Democratic constitutions designed to thwart a resurgence of fascism are getting in the way of all that austerian reconstruction, says JP Morgan’s Europe Economic Research department.
The problem with all those constitutions is that they empower the populace, define limits to central power, and allow for those damnably inconvenient public protests.
At the start of the crisis, it was generally assumed that the national legacy problems were economic in nature. But, as the crisis has evolved, it has become apparent that there are deep seated political problems in the periphery, which, in our view, need to change if EMU [European Monetary Union is going to function properly in the long run. The political systems in the periphery were established in the aftermath of dictatorship, and were defined by that experience. Constitutions tend to show a strong socialist influence, reflecting the political strength that left wing parties gained after the defeat of fascism. Political systems around the periphery typically display several of the following features: weak executives; weak central states relative to regions; constitutional protection of labor rights; consensus building systems which foster political clientalism; and the right to protest if unwelcome changes are made to the political status quo. The shortcomings of this political legacy have been revealed by the crisis. Countries around the periphery have only been partially successful in producing fiscal and economic reform agendas, with governments constrained by constitutions (Portugal), powerful regions (Spain), and the rise of populist parties (Italy and Greece).
There is a growing recognition of the extent of this problem, both in the core and in the periphery. Change is beginning to take place. Spain took steps to address some of the contradictions of the post-Franco settlement with last year’s legislation enabling closer fiscal oversight of the regions. But, outside Spain little has happened thus far. The key test in the coming year will be in Italy, where the new government clearly has an opportunity to engage in meaningful political reform. But, in terms of the idea of a journey, the process of political reform has barely begun.
>snip<
[I]t is possible that reform fatigue could lead to i) the collapse of several reform minded governments in the European south, ii) a collapse in support for the Euro or the EU, iii) an outright electoral victory for radical anti-European parties somewhere in the region, or iv) the effective ungovernability of some Member States once social costs (particularly unemployment) pass a particular level. None of these developments look likely at the present time. But, the longer-term picture (beyond the next 18 months) is hard to predict, and a more pronounced backlash to the current approach to crisis management cannot be excluded.
So the constitutions created to prevent the resurgence of fascism, a political system defined by Benito Mussolini as the fusion of the corporation and the state, are outmoded and downright inconvenient because they stand in the way of, well, fascism.
And since people are literally demonstrably angry at the gutting of the commons, governments need to implement the powers of fascist police states?
So. . . a Europe under a police state regime and under the domination of Germany. . .
ERT [the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation] — the Greek national public television broadcaster — was closed last week on the orders of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in a move designed to placate the country’s international lenders.
Late Monday, following a court ruling reversing the closure of major public outrage, members of the coalition government claimed they had reached an agreement which would appoint a special manager to decide just how many of the network’s 2,700 pink-slipped employees would get their jobs back.
The 11 June shutdown was dramatic:
Equally dramatic was the reaction both inside Greece and within the larger European Union.
From Euronews:
There are fears the country may well be on its way to an early election, if coalition parties cannot reach agreement about ERT’s closure.
“You decided and commanded to silence the state television, tarnishing both democracy and freedom of speech. Such things happen on only on two occasions, minister: only when there is a foreign invasion of the country or when there is a collapse of democracy,” said the Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras.
The European Broadcasting Union fried off its own protest to Samaras:
President of the EBU, Jean Paul Philippot and the EBU Director General, Ingrid Deltenre urged Mr Samaras “to use all his powers to immediately reverse this decision”.
The existence of public service media and their independence from government lie at the heart of democratic societies, and therefore any far-reaching changes to the public media system should only be decided after an open and inclusive democratic debate in Parliament – and not through a simple agreement between two government ministers.
In the letter, the EBU stresses the importance of public service media as an essential pillar of democratic and pluralistic societies across Europe.
The ousted Greek broadcasters proved resilient, occupying the studios and continuing to send out programming via satellite and over the Internet.
Samaras’s actions prompted a call for a national strike and threaten to shatter the coalition government.
Reuters reports on the response of the occupying journalists, who had been earing a mere €1,200 a month, the equivalent of $19,250 a year:
“What we’re saying is that we want public TV to belong to those who pay for it, and that’s the citizens of this country,” anchorwoman Chrysa Roumelioti said on air as her co-presenter nodded somberly. “Let them be the ones to judge us.”
