WEBVTT 00:00:00.353 --> 00:00:21.698 BEHIND THE BLACK SCREEN 00:00:31.007 --> 00:00:38.420 I was sure, from the start of that black Tuesday, that when the government spokesman would make his speech 00:00:38.420 --> 00:00:40.504 he would announce that ERT is shutting down 00:00:40.504 --> 00:00:41.798 So, I was expecting it. 00:00:41.798 --> 00:00:45.637 We were aware of the news about the ERT closure from the previous days. 00:00:45.637 --> 00:00:48.380 But at that time we knew it was going to happen. 00:00:48.380 --> 00:00:55.081 We interrupted the normal programme and brought a special news bulletin about the ongoing developments regarding ERT. 00:00:55.081 --> 00:01:01.460 The first phone call I got while we were still broadcasting the developments about our lay offs was from my child 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:08.065 She was panicked, she learned about this from the TV. Crying, she asked me "Were you fired?" etc 00:01:08.065 --> 00:01:12.973 What could I tell her? She has exams these days, as you know, I was very angry. 00:01:12.973 --> 00:01:18.379 My colleagues here supported me. I put down the phone, because I couldn't answer her question. 00:01:18.379 --> 00:01:19.708 When I calmed down, I called her back. 00:01:19.708 --> 00:01:23.575 The newscast was released normally, with all the information we had until that time. 00:01:23.575 --> 00:01:30.510 We were ready to broadcast when the government spokesman Mr. Kedikoglou would make his announcement. 00:01:30.510 --> 00:01:37.264 The government has decided to shut down ERT, within the current legal framework and with a decision by all the ministers, 00:01:37.264 --> 00:01:41.818 all ERT broadcasts are to stop after the end of the programme this evening. 00:01:41.818 --> 00:01:44.752 In the beginning, we couldn't believe our ears. 00:01:44.752 --> 00:01:52.667 There was a big panic, we looked at each other. "What's going on? I can't believe it. What's going to happen next?" 00:01:52.667 --> 00:01:57.384 During that day and before the announcement was made, many of us here were crying 00:01:57.384 --> 00:02:01.702 but at the same time we were thinking of how we could react to this coup. 00:02:01.702 --> 00:02:09.767 The only way we had and still have is our voice, keeping ERT open. 00:02:09.767 --> 00:02:13.653 We ended the newcast by calling the people, telling them: 00:02:13.653 --> 00:02:19.971 "Stay with us. The public radio and television belong to you. Protect it." 00:02:19.971 --> 00:02:26.013 The first thing we did was to secure the storage rooms, the equipment is sensitive and expensive. 00:02:26.013 --> 00:02:31.875 We locked the storage rooms and gave the keys to the foreman. 00:02:31.875 --> 00:02:34.376 DOWN WITH THE JUNTA ERT IS NOT SHUTTING DOWN 00:02:39.175 --> 00:02:45.372 After the initial shock was over, after the initial indignation, after all those why's... 00:02:45.372 --> 00:02:48.376 we said "no, we stay here and keep working" 00:02:48.376 --> 00:02:53.214 We were in constant communication with the Ymittos broadcast station and the office supervisor 00:02:53.214 --> 00:02:56.054 to see what we could do to keep the programme running. 00:02:56.054 --> 00:02:59.816 We were doing our shift at the Ymittos broadcast station and at some point around 10.30 pm 00:02:59.816 --> 00:03:02.399 a riot police platoon showed up 00:03:02.399 --> 00:03:08.735 They cut down the fence and showed up at the building gates. 00:03:08.735 --> 00:03:14.372 After some time, I can't recall how much time passed exactly, must have been around 10 pm 00:03:14.372 --> 00:03:23.654 we saw the riot police vehicles approaching the central entrance of the Katehaki building and they wanted to enter 00:03:23.654 --> 00:03:28.420 The guard asked them for a warrant from the public prosecutor, as it is normally done in cases like this 00:03:28.420 --> 00:03:33.548 but they said they didn't have one and stayed outside waiting, supposedly, for the warrant to arrive. 00:03:33.548 --> 00:03:36.254 The warrant never arrived, at least until we left. 00:03:36.254 --> 00:03:41.894 At gunpoint, we let the technician they had with them disconnect the transmitters 00:03:41.894 --> 00:03:47.896 We collected our personal belongings, all this at gunpoint. 00:03:47.896 --> 00:03:53.933 And then two police cars escorted us off the mountain. 00:03:53.933 --> 00:03:59.831 Knowing how all this happened, with the cutting down of the fences and the guns 00:03:59.831 --> 00:04:04.334 we realised we had to prepare ourselves and see how we should act. 00:04:04.702 --> 00:04:09.939 We discussed it among us and took the decision to hide at a spot nearby and not leave the broadcast station. 