed to mention the 3,000 people who committed suicide or shouldn’t I?”
And TO VIMA journalist Dimitris Galanis wondered if the next ESR decision would be the banning of publishing the unemployment rates or the news about people who commit suicides due to economic problems.
“Press reports indicate that this decision was taken after government intervention. Of course, this information is difficult to cross check. However, if applicable, the question is why the ESR continue to be called an Independent Authority?”
PS I expect my television screen to turn as pink as it gets and thus as soon as possible.
It is law in almost every country that an image of an person cannot be published unless the individual in question gives explicit permission to do so, unless it’s the CIA etc. publishing the picture.
I do however suspect that this ruling has very little to do with any consideration for the dignity, privacy and wellbeing of the people in question, but rather more with the image the Greek authorities have abroad for not only allowing this situation to happen, but to actually be instrumental in it’s developement…
Its terrible ! The well fed and happy don’t want to see misery ! They want to enjoy their rich life , people are looking in garbage all over the town but the restaurants are full of happy people who don’t care! To day I gave 5 euros to a poor woman who told his son to help Greek workers to get rid of the broken stones of a store and she was standing there expecting a few cents for the job ,a lot of men are looking for a piece of something to eat!,the world must know and help to solve this terrible situation!
My guess is that tourist season is approaching, and telling the truth may scare some people off. However, the images have already been published everywhere. ESR must be insane to think they can now promote an image of “happiness” when the world knows better.
The Greek politicians really LOVE China. They say they love it for their deep investment pockets. But this shows they like even more the great shows China could put on during the Mao-era! What is surprising me the most is that Greek politicians are not visiting North Korea more, as far as I know (please correct me if I am wrong). As they have still this great ability to let millions of people move in unison…