Greece

[GR] ESR Terminates the Transmission of Reality Show

IRIS 2009-7:1/24

Alexandros Economou

National Council for Radio and Television

The Εθνικό Συμβούλιο Ραδιοτηλεόρασης (National Council for Radio and Television - ESR) imposed the strictest sanction at its disposal in relation to television programmes on the television channel ANT1 in a decision issued on 2 June 2009, by ordering the termination of transmission of the reality show “The Moment of Truth”. The show involved players answering questions relating to their personal life in the presence of members of their immediate family. The show was divided into three different rounds; The questions during the first round were generally harmless, while those of the second and third round were respectively indiscreet and very indiscreet and mainly referred to the sexual life of the player. The format of the show is owned by Shine Reveille; It has been sold to 24 countries and is currently in production in Spain and France.

According to the ESR, which recorded three episodes of the show, participants were goaded “to the revelation of intimate and unconfessed thoughts or actions in return for a fee, the result being the exploitation and the degradation of the players and the people close to them, who were also present in return for a fee (…). The above-mentioned episodes do not have the quality required by the Constitution and the law and imposed by the societal mission of television and the cultural development of the country”.

It is worth mentioning that the same show (and according to the same reasoning) had already been fined twice: EUR 200,000 (in a decision of 25 November 2008) and EUR 75,000 (in a decision of 10 March 2009), while the present decision of the ESR was published only after the transmission of all the episodes of the show was complete. In an announcement published by the Union of Private Television Stations of Nationwide Reach, the decision was described as being “of borderline legality” and “irrational”, because it is based on “the mere hypothesis that, perhaps, in the future, in episodes of the same series, the same violations of legislation might continue to occur”. ANT1’s lawyers’ have confirmed that they are considering taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.