Our complaint to the National Council for Radio and Television over New Democracy’s campaign ad

TPP broke the story yesterday that the communications experts behind New Democracy’s latest campaign advert had edited statements made by the US President to effectively put words in his mouth.

We communicated with the National Council for Radio and Television in order to register a complaint about the advert. They informed us that doing so by email was not possible because, ‘the system is underperforming,’ and asked us to send a fax instead, which we did. We can also send a carrier pigeon if that is necessary.

Below is the full complaint we sent:

Dear sirs of the National Council for Radio and Television,

As ThePressProject revealed yesterday, the pre-election advert of New Democracy presents statements by the President of the United States edited in such a way that the meaning conveyed is severely distorted.

Specifically Mr Obama appears to say at the 0.55 mark of the video, “The Greek people see a light at the end of the tunnel.” However if one refers to the actual statements made by Barack Obama on the occasion of Antonis Samaras’s visit to the USA in August 2013 (from which the excerpt in the advert is taken) one discovers that the US President said:

“And I think Prime Minister Samaras is committed to taking the tough actions that are required, but also, understandably, wants to make sure that the Greek people see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

The official transcript by the White House can be found here.

In other words, the President of the United States said that Antonis Samaras wishes to ensure that the Greeks will see light at the end of the tunnel, whereas the way that it is presented in the advert implies that:

a.) It is his conviction (i.e. Obama’s)
b.) The Greeks have already seen light at the end of the tunnel.

Given that we are in a pre-election period,

Given that the advert is still being broadcast with the misleading soundbite,

Given that under current law you are responsible for maintaining ethical standards in Greek radio and television broadcasts.

We request that you act immediately to prohibit the continued airing by television stations the misleading excerpt which insults the intelligence of every Greek citizen and harm the image of our country abroad.

We request that you inform us immediately of your actions and decisions regarding our complaint.

Signed, Kostas Efimeros

PS. The Press Project has also communicated with the US Embassy in Greece and the White House press office about the advert and is awaiting a response.