Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV) towards the media: “Don’t show images of homeless and hungry people”

In an unprecedented decision which amounts to indirect censorship the Greek National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV) recommends to media, especially TV stations, not display images of homelessness and impoverished citizens. The pretext is that “there is no consensus from these people” but it is clear that this decision serves another purpose. This became obvious from the way some media downgraded the shocking photos of hundreds of citizens rushing to obtain free fruits and vegetables from farmers on Wednesday 6th of February, outside the Ministry of Development. The photos were sown around the world by the Guardian but some Greek media argued that “these images should not be shown because they offend the country abroad.”

The NCRTV held a meeting, attended by the its President Ioanis Laskarides, its Vice Precedent Orsalia Alexiou, and members its Evi Demiris, Giannis Papakostas, Konstantinos Apostolou, George and Aris Stathakis Stefanakis, entitled: “Do not show people in misery”, to indicate to all TV stations in the country not to show images of people in a situation of poverty.

Specifically the statement from the NCRTV states: ” The Greek National Council for Radio and Television indicates to all television stations of the country: Do not show images of

a) people who are in a state of social deprivation, poverty without express or implied consent to these people

b) people driven before the judicial or prosecutorial or police and other
authorities without their expressed or implied consent. “

source: http://www.anatropinews.gr/

Translation: ReINFORM.nl