A bevy of studio guests, from French and Italian journalists to local celebrities and actors, stopped by to express their outrage and solidarity.
>snip<
“We feel angry and scared and cheated,” Maria Alexaki, a 31-year-old foreign news editor told Reuters from the newsroom as she finished presenting her morning show.
“It still hasn’t sunk in, but our heart and soul is here. We’re doing our shows not for us but for all the people out there who are demanding a public broadcaster.”
In this clip, ERT journalists occupying the studios report on protests outside the station as Greeks mobilized in support of the workers:
Journalists across the country struck in protest, and a movement began, symbolized by this poster from Keep Talking Greece “with the help of Spanish internet friend ‘Todos Somos Griegos’”:
The shock of the shutdown of an emblematic institution threatened to shatter the coalition of conservative New Democracy, Pasok [the Greek socialist party], and Democratic Left.
To Vima reported Monday that
the Prime Minister’s relationship with his two government partners Evangelos Venizelos and Fotis Kouvelis has suffered dearly.
The three partners are one step before a full-blown conflict, a development that would cause a monumental shock to the country’s political system. This is also the first time that the Prime Minister’s method of operation is openly questioned.
>snip<
The Prime Minister’s decision to show down ERT despite the objections of Venizelos and Kouvelis during their meeting at Mr. Samaras’ home has dramatically exacerbated their relations. The PASOK and DIMAR leaders are furious at Mr. Samaras, who maintains he did the right thing and operated democratically, while claiming that Mr. Venizelos and Kouvelis were aware of the ERT shutdown.
Then came a key court ruling Monday, as reported by Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou of Reuters:
A Greek court on Monday ordered the state broadcaster back on air while it is restructured, allowing squabbling coalition leaders to move towards a compromise that avoids early elections.
The ruling came six days after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras suddenly switched ERT off to save money and please foreign lenders, sparking an outcry from unions, journalists and exposing a rift with his allies.
The top administrative court appeared to vindicate Samaras’s stance that a leaner, cheaper public broadcaster must be set up but also allowed for ERT’s immediate reopening as his two coalition partners had demanded, offering all three a way out of an impasse that had raised the spectre of a snap election.
The leading party in the governing coalition, the conservative New Democracy, said last Tuesday that ERT suffered from chronic mismanagement, lack of transparency and waste.
It shut the broadcaster down with the loss of nearly 2,700 jobs. Viewers saw TV screens go black as the signal was switched off.
Greece’s top administrative court – the Council of State – upheld Mr Samaras’s plan to replace ERT with a new broadcaster later this year but backed the position of the other coalition partners that the signal must be restored in the interim.
The case was brought by ERT’s union in an attempt to overturn Mr Samaras’s surprise move.
The inevitable political meetings followed the court ruling.
From Ekathemerini:
In a statement after the meeting, PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos said the court ruling had “vindicated” PASOK and stressed the need for an overhaul of the government, hinting at a reshuffle. “The talks were about ERT, but the main issue is for the government to operate as a real coalition, not with New Democracy just tolerating its partners,” Venizelos said. He called on Samaras to “examine the ruling” and take “bold moves.”
Fotis Kouvelis of Democratic Left made a similar statement, condemning the premier for taking the “unilateral action” to close ERT.
Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, who also attended the talks, had a different interpretation; he said it determined that ERT should stay closed while a temporary program is broadcast. “The big issue for the government is for radical reforms to continue,” he said, expressing hopes that coalition leaders would “converge” in fresh talks tomorrow.
But a later announcement Monday declared that a settlement had been reached.
EnetEnglish reports:
The coalition leaders’ meeting has concluded. Speaking to reporters, junior coalition leaders Fotis Kouvelis and Evangelos Venizelos welcomed the Council of State’s decision. Venizelos stressed that “no government can go against the majority of parliament… this is what happened in ERT’s case,” before confirming that there will soon be a government reshuffle and a revision of the government’s programme agreement. The coalition leaders will meet again on Wednesday.
A specially appointed manager will have the right to either retain ERT’s staff or proceed with as many layoffs as he deems necessary, the head of the Council of State, Konstantinos Menoudakos, has said regarding the council’s decision.
The Council of State ruling does not cover ERT’s two orchestras and choir, so it’s unclear what their fate will be.
