TV AND radio stations have been fined more than 208, 250 euros for a series of violations ranging from breaching advertising rules to the airing of inappropriate content.
Out of 404 transgressions investigated by the Cyprus Radio-Television Authority (CRTA), some dating back six years, 335 concerned breaches of advertising rules.
The CRTA inspected 29 cases in depth and issued fines of 208,250 euro for 21 of them. No violations were found in two of the cases, and in six of the cases, the channels involved were given a warning.
RIK1 and RIK2 were fined 10,500 euros each for their reporting of former Iraqi leader Sadam Hussein’s execution in December 2006, which included “verbal descriptions accompanied by scenes that were likely to injure the physical, mental or moral development of minors, with no previous warning.”
Mega and Sigma, meanwhile, were both given warnings airing a story which “was not transmitted with accuracy and completeness”. Both these stories concerned the Talat/Papadopoulos meeting in August 2007.
Marianna Aletrari, a CRTA official, said that the effectiveness of such fines, which have only just been made public, varies from station to station.
“In some respects, fines affect stations, but this is not always the case,” she said. “There are some stations that repeatedly transgress the rules. If a station has no previous breaches, the authority is more lenient with them. If it is a repeat violation, then fines are higher.”
According to Aletrari, channels are obliged to present all sides of an argument. “The viewer should be presented with a comprehensive account of an event and with accurate factual detail, so that he can form an opinion of his own,” she added.
Transmitting advertisements during hours when the law forbids it, extending breaks during shows or spending more than 20 per cent of the allocated advertising or teleshopping time per hour from November to December 2005 cost Antenna 65,000 euros.
Sigma was fined 79,200 euro for transmitting children’s advertisements during times when it is forbidden by law to do so in December 2006.
Other major breaches include inappropriate content such as scenes of excessive violence or sexual content, failing to classify the program accurately and disrespecting privacy.
Twenty-four breaches involved inappropriate content, and 10 of these affected minors. Most of these concerned the transmission of certain Cypriot series. There were three transgressions of programmes shown within the family-viewing time slot that was deemed inappropriate for under 15s. Each was fined 4000 euros.
