Is Greece's austerity push killing press freedom?

Workers walk off the job after the government shuts down state broadcaster ERT

An employee of Greek public broadcaster ERT holds a sign inside the corporation's headquarters, June 13.
(Image credit: Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)

Greek workers staged their third general strike of the year on Thursday, shutting down everything from tax offices to public transportation to protest the government's decision to close state broadcaster ERT. The country's main public TV station flickered out mid-broadcast late Tuesday, after the financially strapped government deemed it a hotbed of corruption and waste.

"At a time when the Greek people are enduring sacrifices, there is no room for delay, hesitation or tolerance for sacred cows," said government spokesman Simon Kedikoglou.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.