German economy to slow this summer, warns Bundesbank
The German economy will slow this summer after a spring recovery, the Bundesbank predicted in a report, citing weaker industrial orders and export data
Once a staple of authoritative communication across the Indian subcontinent, the telegram has lost too much ground to smartphones. One devotee is threatening a Gandhi-style fast.
This 20-minute documentary from Journeyman Pictures, offers a concise look at the new bonanza that is fracking, creating a 21st Century version of the Gold Rush, complete with boom towns, exorbitant paychecks, and vanished unemployment while the rush is on.
The video also gives a fascinating look at some of the deeper geopolitical issues at play with fracking while devoting less attention to the environmental issues. The documentary provides some important context for understanding a critical issue certain to play an increasingly dominant role in U.S. and global politics.
Two notable participants are Rob de Wijk, chair of the Dutch National Security Think Tank and director of the The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, and René Peters, director of gas technology for TNO [the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research] and considered a leading European natural gas expert.
From the icy wastelands of North Dakota, an energy revolution is transforming global politics. Shale gas has made the US gas-independent, but at what cost to the environment, Europe and Middle-Eastern stability?
Williston is a boom-town in every sense of the word. By night the city shines brighter than New York, as flare-stacks burn off excess gas. By day it’s swamped with new arrivals, keen to join the new gold rush. “If I could get you driving a truck, you could probably make $100,000 dollars a year.” Economic developer Tom Rolf is proud to live in the only recession-proof town in the US. But as space becomes scarce tensions are bubbling to the surface. One local is distraught: “We shouldn’t have to suffer when the government is making trillions”. And the worries aren’t limited to local concerns. As the US begins freeing itself from dependency on Middle-Eastern oil Europe frets over where it will get its energy supplies in the future. European expert Rob de Wijk explains, “This is also about the safety of Europe in connection with what’s happening in the Middle East. We’re on our own now.”
EU-US trade talks to start after France wins culture clause
From the London Telegraph, a word of alarm about the rising titan:
Fitch says China credit bubble unprecedented in modern world history
China’s shadow banking system is out of control and under mounting stress as borrowers struggle to roll over short-term debts, Fitch Ratings has warned
‘The worst case of scientific censorship since the Catholic Church banned the works of Galileo’: Scientists call for drugs to be legalised to allow proper study of their properties
NSA spying flap extends to contents of U.S. phone calls
National Security Agency discloses in secret Capitol Hill briefing that thousands of analysts can listen to domestic phone calls. That authorization appears to extend to e-mail and text messages too.
We bring you reports from three countries, Peruo, Chile, and Brazil.
Peruvian students protest law changes
Latin America has a grand tradition of autonomous universities, self-governing institutions which set their own destinies and are off-limits to law enforcement.
But the concept is under attack in Peru, and students have been taking to the streets in protest. The story has passed almost without notice here in the U.S., and we learned of it only though a post at For what we are… they will be.
Via a Google translation of the Spanish language original at Webguerrillero:
Thousands of Peruvian students have continued on Saturday and for a third day protesting against the project of the New University Act.
Some 6000 students of the National University San Antonio Abad have taken to the streets of Cusco, in southeastern Peru, to express their opposition to the new law, they say, university autonomy injured.
Those present at the protest say the project violates the freedom of expression of students and establishes regulatory bodies to supervise the higher education institutions in the interests of politicians and businessmen.
“We question what violates the autonomy of universities and students sanctions ranging from reprimand to permanent expulsion” said Miguel Angel Quispe Huaman, vice president of the University Federation Cusco (FUC).
During the protests on Thursday and Friday were clashes between students and police, which left dozens injured and at least four students arrested.
Chilean students hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at police in the latest mass demonstration to demand the government overhaul the educational system.
Most of the demonstrators — which local reports indicated police had estimated at 45,000 while student organizers said there were more than 80,000 — remained peaceful as they marched through central Santiago streets carrying banners demanding free higher education and condemning conservative President Sebastian Pinera.
Students, both secondary and university, have led regular demonstrations, calling for a free and quality education for all Chileans since the protest movement started in 2011.
More coverage, without narration, from RT:
The program notes:
In Chile, thousands of students angered at rising education costs, clashed with police in the capital, who responded with tear gas and water cannons. The students had flooded the streets for a peaceful march, still wearing their uniforms and backpacks, before it then turned violent. At least 40 were arrested. The students oppose the fact they have to pay 75% of the cost of their own educations – one of the highest rates in the world.
