‘Patriotic’ CyBC journalists refuse to cover meeting in north

JOURNALISTS from state broadcaster CyBC refused to cover the meeting on Tuesday morning between UN Undersecretary General Lynn Pascoe and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

Patriotism was cited as the reason, according to the information obtained by the Cyprus Mail.

“It’s not the first time this has happened,” said a source within the corporation. Although they were not aware of Tuesday’s specific incident, the source: “It wouldn’t surprise me”.

One reason cited in the past for CyBC journalists not crossing to the north was the alleged refusal of management to pay their insurance costs and travelling expenses, the source said.

The information obtained by Cyprus Mail had three top political journalists citing patriotism as a reason not to cross to the north. “They should have been fired for not doing their job,” said the source.

As the state broadcaster, CyBC regularly broadcasts Turkish programmes for the Turkish Cypriot community. There are also news bulletins in Turkish.

In the absence of representatives from the state broadcaster at Tuesday’s meeting, CyBC’s main news bulletin showed footage obviously obtained from a Turkish channel. There was no logo that showed where the footage came from, but the subtitles underneath the picture were in Turkish.

CyBC’s head of news Yiannis Kareklas told the Cyprus Mail on Tuesday he was too busy to give a comment. Yesterday, he did not answer his phone.

Similarly CyBC Director General Themis Themistocleous could not be reached for comment either on Tuesday or yesterday.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.