mr-gerbear:Protests in Greece after government shuts down public broadcasterShit’s going down with t
mr-gerbear:Protests in Greece after government shuts down public broadcasterShit’s going down with the media in Greece.ERT, Greece’s state-owned public broadcasting corporation, has been suddenly shut down by the economically pressed government. A spokesperson from the government, Simos Kedikoglou, announced earlier today that the network will shut down shortly after midnight tonight, Greek time. Over 2,500 Greek media workers will lose their jobs. While my friends in Greece agree that ERT does need reform, and better organization, suddenly shutting down a government service paid for by licence fees to the government is not the way to do it.One of my friends on twitter expects that the protests will get even bigger if ERT does cease broadcasting tonight. I only hope the Greek government listens. Riot police are now set up around the perimeter of the ERT building and the people are concerned that things might get violent.The main newscaster, Elli Stai (above), who has worked for almost 25 years in Greek media, looks visibly upset in the last newscast of the network airing right now. She got her start in ERT all those years ago, and I’d be teary-eyed to if I was about to be suddenly fired from a job I loved.Oh, and one more thing: If ERT shuts down, Greece will most likely withdraw from Eurovision. That fact nonwithstanding, this legitimately upsets me as a student journalist. Free media is under attack everywhere. It’s disheartening.You can watch the probable last moments of ERT as we know it via livestream here (in Greek).Sources: [BBC] [The Guardian] -- source link