REPORTS
Doubts raised over ERT’s objectivity in covering protests over the Tempi rail disaster (26.1.2025)
On 26 January 2025, two representatives of ERT’s employees, Mr. Yannis Darras and Manolis Papanikitas, issued a statement denouncing ERT’s non-objective coverage of the protests over the Tempi accident, in violation of the public broadcaster’s obligation to provide “pluralistic and independent information”. They claimed that the protests were massively downplayed in the news coverage.
Whilst news of the biggest protest in years in the centre of Athens was featured on the 12 O’Clock news bulletin, it only featured 37 minutes into the show, without a single image from Syntagma Square.
The statement suggested that this approach was intentional and premeditated, given that just one reporter and TV crew had been dispatched to cover the rally. The statement went on to denounce these tactics and demand that ERT carry out its mission “without government blinders.”
According to ERT’s general principles of content provision, its radio and television broadcasts, as well as the content of its websites, are governed, inter alia, by the principles of objectivity and completeness of information, pluralism and the free movement of ideas. The above principles contribute to ERT’s declared mission, which is to provide a public broadcasting service in accordance with Article 15(2) of the Constitution and to contribute to informing the Greek people, as well as to ensure pluralism, independent transmission of information and news, so that it is independent of the State, all public or private authorities and political parties and prepares and broadcasts its content subject only to the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the legislation.
In this case, however, it appears that ERT did not follow these principles since, according to the allegations made, ERT failed to provide adequate coverage of the widespread protests over the Tempi rail disaster, an issue of public interest.
Furthermore, we should note that there are broader questions as to whether ERT can carry out its mission “independently of political parties” and “public authorities”, as its administration is appointed directly by the government.
The purpose, mission and general principles of the content provided by ERT require the public broadcaster to produce news that respects the principles of objectivity and completeness of information, as well as pluralism and the free flow of ideas, in order to provide a public broadcasting service in accordance with Article 15(2) of the Constitution and to contribute to the independent transmission of information and news, with full independence from the State, public or private authorities and political parties.
However, in the present case, according to the statements made by the two representatives of ERT employees on the Board of Directors (Mr. Yannis Darras and Mr. Manolis Papanikitas), ERT violated the above mentioned principles of journalistic ethics in its coverage of the demonstrations following the fatal accident in Tempi (26.1.2025), an issue of important public interest, about which citizens have the right to be fully informed.
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