What Would You Like to Know About Press Freedom and Media Pluralism in Greece?
We’d like to answer your questions, because they are vital for the quality of our democracy.
During summer, we were contacted by the colleagues at OBCT, about a project concerning media pluralism and the state of press freedom in Greece. It’s an international project with many countries in Europe and the Balkans initiated under the umbrella of the European centre for Press and Media Freedom.
Initially we were honoured to be part of this project, but soon after we started thinking about how we would approach it. The invitation by OBCT made a very clear point and, furthermore, it raised a question: while in our country anyone can publish anything they want, is there true press freedom? And what about media pluralism?
The newly re-elected left Greek government of SYRIZA and some of it’s prominent members have often stated that they will oppose corruption within Greece — starting with the media owners who are often referred to as “the modern oligarchs of Greece”. After July’s referendum, where the mainstream media launched an organized campaign in favor of the YES vote, the demand for reform in the Greek media is more demanded and topical than ever. But will the SYRIZA-led government reform the media landscape as they promised?
One and a half years ago, we launched a crowdfunding campaign that outlined the disastrous state the Greek press is in and why new, independent media outlets are needed. We explained how Greek journalism is riding an uncertain wave with no disruption to business models, and fading public trust in media organisations.
Just in the first nine months of 2017, online advertising dropped by 18% over the corresponding 2016 period, with sites absorbing about 44 million euros this year. The fall is due to the closure of large websites and organisations such as DOL, Pegasus and Mega, along with small media businesses.
But in Greece the problem is not only about revenue streams. Media all over the world are facing huge sustainability problems. It’s also about the quality of the media and the produced content and the quality of journalism in extend. In May I was writing about the state of Press Freedom in Greece and why we need it more urgently.
So what’s next?
When we decided we will undertake the challenge to talk about Press Freedom and Media Pluralism we contacted several experienced colleagues who were reporting on the state of the Greek media. However, we received mostly negative answers. It became apparent that the problem was that none of them wanted to write with their name on our publication because of this very delicate issue. Even talking about the country’s media landscape is considered a taboo within journalistic circles. And of course you are blacklisted. That’s why we are going to report on media freedom and pluralism on our own means and resources.
The topics we will try to touch upon are as follows:
- Private television in Greece. How the dull dawn of private TV in Greece explain its decay and how freedom, objectivity, and quality of television in Greece was determined by the way it was commercialised.
- The limits of press freedom. How LGBT activists were fiercely targeted by far-right publications.
- Journalists working conditions and how do they affect press freedom.
- Local press around Greece and it’s contribution to media pluralism and press freedom.
- The boom of some new but traditional media. While print is dying, 6 new daily newspapers popped up in a deserted media landscape. What does this mean?
- Thessaloniki, the second biggest city in Greece, recently lost it’s two main daily newspapers due to financial issues. How do it’s residents get their local news?
- Greek legacy media are maintaining a weird tradition: the so-called “image theft tradition”.
- We will try to find out why and how football hooligans attack journalists
- Non-profit journalism is unknown to the Greek public. Why is that and why is it confused with citizen journalism?
Please let us know what you’d like to read about Greece’s media. If you are a media worker in Greece and you have something to tell towards an international audience please, let us know. If you have questions about the way Greek media work email us.
Even though we are a tiny, independent news organisation and our resources are limited we will try our best to give you the bigger picture of the state of media freedom and media pluralism in Greece, the troubled history of corruption, lawlessness, and censorship in Greece’s media landscape, which has been worsening and becoming more dystopian in recent years, in the midst of Greece’s severe economic and political crisis. And last but not least, we will try to report about how it feels to be an independent journalist in Greece. Because that’s the story that includes all the above.
This publication has been produced within the partnership with Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso for the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), co-funded by the European Commission. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of media partner AthensLive and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.
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