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:15.376 so that they wouldn't arrest us in this area and get the same treatment as the people at the Ymittos broadcast station. 00:04:15.376 --> 00:04:20.346 But soon we learned that our signal was cut anyway, possibly some sort of interference, 00:04:20.346 --> 00:04:22.855 by some van, we don't know from where exactly 00:04:22.855 --> 00:04:25.974 and we waited to see what will happen 00:04:25.974 --> 00:04:28.377 We were anxious, all the colleagues here, 00:04:28.377 --> 00:04:33.014 we kept informing the studio of any developments 00:04:33.014 --> 00:04:36.655 we told them how our transmitters, one by one, our signal collapsed 00:04:39.993 --> 00:04:42.490 From the moment the signal was down and the screens went black 00:04:42.490 --> 00:04:46.232 we tried to organise, put something on people's screens 00:04:46.232 --> 00:04:49.188 we kept switching to alternative solutions 00:04:49.188 --> 00:04:54.009 Either through satellite or ERT World we kept broadcasting from our stations 00:04:54.009 --> 00:05:00.330 We learned that the Parnitha station went down and the Ymittos station also went down with the riot police going in. 00:05:00.330 --> 00:05:06.688 Then we tried to organise the stations away from urban centres, so that some people could watch the programme 00:05:06.688 --> 00:05:09.530 Then I received another phone call, another blow. 00:05:09.530 --> 00:05:12.336 I come from a small island near the border, Leros. 00:05:12.336 --> 00:05:17.452 I had given the mayor there an emergency number, in case of an important event going on 00:05:17.452 --> 00:05:24.970 then we could relay his messages, since it's a remote island, as ERT must do. 00:05:24.970 --> 00:05:32.225 He tells me, "Mihalis, the ERT signal is gone and in their place we only see Turkish channels" 00:05:32.225 --> 00:05:42.932 Our first move, us radio directors, was to meet and decide collectively that the Greek radio will not go silent. 00:05:42.932 --> 00:05:56.061 Since we were charged with central control, we strived to keep the programme feeds of all the channels on the air, by any means. 00:05:56.061 --> 00:06:09.553 At some point, when we were at the Katehaki building, we were asked to find two radio transmitters. We did so and carefully sent them to Agia Paraskevi 00:06:09.553 --> 00:06:15.499 so we could connect directly with the transmitters and keep broadcasting our programme. 00:06:15.499 --> 00:06:26.710 So we managed, with resourcefulness and thanks to the specialised knowledge of our technicians 00:06:26.710 --> 00:06:34.851 we are still on air and informing the Greek public even now 00:06:34.851 --> 00:06:38.500 all that is going on with the public broadcasting company 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:42.733 During the same time that our signal kept going down 00:06:42.733 --> 00:06:50.813 friends and supporters of public broadcasting started re-broadcasting our programme 00:06:50.813 --> 00:06:55.901 The University of Athens, we are very thankful to them, was with us from the get go. 00:06:55.901 --> 00:07:00.652 That same night, they set up our programme to be broadcast via the Internet. 00:07:00.652 --> 00:07:11.411 Radio stations of Attica and the rest of Greece, also abroad, united with us so the signal would not stop 00:07:11.411 --> 00:07:25.973 The police came to the Katehaki building to guard it and the police sergeant announced that we should leave. 00:07:25.973 --> 00:07:31.853 They broke down the door, they cut it down, I don't even know how, 00:07:31.853 --> 00:07:39.664 they went to the 7th, 8th, 9th floor where the transmitters are 00:07:39.664 --> 00:07:43.325 they destroyed the locks, so they could replace them with locks of their own 00:07:43.325 --> 00:08:01.762 We reach the gate, the sergeant told me that we should leave and that the building is now under their responsibility 00:08:01.762 --> 00:08:07.695 The next day at around 4 pm I decided to return to my home 00:08:07.695 --> 00:08:10.923 I rode my motor bike and tried to leave the premises. 00:08:10.923 --> 00:08:16.247 The police that stopped me were quizzical 00:08:16.247 --> 00:08:18.795 "Where did you come from?" they asked. 00:08:18.795 --> 00:08:20.523 I told them "I was in my office and working" 00:08:20.523 --> 00:08:27.887 They replied "And how come you were there, how is it possible you were working? when did you come here?" 00:08:27.887 --> 00:08:32.441 I told them I was there since the day before. 