The National Broadcasting Council invites MMEs to exercise restraint and respect, following the release of visual material deemed dangerous to the public sphere.

Special recommendations to television and radio stations, calling for the strict observance of journalistic ethics and the transmission of exclusively valid and cross-referenced information.

The intervention was triggered by the way in which two shocking events that shocked public opinion were covered, namely the tragic fall of two 17-year-old girls from the roof of an apartment building in Hlioupoli, as well as the serious injury of the player Stavros Floros during the TV game “Survivor“.

The Council underlines the need for absolute respect for the personality of the persons involved, the memory of the dead and the suffering of their relatives, calling on the media to avoid indiscriminate interference in privacy and the dramatisation of events.

The ESR‘s announcement was issued immediately after the intervention of government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis, who called for the immediate withdrawal of visual material from the Heliopolis incident, describing it as deeply problematic and dangerous.

The ESR’s announcement:

“To all news television and radio stations and media service providers in general in the country (including online).

Based on the current legislation and in particular the provisions of articles 15 par. 2 of the Constitution, 3 par. 1 of Regulation 2/1991 of the FCC, 9 par. 2 of Presidential Decree 77/2003, 3 par. 3 of Law 4173/2013, 6 par. 1 of P.D. 77/2003, 7 of P.D. 77/2003, 5 of P.D. 77/2003, 8 par. 1(a) of PD 77/2003, 9 par. 6 of Law 4779/2021, 14 par. 2 of Decree No. 77/2003, please, in view of the exceptional circumstances of the tragic events in the news, exercise due supervision in the presentation of these events, so as not to go beyond what is necessary to inform the public, and to comply with the applicable legislation when broadcasting your programme, in particular to take appropriate measures to ensure, in particular:

a) respect for the personality of persons mentioned in broadcasts,

b) respect for the memory of the deceased,

c) indiscriminate interference with personal suffering or mourning,

d) avoidance of causing suffering to the relatives of the persons depicted,

d) accurately conveying facts with care and a sense of responsibility,

e) conveying accurate and confirmed information, and

f) avoiding dramatic presentation of events.”