Chairman of CyBC board resigns

By Angelos Anastasiou

Board chairman of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) Yiorgos Tsalakos resigned his post on Tuesday.

In a statement, Tsalakos said his resignation related to personal reasons.
“I have tendered my resignation to the President [Nicos Anastasiades] for personal reasons,” the statement read.

He thanked Anastasiades for the faith he showed in him, and apologised to “all who saw hope in my presence”.

Tsalakos also thanked his board members for their full cooperation, and wished the state broadcaster and its people the best of luck.

A political appointee, Tsalakos had sparked controversy in December 2013 when he was chosen by Anastasiades to head the state broadcaster, mainly due to his job since 2010 as director of Alfa Media Group, which owns Alithia newspaper and SuperSport FM radio and is affiliated with interior minister Sokratis Hasikos’ family.

His stint at the CyBC’s helm was marred by repeated complaints by opposition party AKEL, which questioned the broadcaster’s impartialness in offering parties equal air-time and coverage, implying this was politically driven.

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.