The use of copyrighted material by RIK is an illegal act and cannot be considered legal because a large portion of the people do not realize it and react in favor of Andreas Giortsiou, the chairman of RIK's board of directors told politis.com.cy, Andreas Frangou, commenting on the issue that arose with the management of the page “Happy Hour with Andreas Giortsio” on Facebook and the reactions caused by the decision of the state channel to ask the journalist to remove the videos with the episodes of the show.
“For all RIK TV programs,” he said, “a Facebook page is created in order to promote them and is usually managed by an employee of the state channel, but in the case of the show” Happy Hour “because Andreas Giortsios already had a Facebook page was decided to turn it into a page of his own program in RIK. This was done in consultation with the then General Manager of RIK and because Giortsios was very good in these matters it was decided to become the same administrator of the page “.
He also admitted that the material posted by Andreas Giortsios on this page was with the consent of RIK. “Then the contract expired and” Happy Hour “ended and nevertheless our lawyers found out that Andreas Giortsios continued to operate the page, changing the logo of the show with other colors and tried through that page which for three years gained followers due to RIK's television program to refer the public to various of its own accounts on social media such as YouTube “.
“For this,” he continued, “RIK sent a letter to Andreas Giortsio stating that we have noticed that he made changes to the show's logo and that he continues to use the page despite the fact that the contract has expired. And we asked him to give us the passwords on the page or to download the videos with the episodes of the show because they are copyright of RIK. “Andreas Giortsiou's lawyer and he himself admit that RIK's copyrights exist and that it is illegal for him to post them on his own Facebook page.”
“We made a mistake”
Afterwards, the president of RIK did not deny the fact that the issue was mismanaged from the beginning, where the management of the state channel chose to use Andreas Giortsiou's page for the purpose of promoting the show instead of creating a new Facebook page with a state employee channel as is the case with other TV programs so that things do not end up here. “RIK”, as he said, “made a mistake in this matter and showed more confidence of Andreas Giortsiou”.
Asked whether the existence of the videos with the episodes of “Happy Hour” on a page that now creates new material would cause harm to RIK, Mr. Frangou replied that we informed Mr. Giortsio that this page was renamed to promote the specific television program and how it is now being used for other purposes so that the manager himself can gain from the commercial favor that the show has gained during these three years with the aim of self-promotion “.
However, he admitted that all this is not good for RIK in terms of communication, but as he said “we are not here for communication issues and activities”. He added: “Giortsios wants to maintain a good image in order to have a job. But for me, my job is to protect the copyright of RIK “.
Fire to the Writers' Union
Asked to comment on today's announcement of the board of directors of the Cyprus Writers' Union, where he spoke about copyright related to journalistic work, Mr. Frangou said that he deals with legal issues for which he has no idea. “We,” he added, “have not told Giorgio to stop the monologues but to stop violating RIK's copyright and airing episodes of the state-owned” Happy Hour “show for which he was paid. We did not violate his labor rights nor did we silence him as they claim “.
The related rights mentioned by the Writers' Union in its announcement today are very complex and here we are talking about television organizations. They have not read the contract that Giortsios signed with RIK, nor the letters that the lawyers have exchanged between them. So how does he come and make a legal opinion and say that we have violated the rights of the journalist and we are silencing him?
“Simply,” he added, “the Writers' Union, in order to be liked by the world, and because the current is on George's side, issued this announcement, which in my opinion is inadmissible. In a short time he will be forced to withdraw because the announcement is illegal “.
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