00:08:32.441 --> 00:08:34.761 "And where did you sleep?"; "But I didn't sleep, I had work to do" 00:08:43.573 --> 00:08:54.181 After the shock was over, the process of self-managing all this building, the workers, the equipment, the studios 00:08:54.181 --> 00:09:01.101 We needed, above all, to protect them and also for the shop to keep running. 00:09:01.101 --> 00:09:10.539 We are not police or the army, we are simple citizens, who for all these years we were working as sound technicians, electricians, camera operators 00:09:10.539 --> 00:09:17.603 and suddenly, because of this government, we were called to play the role of the police or the army 00:09:17.603 --> 00:09:21.900 we made up shifts for guard duty and divided between us colleagues 00:09:21.900 --> 00:09:25.539 Generally, we had to do all this self-management, 00:09:25.539 --> 00:09:35.138 and apart from all our pains and worries from being laid off, this gave us a lot of strength 00:09:35.138 --> 00:09:41.385 and I would like to add that our relationships became much closer 00:10:02.260 --> 00:10:07.921 This is the first floor, where the public broadcaster music groups and the Radio Third Programme are. 00:10:07.921 --> 00:10:10.459 It is the floor of culture. 00:10:10.459 --> 00:10:14.063 This is something we would like to take advantage of 00:10:14.063 --> 00:10:16.143 We don't want it to stop 00:10:16.143 --> 00:10:21.181 We wanted to start up this great engine that we have at our disposal 00:10:21.181 --> 00:10:24.738 I hope the authorities will reconsider 00:10:24.738 --> 00:10:26.894 It's not bad to admit to one's mistakes. 00:10:26.894 --> 00:10:29.178 Even those who have the best intentions can make mistakes. 00:10:29.178 --> 00:10:31.543 It's not bad to apologise when a blunder is made 00:10:40.665 --> 00:10:46.760 For some people, not only the workers of ERT, our work is our life. 00:10:46.760 --> 00:10:56.676 We have chosen to do the work that we like and makes us happy and we are paid like all other workers. 00:10:56.676 --> 00:11:02.576 Our wages are like all other workers. We'd like people to come and ask us. 00:11:02.576 --> 00:11:10.611 So they can get to know us, to see we are not monsters, we are not out of this world. So they can see our payslip. 00:11:10.611 --> 00:11:16.653 I know I must work for the jobless, for all these people outside. 00:11:16.653 --> 00:11:23.011 The ERT programme must go on, flawless, and delivered to the Greek viewer. 00:11:23.011 --> 00:11:27.012 This is the first time ERT became so open to the public. 00:11:27.012 --> 00:11:35.135 People come and visit, they look around, they're curious about the offices, the studios. 00:11:35.135 --> 00:11:37.211 They want to get to know us closely. 00:11:37.211 --> 00:11:40.684 The response from the public was immediate. People started coming to the ERT building. 00:11:40.684 --> 00:11:47.162 Crowds had gathered outside the Mesogeion building in just two hours. 00:11:47.162 --> 00:11:52.050 Either through the internet or the regional stations, we achieved the impossible. 00:11:52.050 --> 00:11:55.411 The signal was broadcast, the people could listen to the radio 00:11:55.411 --> 00:12:00.602 and we could inform them continuously for anything that was happening at ERT 00:12:00.602 --> 00:12:04.581 As for the black screens, since many people already talk about it, 00:12:04.581 --> 00:12:08.651 I personally have not seen it at all. I was here at the control room, we kept broadcasting, 00:12:08.651 --> 00:12:15.522 I never saw any black screens and I never switched on the TV at home since. 00:12:15.522 --> 00:12:20.932 ERT is about an idea. It's not about Dimitris, it's about the idea. ERT is all of Greece. 00:12:20.932 --> 00:12:26.003 Isn't it possible to fix the mistakes of all these years 00:12:26.003 --> 00:12:30.912 put our house in order with ERT remaining open? 00:12:30.912 --> 00:12:33.698 Isn't it possible to put our house in order with ERT open? 00:12:33.698 --> 00:12:44.406 We insist to remain working for the public broadcast operator. 00:12:44.406 --> 00:12:56.010 We insist that we still want the signal to be broadcast 00:12:56.010 --> 00:13:00.814 and we will not lay our weapons down 00:13:00.814 --> 00:13:10.139 We keep fighting, not for keeping our jobs, promises or threats 00:13:10.139 --> 00:13:16.372 We insist that the fight is still on, we're still in the game 00:13:16.372 --> 00:13:19.647 We try, with our own strength and the support of the public, 00:13:19.647 --> 00:13:23.892 of all people who are rational and believe that what is going on is unfair 00:13:23.892 --> 00:13:32.931 They can't censor the truth, they can't censor democracy.