Closing state television hits Greek identity - Brownsville Herald

class=”dateline”> ATHENS, Greece – When Nazi forces marched on the capital of Greece almost deserted April 27, 1941, broadcaster Costas Stavropoulos of Hellenic Broadcasting announced the sad news. He then urged his compatriots not listen to radio broadcasts future Nazi and said goodbye to the Greek national anthem.

That moment in the history of Greek broadcasting is etched indelibly in the collective memory of the country.

was the first time that the state broadcaster ERT-called-had ceased operations since its inception three years earlier. That was until Tuesday, when the government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras ERT closed and laid off its 2,500 employees to prove to international creditors that Greece was serious about cutting the country’s bloated public sector. His television and radio signals ceased to operate early Wednesday.

That decision could bring down the coalition government led by the conservative Samaras, who blasted the station for its “incredible waste.” Two of the three coalition parties, PASOK and Democratic Left-still want to discuss the possibility of keeping the air ERT.

country’s two main unions called a 24 hour general strike on Thursday to protest the closure, and flights from airports in Greece will stop for two hours that day. Protesters gathered Wednesday outside the headquarters of the company in northern Athens for a second day as ERT journalists challenged the closure order and continued with a live broadcast on the Internet.

journalist unions also launched a 24-hour strikes stopped news programs of private broadcasters, while center-partners of the ruling coalition demanded the annulment of the closure of the ERT.

Like other state enterprises in Greece, a country strangled by debt, the ERT in more than 75 years was exposed to the kind of obvious political patronage by which the country is famous. As successive governments imposed jobs in exchange for votes, the growing ranks of public employees helped push Greece to the brink of financial ruin, and in need of tens of billions of dollars in aid that its 16 partners the eurozone has been awarded since 2010.

Despite that, ERT has forged a deep connection with ordinary Greeks, becoming the voice of the country at home and abroad, especially in the absence of private broadcasting, which only began in 1989.

ERT started its radio programming in the 1930s and television in the 1960s. Although it was widely regarded as a reflection of government policy-and had a channel run by the military during the 1967-1974 dictatorship – the station was also valued for showcasing regional and cultural content as well as covering major sporting events as the World Cup and the Olympics.

Over the years, the TRE became a pillar of Greek life. At times it was the only means of entertainment and information in an impoverished country slowly emerged from a bloody civil war in the 1940s. It was also the only link to his homeland to the diaspora of millions of Greeks throughout the world.

Hadjicostis reported from Nicosia, Cyprus. Nicholas Paphitis contributed from Athens.