Both shows Big Brother and The Bar – a la Russian Beyond the Glass show - are intended to be closed in Greece. Characters of the Dutch TV shows transmitted to Greece live in a special “glass house” isolated from the whole world, while their life is being step by step fixed by TV cameras and presented to TV viewers’ judgement. Though, TV officials of Greece could not withstand numerous protests of public, which demanded a legal investigation. According to some public organizations, the programmes violate the show characters’ right on private live, while sexual scenes presented to the viewers further corruption of morals. For a long time, these protests were ignored by the TV workers, though a scandal was being roused. Petitions addressed to the country’s president Kostis Stefanopulos and to prime-minister Kostas Simitis brought their fruits. According to Elefterotipia Greek newspaper, “several scenes unexampled for Greek TV excited public opinion in the country and made the authorities carry out an investigation.” In Greece, they cannot be satisfied with surface results, while digging deeper, up the ideology of the western shows. According to RIA ‘Novosti’, a special Greek service controlling demonstration of private life in TV screen found no crime in it and made a rather evasive statement: as if the programmes may be transmitted, though “under direct state control.” While the National Radio and Television Council’s official, Vasilis Lampridis unambiguously declared that he intended to interdict the shows’ transmitting with his own power. TV officials will probably try to defend Big Brother show, otherwise organizers of the transmitting could loose big money. At the same time, it is hardly possible that the National Radio and Television Council will come to nothing more than a fine and altering the time of the show’s transmitting. For, after the Vasilis Lampridis statement, his reputations has been put in. In the meanwhile, Russian Behind the Glass show’s producers can be quiet as for their show: so far Moscow public has been patiently chewing this “gum.” Sergei Yugov PRAVDA.Ru
Translated by Vera Solovieva
Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/03/22/38597.html
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