National Broadcasting Council

More than 200 newsrooms, journalists, medical associations, psychotherapists, NGOs and civic figures in Romania have signed a letter of protest against what it called hate speech promoted by Romania TV, concerning the death of the journalist Iulia Marin, 32, at the beginning of this week.

Supreme Court prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou on Monday ordered a preliminary investigation into the racist rant of a TV presenter against Panathinaikos basketball player Thanasis Antetokounmpo two weeks ago.

The probe, which will be conducted by the Athens Prosecutors Office, will look into possible violations of the anti-racism law and whether other offenses were committed.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Thursday came out in support of Panathinaikos basketball player Thanasis Antetokounmpo who was the target of racist abuse last weekend.

Tsipras posted a picture of himself on Instagram wearing the Greek national team's jersey bearing the name of Antetokounmpo.

In a ruling issued by the Council of State on Friday, it rejected an appeal by private television channel Mega against a decision by the National Broadcasting Council (ESR) to suspend the indebted channel's operation.

Responding to the appeal by Mega and 112 employees, the court noted that a law passed last year dictates that channels must have a license in order to operate.

Officials from ruling SYRIZA took up 49 percent of airtime on talk shows hosted by Greece's private and public television stations in 2017, National Broadcasting Council (ESR) data show, with state channel ERT giving the leftist party 61.2 percent of its panel time.

The National Broadcasting Council (ESR) is due to convene on Tuesday in order to finalize the list of television stations that will be granted broadcasting licenses.

The council's plenary will draft its final list after discussing the case of the sixth and final station, Tileoptiki Elliniki, which failed to secure a license in last year's tender.

The National Broadcasting Council (ESR) on Tuesday rejected an appeal by the managing board of private television channel Mega to continue operating until a new TV license competition is held later this year.

Representatives of six media companies submitted applications on Thursday to the National Broadcasting Council (ESR) in Athens for a forthcoming tender for private television licenses.

The six applications were from the companies representing Skai, Star, Alpha, ANT1 and Epsilon and from a firm called Tileoptiki Elliniki.

A government bill paving the way for a new competition for the granting of private television licenses was approved in Parliament on Wednesday with the votes of coalition lawmakers.

A new competition for private television licenses will award seven permits, the National Broadcasting Council (ESR) decided Thursday.