Brazilian protests target transport fare hikes
It’s not just students who are taking to South American streets, as the Wall Street Journal’s Loretta Caho reports:
The latest in a string of protests against transportation-fare increases turned violent on Thursday, as tensions grow over unemployment and rising inflation in Brazil.
Thousands of protesters gathered in the late afternoon at the Municipal Theater in central São Paulo and marched through the city center. Just after 7 p.m., police began firing tear gas into the crowd, sending protesters running. People screamed “Fascist police!” and threw stones at the police as smoke filled the air.
The demonstration was the fourth since last week in response to a nearly 7% increase in public transport fares in the city to 3.20 reais, or about $1.50. It was also met with the most force so far by police – by the end of the demonstration late Thursday night, after officers in riot gear pursued and shot at groups of protesters all around the city center, dozens of people had been detained. Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported that seven of its reporters were hit, with rubber bullets, including two who were shot in the face.
The violence spread Saturday to target the government’s plan to spend million on hosting the 2014 world soccer championship, as the BBC reports:
Up to 1,000 Brazilians demonstrated outside the country’s national stadium to vent their anger at the amount of money the country is spending on staging next year’s World Cup.
Police used tear gas and pepper spray to control protestors before the match, in which Brazil beat Japan 3-0.
There were also reports rubber bullets were used and 30 arrests were made.
Demonstrators held up posters reading: “We don’t need the World Cup” and “We need money for hospitals and education”.
When America’s postwar corporate elites were sexist, racist company men who prized conformity above originality and were intolerant of outsiders, they were also more willing to sacrifice their immediate gain for the greater good. The postwar America of declining income inequality and a corporate elite that put the community’s interest above its own was also a closed-minded, restrictive world that the left rebelled against—hence, the 1960s. It is unpleasant to consider the possibility that the personal liberation the left fought for also liberated corporate elites to become more selfish, ultimately to the detriment of us all—but that may be part of what happened.
>snip<
In the immediate postwar era, corporate managers held a tight grip over their firms and their own careers. Then, in the 1970s and ’80s, the capital markets began to assert themselves. Investors mounted, and won, hostile takeover bids against managers who were underperforming. Even CEOs who avoided that fate faced more assertive shareholders. Chief executives who were once kings now had bosses who could fire them. In 1982, the average CEO tenure was 9.7 years; by 2002, it had dropped to 6.8 years. But chief executives were amply compensated for their loss of autonomy; between 1978 and 2011, CEO compensation increased more than 725 percent. To understand how extraordinary that leap was, consider the fact that worker compensation grew by just 5.7 percent over those same three decades.
While Golden Dawn’s electoral success is no more than what we’ve seen from the far right in other countries (eg France, Hungary, Austria), what distinguishes it is the speed with which it has happened, and the open violence and neo-Nazism.
This is, above all, a problem for the immigrants and ethnic minorities in Greece who are subject to the most vicious attacks – but it also opens a door in European politics that had been closed for 60 years. Far-right parties have until now had to hide their innermost beliefs, and limit their ambitions. This may not be the case in the years to come.
>snip<
What far right parties do is parasitical on mainstream ideology. They exploit the resentments, and the racism, and the political disillusion that circulates among the rest of society. And they do not need to be in power to have an effect: what far-right parties can do is provoke our liberal elites into taking ever-more authoritarian positions. That’s the situation we find in many countries, from Britain, which detains more refugees than any other country but Australia, to Greece, where the Samaras government is pursuing a crackdown on leftists and on independent media and telling people “you have to trust in us otherwise extremists will come to power”. We should oppose fascists, but we should also fight against the pressure to let technocrats take control of our lives.
There may be people out there who actively want to dismantle democracy – the Griffins and Le Pens and Michaloliakoses of this world – but what worries me just as much is that people may be willing to surrender their democratic rights voluntarily.
Negotiations for a massive new U.S.-E.U. Free Trade Agreement threatens a European institution, a once flourishing film industry already under threat by the overwhelming power of Hollywood’s marketing machine.
The proposed elimination of national film subsidies could prove the last straw for independent productions.
From Euronews:
French actress Bejo asks EU to protect European cinema
The accompanying Euronews text story reports on European film figures who fear the free trade agreement now in the drafting stage would force European nations to drop subsidies for their domestic film industries, rendering them vulnerable to domination by the Hollywood regime.
