A recent report by the organization \"Reporters Without Borders\" showed that, in terms of press freedom, Greece is in the 70th place worldwide, with its situation being considered \u201cproblematic\u201d. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of a properly structured and ethical press, for all societies but especially for democratic ones. So, alongside the global and international crisis that journalism is experiencing in modern times, it is useful to compare the situation and find out if journalism in Greece, in particular, is going through a crisis of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The evolution of technology and social media has brought many challenges to journalism worldwide. A key problem is the inability of news media to be profitable in an electronic environment where most services are provided free of charge. On this basis, journalists who abide by journalistic ethics, fall behind in popularity compared to amateur online journalists, who with misleading headlines, unfounded information and emotional pieces, dominate the Internet. Thus, the online environment is hostile toward professional journalists but lenient toward amateurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
News stations suffer a similar fate. The established news sites are losing ground to amateur newcomers, blogs and social media pages. This can be attributed to the above, but also the tendency of the public to distrust mainstream media, due to several accusations levelled against their credibility. On the one hand, any internet user can concoct a lie, start a rumour, and do so (due to ignorance or ulterior motives) without the journalistic standards that a respectable journalist would subject themselves to. On the other hand, individual users have revealed things that mainstream media tried to silence. Great examples of this are the prime minister\u2019s lunch in Ikaria, which didn\u2019t follow any Covid-19 measures and the incident of police brutality in Nea Smyrni (to which initial coverage reported an attack against the police!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this global journalism crisis, however, Greece is found to be particularly problematic and, unfortunately, with good reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the moment, someone turning on their television might believe that Greece has triumphed over the coronavirus. Besides the triumph against the first wave, this is completely false. No rational person would refer to Greece as a success against the pandemic, let alone a triumph. So, such statements, insofar as they are not truthful, constitute propaganda in favour of the government. Propaganda is a serious accusation. It is, however, much easier to formulate when considering the huge funds that (indirectly or directly) were given to media channels by the government (the so-called Petsa list and all other funding that followed it). How can people's trust in the media not be shaken? How can one not talk about corruption?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And at this point, we want to blame someone. Yes, the journalists who violate the code of ethics are at fault. But they are not the only ones to blame. Despite any criticism against Stefanos Chios, the journalist was the victim of an assassination attempt. A short time later, Giorgos Karaivaz is murdered. How can we demand the highest level of integrity from journalists when their lives are threatened? Yes, here we are entitled to blame the justice system, which did not protect them or a the very least find the perpetrators. But rather than pointing the finger at everyone else, it is useful to remember our place in all this. We are not blameless in this matter. We have tolerated all these transgressions, without protesting, without getting angry and without demanding better journalism. We have allowed our media to be riddled with conflicts of interest, from the big business owners who own them to the journalists and their relationships with central political figures. We let \"independent\" news media create propaganda and we don't care, because: \"they\u2019ve always been like this\". And while our fellow citizens were dying from this new disease, we allowed newsmedia not level the necessary criticism or reveal the truth about the mistakes being made by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have no right, therefore, to demand that things change, if we are the ones staying inactive. We can not tolerate the decline of Greek media and journalism. Because a worn-out press environment leads to a septic democracy. So, for the sake of our institutions and with respect towards the struggle of the remaining ethical journalists, it\u2019s high time we demand explanations for all the incidents that have degraded Greek journalism and our dignity as proud democratic citizens.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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