CONFLICTS between the News and Programming departments of the state-owned Cyprus Broadcasting Channel (CyBC) are leading to an operations overhaul for the organisation.
Head of the CyBC’s Board of Directors, Makis Keravnos, was yesterday invited to attend the House Interior Committee to discuss the problems faced at the CyBC. He said the organisation was currently in the process of creating a new flow chart, set to specify each department’s responsibilities and avert future problems.
The parliamentary session was centred on two main issues: firstly, a letter by 31 CyBC programme producers, who complained the channel’s management had no faith in them whatsoever and was trying to overrule their authority.
The second issue had to do with conflict between the News and Programming departments on whose responsibility a political programme about Parliament and the Municipalities fell under.
During the discussion, the head of the News Department Yiannis Kareklas said it was internationally accepted that informative programmes belonged to the news department.
In response, the deputy head of the Programmes Department, Chryso Constantinidou, said it was traditionally accepted in the CyBC that informative programmes fell under the authority of her department.
With deputies calling for better coordination and dialogue, Keravnos explained there were varying opinions in the state broadcasting channel and this was healthy for the CyBC.
He added that he had taken the initiative to start negotiations for the creation of a new flow chart that would resolve most of these problems.
Speaking to reporters after the session, Keravnos said negotiations were already under way to create the new flow chart for the CyBC. This, he added, will help settle the various issues faced in the CyBC, which often reach the media spotlight.
Asked whether there were two schools of thought in the CyBC, stemming from the conflict between the news and programming departments, Keravnos said it would be more worrying if there weren’t more than one point of view.
“It is through many schools of thought and varying opinions in the frame of a dialogue that one can reach the best possible conclusion,” he pointed out.
But he denied there was conflict between the two departments. “Conflicts and contradictions to the point that efforts were made to project a specific image do not exist”, Keravnos claimed.
“Of course there are differing views, as is the case in most big organisations where people work and especially in public television.”
He admitted it was only natural there would be a certain amount of disagreement, especially at a managerial level.
The CyBC Board of Directors, Keravnos added, had spotted the problems early on and took on the initiative to find solutions; one of which is the creation of a new flow chart.
“Instructions have already been given to the management and a large part of our work has been covered in negotiations to create a new flow chart, in the frame of which all these issues – which are often leaked out and turned into bigger issues – can be resolved appropriately,” he said.
But Keravnos couldn’t give a timeframe for when this chart is expected to be ready, as there were still negotiations with the unions and the relevant ministries to go through, as well as a thorough examination of the law.
“But the biggest part has been covered and I fell that soon, with the cooperation of all involved, we will be able to reach a specific conclusion,” he said.
Commenting on the matter after the meeting, Green Party MP George Perdikis said it had once again been proved that the funds received by the public broadcasting channel were not being used appropriately, as there was an air of conflict in the CyBC.
“I personally have also been told of attempts of a party intervention, at a time when the euro elections are coming up,” said Perdikis.
“Unfortunately these phenomena of political interventions, conflicts, disorganisation that have characterised the CyBC for so many years, still remain, despite the state’s care and despite the concerns expressed by all political powers.”
