TWO LOCAL television stations approached DISY deputy Andreas Themistocleous seeking €3,000 to €5,000 in exchange for including him in scheduled programming, the opposition MP revealed yesterday.
Themistocleous yesterday confirmed what he had said in a Politis article that such TV appearances were up for sale and that MPs from all parties were in on the action.
He told the paper that two local TV stations in Limassol asked him to pay €3,000 and €5,000 respectively in exchange for having him on a show, proposals which he rejected.
This question of corruption and favourable treatment for certain MPs took place on a national broadcasting level too, he alleged in Politis, adding that even state broadcaster CyBC had lists of favoured personalities.
Themistocleous argued that during an election period the air waves were reserved for those politicians either willing to pay or else be the puppets of TV station owners. He bemoaned the unequal treatment of deputies by TV stations, saying that only those who “paid the most or were compromised” get air time.
The DISY deputy for Limassol said the phenomenon started a decade ago but was getting worse each year.
According to state broadcaster, CyBC the general manager of Capital TV, Achilleas Demetriou, denied that his station was involved and called on Themistocleous to name the stations he was talking about.
In a statement released yesterday under the title, “When democracy is bought or compromised”, Themistocleous argued that the air waves were part of the “ national wealth” and were not the private property of some who think they can rent them “to whoever pays the most, effectively excluding the others”.
He spoke of a caste of people for whom parliamentarians were either expected to pay or act as puppets, otherwise “you simply do not exist”, and said that the prevailing “institutional chaos” did not permit deputies to fix the problem with legislative proposals. As a result, Cyprus is experiencing a “modern version of violence, fraud (and) the buying of votes and consciences”.
In his interview with Politis, the deputy also referred to one TV station owner, saying that he had put together his own parliamentary group, comprising of deputies from all parties doing his bidding in the legislative body, in exchange for TV appearances.
The paper picked up on the issue when reading a post on his Facebook account which read:
“Friends, the reason you won’t be seeing me on some TV stations is because I refused to buy air time for my ideas and positions or because I refused to join the parliamentary groups belonging to certain TV stations. Please keep that in mind!”
The Broadcasting Authority by late afternoon yesterday made no announcement regarding the allegations.
