The television screens went blank late in the evening of June 11th. The transmission failure was no accident. The Greek government had peremptorily closed down ert, the state broadcaster, branding it a "haven of waste". All of its 2,700 employees are to be sacked. A new, leaner organisation will replace it.The move was abrupt and opposed by the two smaller parties in the coalition government. It came just as representatives of the troika-the imf and European authorities administering Greece's bailout-arrived in Athens for another inspection of efforts to revive the economy and to shake up the public sector. The timing is unlikely to have been mere coincidence, the more so since there had been a serious setback to the privatisation programme earlier in the week.
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