The clip features Bérénice Bejo, who starred in the Oscar-winning 2011 French film, The Artist:
Bejo told euronews: “I grew up with American films and culture. It’s very good that it exists and I totally support this culture. I don’t reject it at all, but I think for both of us it is important to have choice and counter-balance.”
France wants its entire audiovisual sector excluded from negotiations.
Director Costa Gavras said a free trade deal with the United States would put the industry, and those who work in it, at risk.
“They are several thousand people who work in the audiovisual sector in Europe. If this cultural exception is scrapped, many films simply won’t get made; cinemas will close; directors and actors will find themselves out of work,” he said in an interview with euronews.
From Agence France-Presse, here’s a second video report on the European film industry worries:
Euro cinema threatened by free trade accord with US
The program notes:
The EU’s cherished ‘cultural exception’ is under threat according to a delegation of European filmmakers during talks on a massive free trade accord with the United States.
Worries even in Hollywood itself
It’s not just Europe that’s feeling the heat of a changing landscape. Even the most venerable names in the Hollywood pantheon are sweating bullets over the future of the cinema, as Bryan Bishop notes in a provocative piece for The Verge:
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg think the film industry is heading towards a cliff. The pair behind some of the most successful franchises in movie history think that conservative programming choices and rapidly evolving distribution schemes have set the stage for a massive upheaval — and internet-based services may become the dominant medium when moviegoing as we know it crashes and burns.
The duo were joined during a panel at the University of Southern California by Microsoft’s president of interactive entertainment Don Mattrick, who played backup with the occasional Xbox reference as Lucas and Spielberg took center stage. While the focus was ostensibly on the future of the entertainment medium — USC just opened a new building for the school’s Interactive Media department — the topic quickly pivoted to the state of film distribution in a world where everything from games to television are competing for consumers’ attention.
Bill Moyers interview Marxist economist Richard D. Wolff for an episode of Moyers & Company:
From the program notes:
Modern American capitalism is a story of continued inequality and hardship. Even a modest increase in the minimum wage faces opposition from those who seem to show allegiance first and foremost to America’s wealthy and powerful. Yet some aren’t just wringing their hands about our economic crisis; they’re fighting back.
In an encore broadcast, Economist Richard Wolff joins Bill to shine light on the disaster left behind in capitalism’s wake, and to discuss the fight for economic justice, including a fair minimum wage. A Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, and currently Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School, Wolff has written many books on the effects of rampant capitalism, including Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It.
“We have this disparity getting wider and wider between those for whom capitalism continues to deliver the goods by all means, [and] a growing majority in this society facing harder and harder times,” Wolff tells Bill. “And that’s what provokes some of us to say it’s a systemic problem.”
Also on the broadcast, activist and author Saru Jayaraman marches on Washington with restaurant workers struggling to make ends meet, and talks about how we can best support their right to a fair wage. Jayaraman is the co-founder and co-director of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, which works to improve pay and working conditions for America’s 10 million-plus restaurant workers. She is also the author of Behind the Kitchen Door, an exposé of the restaurant industry.
Jaisal Noor of The Real News Network interviews John Weeks, professor emeritus at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies about the austerity policies of the International Monetary Fund, both in Greece today and over the last two decades in Africa.
One implication: The austerity regime imposed on Greece may be deisgned to force a Greek exit from the euro. a move intended as a warning to Italy, Spain, Ireland, and other countries now laboring under the austerian lash.
The back story in the case of Greece is that Greece is in the situation that it is in because the IMF, the German government, the European Commission — the European Commission is basically the executive organization of the European Union, but in fact it is very much under the influence of the Germans — what those three are saying — the European Union, the IMF, and the German government, they’re saying is continue with the austerity. And when the IMF has apologized, they were attacked savagely by the head of the European Commission and said — they said, in it together, out of it together. In other words, IMF, you came in with us. You supported these policies in Greece. If not — it’s not fair for you to bail out and say we’re a mistake. You have to stick with it.
Why are the Greeks sticking with it? Why does a government continue to implement cuts which lead to — we’re talking about major declines. I mean, what we’ve seen in the United States is nothing compared to what the Greeks have had to go through. I mean, hospitals without medicines, schools about books, schools having to close because teachers are fired. Why are they going through it? It is because the powerful people in Greece — financial interests, business interests — see it in their interest to continue in the European Union, and they — because they can borrow cheap in Germany, there are markets in Europe that they can take advantage of.
