The media sector has been one of the victims of the financial crisis in Greece. Several newspapers and television channels have closed down and about 4,000 journalists are said to have lost their jobs in the last three years

Kyriakidou, Maria

LSE Research Online

Eurocrisis in thePress2/23/2013Greek Media in Crisisblogs.lse.ac.uk /eurocrisispress/2013/02/23/greek-media-in-crisis/By Maria KyriakidouThe media sector has been one of the victims of the financial crisis in Greece. Several newspapers and televisionchannels have closed down and about 4,000 journalists are said to have lost their jobs in the last three years.Far from being mourned as a hit to the country’s “FourthEstate”, the closing down of media outlets, some of them with along tradition in the Greek media landscape, has been generallyseen by the public as the demise of a sector undermined bycorruption and clientelistic relations with the big political parties.As is the case with other aspects of the old political system thatare in demise, however, it is doubtful whether the crisis in themedia sector will be accompanied by the rebirth of the Greekpress and the calls for transparency and investigativejournalism will be heard.Considering that new titles in the press are unlikely to appearduring the crisis and given the current state of TV news media, with the public broadcaster remaining under statecontrol despite promises of restructuring and the private channels owned by media moguls with strong politicalinterests and affiliations, the future of traditional media does not seem promising.There is optimism about online initiatives filling in the void of independent journalism, with some of the newswebsites combining reporting with in-depth analysis of current affairs with a focus on the financial crisis andgovernmental decisions. These media are increasingly popular among young educated Greeks.At the same time, however, online media also include platforms for the cultivation of chauvinism, racism and anti-immigrant rage that present themselves as news outlets and are equally popular among disappointed and angryyouths. Even if one accepts this cacophony of the online space as unavoidable, the potential of the internet andsocial media as a source of information and citizen empowerment in a country that lags far behind its Europeancounterparts in terms of internet penetration (only about 50% of the population has internet access) is still doubtful.As Greek media have not only failed to fulfil their watchdog role but are also themselves in crisis, the question ofcitizens’ right to information becomes urgent: in a country of political, social and economic turmoil, who will cover thecrisis and with what implications for the Greek public?1/1

Greek media in crisis

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