Journalists gathered in front of the central offices of Alpha TV and protested against the pressure with which they are forced to sign their own resignations. Few times the protest was going out of control and the police came to prevent it. After a while, Mr. Schpiner – general director of Alpha, accepted a meeting with journalist representatives. Except for him, Mrs. Parisi from HR and Mr. Vangelis Moraitis – chief director of the TV were also present at the meeting.

The journalists’ discontent exploded because of a document, which was distributed and according to some, they were forced to sign it. The document is a resignation form, which according to employees from the TV looks like a “hidden” dismissal.

Mr. Schpiner said that he didn’t know that Alpha’s employees were forced to sign it and added that whoever signed it under force can go to HR and take the document back. During the meeting, the TV’s administration convinced the employees that everything written about dismissals is rumors, which are “flying” out of different blogs.

At the meeting, which took one hour and a half, present were members of the managing council of the Journalist syndicate. The chairman of the organization Panos Sombolos was missing due to an illness. The syndicates working in Alpha offered not to sign the documents for resignation, from tomorrow to start a strike and the technicians to put a “black” screen.

Last Monday, the first recorded night news broadcast was released. This will be done, so there is no extra work time during the night. According to rumors the channel’s losses account for ?40 million for the last TV season. The new owners want this loss to be at least half lowered next year.

According to international standards the news budget is too high! The “Golden contracts” of people working in front or behind the camera have been signed with amounts, which even Germans in RTL are not receiving. But Germans cannot accept Alpha as a humanitarian organization but as an association, which needs to survive among the economic competition.

According to the Greek media, the new owners have a different idea of the news broadcast than the current one – to give voice to the newsmen and to put an end to the political coffee shop. The news will become a broadcast with reports, news, international topics, a “window” only if it’s needed and disclosures. The idea is for the news to have a moderate tone, without hysteria, without exaggerations, and to have more international news. The new Alpha owners want the viewers to be informed with concise, moderate and understandable news.