Italian showdown with Germany over euro looms closer
Italy’s simmering revolt against Germany, austerity and its own ultra-European elites is coming to a head again, in a reminder that the deep clash of interests between the euro’s north and south remains as bitter as ever
We are not all in this together. Look at Canary Wharf, home of some of the world’s biggest banks, located on a private estate in east London. Its shining glass towers are entirely within the borough of Tower Hamlets, where four out of ten children are growing up in poverty. Like so many councils under the coalition government, Tower Hamlets is pushing through deep cuts to local services.
But it’s not the people of east London who caused the crisis – it’s the financial institutions of Canary Wharf.
They are all here. The investment banks that gambled with our homes, our jobs and our future. The ratings agencies that made massive profits while branding toxic derivatives as safe. The accountancy firms that helped write government tax policy, then advised their clients on how to find the loopholes. The regulators that looked the other way while the financial sector brought our economy to its knees.
On 14 June, UK Uncut is teaming up with ‘They Owe Us’ to reclaim and transform the space of Canary Wharf. We will converge amid the skyscrapers to resist, to create – and to imagine alternatives. Our action coincides with the G8 summit, which will bring the world’s most powerful politicians to the UK. David Cameron will promise to fight hunger – while half a million people in the UK depend on food banks. He will promise to clamp down on tax avoidance – without making the real changes that could deal with the problem.
As presidents and prime ministers converge on Britain to push their agenda of brutal austerity, join us in Canary Wharf, the soulless heart of financial capitalism, to expose their lies and fight for the alternative.
Meet at 12.30pm on Friday 14th June at Jubilee Plaza outside the west exit of Canary Wharf tube.
Please invite your friends, groups, campaigns, unions, networks, and help spread the word.
‘They Owe Us’ is supported by: UK Uncut, Occupy London, Reclaim the Power, Fuel Poverty Action, Greater London Pensioner’s Association.
Check out the ‘They Owe Us’ website closer to the time for more details.
It’s been too many months — months featuring cancer surgery and a long and arduous regimen of chemo — since we chronicled the pliht of the ever-diminishing news media.
So forgive a long post, one that begins with a cut to public television in Athens, then winds its way much closer to home, with scores of jobs lost at U.S. newspapers and a major cut to our own public teleivison.
Austerity zealots gut Greek public TV
Austerity claimed a major victim in Greece Wednesday, the country’s public television network.
Precisely who’s to blame is an open question, with politicians of the coalition government blaming the European Commission, a charge denied by the EC itself.
A video report from Euronews:
Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis desribed his immediate response when the screen faded to black:
For those of us who grew up in the Greece of the neo-fascist colonels, nothing can stir up painful memories like a modern act of totalitarianism. When the television screen froze last night, an hour before midnight, as if some sinister power from beyond had pressed a hideous pause button, I was suddenly transported to the 60s and early 70s when a disruption in television or radio output was a sure sign that another coup d’ etat was in the offing. The only difference was that last night the screen just froze; with journalists still appearing tantalisingly close to finishing their sentence. At least the colonels had the good sense of pasting a picture of the Greek flag, accompanied by military tunes…
After the state channels froze on our screens, I turned to the commercial ones assuming that this major piece of news would be recorded and commented upon by them. Not a word. Soaps, second rate movies and informationals. That was all we got. As if ERT’s, the public radio and television service’s, instant demise was not worth a mention by their commercial competitors.
More from Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou of Reuters:
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras faced a political revolt on Wednesday from his ruling coalition partners after the government abruptly switched the state broadcaster off the air in the middle of the night.
Screens went black on state broadcaster ERT, cutting newscasters off mid-sentence only hours after the decision was announced, in what the government said was a temporary measure to staunch a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Unions called a 24-hour nationwide general strike in protest, and journalists across all media called an indefinite strike. Some newspapers were shut and private TV stations broadcast reruns of soap operas and sitcoms instead of the news.
Samaras’s centre-left coalition partners said they were furious at the decision to shut the broadcaster and had not been consulted. Coalition party leaders were meeting as night fell, with the suggestion left hovering in the air that they could force Samaras into a confidence vote which could bring him down.
