Media Freedom

The International Press Institute (IPI) and its affiliate organisation the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO) have sent a letter to the Greek government protesting a proposed law that will affect press freedom in Greece. According to the letter, the law which seeks to regulate radio stations

appears deliberately designed to actively hinder the regional media’s economic development and exclude minority groups from access to information.

The proposed law would require that stations would have to have 60-100,000 euros as a deposit before a license is granted effectively excluding local and minority language stations. It also states that a radio station must provide 24 hour broadcasting

Once again, this will act as a disincentive for small media organisations seeking to provide limited, but essential programming for regional minorities.

Also, the main language must be Greek. This will mean the end of other language stations including Turkish radio in Thrace (where a significant minority speak Turkish) and the only English language station in Athens (Athens International Radio) to name just two examples.

The law also states that radio stations should have a minimum number of employees. Twenty for a news and information broadcaster and five for a music station.

these provisions are a barrier to economic development because they demand that media organisations must enter the market at a predetermined size and with a certain level of capital.

This provision is not only anti-competitive, it also prohibits low circulation media, minority or community papers, cultural or special interest products, among others, from having access to the market place. The basic right for a free flow of information should not be tarnished by administrative or bureaucratic measures.

The Greek government is therefore seeking to directly influence the media market through the manipulation of the law.

I don’t know about you but I used to listen to local radio stations in London and loved the fact that I could hear something other than mainstream music and standard commercial fare. Some of the greatest DJS and music journalists started at small, specialist (often pirate) stations.

“I’m outraged. Even Turkey allowed public broadcasts in Kurdish and we here, in the European Union, impose forcibly the sole use of Greek”, says Abdulhalim Dede, a journalist and minority media owner. He has already decided to sell or shut down both his radio station “Isik FM” and his newspaper “Trakyanin Sesi”, when the new law is implemented.

Most of the media outlets that are open to us are subject to tighter and tighter restrictions. I believe we must stand up and protest every phase of restricting our access. I can see where this gradual corroding of independence is leading. We will all be listening to the Spice Girls, getting our news from Fox and reading tabloid garbage about the latest Hilton escapade. There is no limit to what the big guns will do to stop us thinking for ourselves. In their eyes, personal freedom is dangerous. If they could get away with it, you and I would be paying big money to write or read this post.

Read the letter here.

and the article from Eurolang here

UPDATE: I know at least one person (ametanohtos) who doubted what I wrote here and others who are not sure how serious this is. Here is the statement released by the OSCE media freedom watchdog.

Technorati: Greece, radio, media, minority, language