Public Service Media Under Austerity Rules: A Feminist Approach

• In Event: Feminist Contributions to Global Communications Governance and Policy

Abstract

Austerity policies have become the default political response to Europe’s financial crisis. In the hot spots of Europe, such as Greece and Spain, alongside with policies of privatization and severe lowering of wages and secure labour, the withdrawal of the State from its public service responsibilities has caused the impoverishment of previously economically safe social groups The case of the forced closure of the Greek Public Service Broadcaster ERT is of particular significance within the context of the shrinkage of public services in Europe. The presentation examines the condition of the PSBs closure as endemic of two major policy forces in the European area: first, the general challenging of public services in Europe, and second, a sustained approach of limiting public service media with a view to the privatization of world radio frequencies in 2015. Through the lenses of communication policy, the paper will situate the human at the centre of its institutional analysis with the aim to provide a feminist evaluation of public policy with the case study of Greece. Women are central agents in the domains of public service, media and cultural production, by providing voluntary unpaid labour to organizations, through their unpaid labour of care, and as media workers and media consumers. The closure of ERT will be analyzed as an example of symbolic and structural silencing of the channels that gave voice to the marginalization of society under the austerity regime. Finally, the paper will examine the sustained resistance of former ERT workers during their self-governed broadcasting and running of ERTOPEN, the ‘pirate’ ERT. Women have become the central agents in the domains of public service, media and cultural production, by providing voluntary unpaid labour to organizations, through their unpaid labour of care, and as media workers and media consumers.

Author

• Katharine Sarikakis, University of Vienna