Christine Pirovolakis of Deutsche Presse-agentur reports on the workers’ response:
Journalists from the Greek public broadcaster ERT, which was suddenly shut down by the government because of austerity cuts, broadcast Wednesday via the internet in a show of defiance while their colleagues across the country held an indefinite strike.
Broadcasts continued throughout the night after the government brought 75 years of operations to an end Tuesday.
The ERT journalists, joined by thousands of supporters outside the broadcaster’s main headquarters, attacked the government over the shutdown and lay-offs of about 2,500 employees as part of cost-cutting measures demanded by the country’s international lenders.
The head of Greece’s Journalism Association, Dimitris Trimis, said television, radio and newspaper journalists from across the country were holding an indefinite strike in a show of support. The strike lead to a news blackout across Greece.
The ultimate goal is the usual move: A shutdown followed by a reorganization with a smaller and thoroughly cowed cast of broadcasters, as evidenced by this report from Dimitris Ioannou of AlYunaniya.com:
Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou yesterday announced the closure of the state broadcasting organisation ERT; all ERT transmissions throughout Greece stopped yesterday at 11.14 pm.
>snip<
The government has circulated a non-paper, calling the move a decision of high symbolism as regards the streamlining of the Greek public sector.
Kedikoglou said that ERT would be replaced by a modern, public but not state-owned broadcasting body. All ERT’s staff will receive the normal redundancy compensation and that the new body will operate with less staff.
During the intervening period between its closure and the launch of the new organisation, the public will not have to pay fees for ERT, he added.
While the government of New democracy Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has claimed the drastic moves were dictated by the EC’s austerity policies, the EC says not so, as Ekathemerini reports:
The European Commission did not seek the closure of Greek national broadcaster ERT, Brussels said in a statement released on Wednesday.
According to the statement, the Commission has taken note of the decision of the Greek government to close down ERT, referring to a decision taken in “full autonomy.”
The Commission does not question the Greek government’s “mandate to manage the public sector. The decision of the Greek authorities should be seen in the context of the major and necessary efforts that the authorities are taking to modernise the Greek economy,” the statement read.
So the EC is basically saying that while they call the tune, they don’t write the lyrics.
More from Eur-Activ:
[O]pposition leader Alexis Tsipras called the closure “a coup, not only against ERT workers but against the Greek people”, and accused the government of the “historic responsibility of gagging state TV”.
The decision was made by ministerial decree, meaning that it could be implemented without reference to parliament.
“Journalism is being persecuted. We won’t allow the voice of Greece to be silenced,” said George Savvidis, the chief of journalists’ labour union POESY.
And, finally, there’s this response from Anonymous:
American public television takes a hit
The victim is PBS and its flagship evening news broadcast and two of its major news bureaus.
From TV Newser’s Alex Weprin:
The “PBS NewsHour” is laying off staff in a significant reorganization, TVNewser has learned.
According to an internal memo obtained by TVNewser, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions — which produces the “NewsHour” — will be shutting down its offices in Denver and San Francisco, eliminating nearly all the positions there. The company will also eliminate several production positions in its Washington DC office, while leaving two open senior-level roles unfilled.The “NewsHour” is also planning to save money by streamlining and digitizing its technical process.
“This difficult step comes after more than a year spent reviewing how the ‘NewsHour’ functions, and determining the streamlining necessary to address both the funding challenges (primarily a steady drop in corporate revenue) and the opportunities presented by new technologies,” wrote “NewsHour” EP Linda Winslow and MacNeil/Lehrer president Bo Jones in the memo to staff.
The changes will go into effect at the start of the new fiscal year, July 1.
Earlier this year, public television employees who were not authorized to speak publicly told The New York Times that the production company was facing a shortfall of up to $7 million, a quarter of its $28 million overall budget, in the fiscal year that ends this month. The company’s budget outlook for the next fiscal year is unknown. But a spokeswoman for the “NewsHour” acknowledged that the reorganization, which will take place over several months starting in July, would help balance the budget.
The spokeswoman said that about 10 employees, of 100 in all, would be affected.
Ms. Winslow and Mr. Jones said in their memo that the cuts were a result of, among other things, “a steady drop in corporate revenue.”
Business as usual continues in the Brave New Newsroom, as reported by journalism blogger Jim Romenesko:
Less than a month after closing two of its Suburban Journals in St. Louis and putting 20 people out of work, Lee Enterprises handed out stock bonuses to eight of its directors.lee According to SEC filings, the Continue reading →
