Greek Media in the Post Crisis Era

Thanks for the gif Valentin (http://gifmovie.tumblr.com/)

ONE of the most interesting changes in our lives since the 2009 crisis has been the increased number of voices and opinion givers through the internet (blogs, portals, forums), the free press and even public gatherings, that alltogether compliment what is called traditional Media.  

The moment when Greek society came to realize it was dealing with something more than usual would be the outburst of the first major measures taken by the Greek Government of G. Papandreou in order to deescalate public spending in early March 2009. It was then when the press officer at that time, Mr. Petalotis, announced the actions that would help rationalize and minimize the expensive public sector by cutting up something like 20% of the salaries of every single employee being paid by the public budget. It was a surprise to receive these news while in Australia that period, not because of the brutal character of those measures, but because of how these news reached me: a shocking video of the announcement mixed up with an adult video of an ex beauty pageant starlet that had just went public that exact day - along with the new government policy that is!  It was clear to me that the Greek society was more willing to give attention to this most anticipated sex video, than to the most crucial announcements’ merits. This edited video was displayed with certain body parts covered in public television at around 11 o’clock in the evening and, naturally, it was then a matter of a couple of hours until it was in everybody’s Facebook wall and in the TV news. So, instead of dealing with the economy and being concerned, Greeks where being amused by the parallelism and innuendo (Greek society being abused just like the scenes of the video). This made it easier to continue sitting comfortably on the couches.

Greek society has come a long way since then, - I would like to hope. At that same time, the blogosphere had made its dynamic appearance. This most notably began with a blog called “troktiko” (eng.: mouse, rodent) that hosted continuous updates on headlines and current news under such an independent and uncompromised view that came to strikingly contradict the other means of information that where long charged by public opinion with corruption and directed interests, acting against public good. Indeed, it was embraced by the public so much that at some point it was getting 1,5 million visits a day, while the average most viewed news broadcast would get something like 500 thousand viewers in a population of 11 million. People, and especially young people, actively rejected the television and sought updates by turning to genuine journalistic contents such as this particular one that obeyed to no rules of corruption, no threats to seize free expression and stood up to denounce the unrightful practices of any mainstream system or behavior. Posts where revealing and exposing a range of injustices: from  ordinary complaints for public administration neglecting their services, or being corrupted or useless, all the way to uploading to the banner a photo of the most powerful and discrete Greek tycoon family with the title:”Voila who’s holding the reins in Greece!”. Soon after this banner was added the managing blogger was shot dead by a terroristic group, following a method that mostly resembles to an intelligence assassination and less to a terroristic group’s action. Nonetheless, the decentralization of the sources of information had been accomplished and no longer did the “dictatorship of the media” stand alone with the key to influence voters and demonstrators.  

Frenzy is the word to describe the situation in the media after mixing up these three elements: financial crisis - disorientation of public opinion – spread & increased sources of information.  Networks with long and strong presence went bankrupt when faced the dramatic reduction of advertising budget, revealing the financial mismanagement of their companies. This had also to do with viewers being less viewers and more users of the internet, a global tendency of course. Greeks spent less and less time in front of the television, while an increasing majority (60%) expresses dissatisfaction as far as quality of information is concerned (opinion poll of “Pulse” for the newspaper “The Mouse” of 26-05-2011).

What soon followed was the uncontrollable flow of information that reached mostly young users of the internet, depicting both: opinions of valid and “uncompromised” authors and quickie and invalid information. People have become interested in how international economy functions and have given room for scientists to have their say before ever larger audiences. Economists’ articles, such as Y. Varoufakis, receive enormous popularity and form not only opinions but even political parties’ programmes. This is the case of the new popular party SYRIZA that bases the arguments to oppose the austerity strategy on a fundamental position of the abovementioned economist that says, more or less, that the crisis is a systemic and political crisis and must be dealt as such instead of alienating the problematic parts of the Eurozone.

This way, the Greek people have had a direct vote on what they consider valid and independent information and broadcasts, or what satisfies their hunger for conspiracy theories to avoid all the blame for the crisis, or their xenophobia that supplies an alibi to elect an extreme, authoritarian, racist and violent party. It even makes it possible to read what they’d like coming directly from the mouth of reputable voices, such as this BBC article that was broadcasted by this blog in a … free translation with a main point being that loans are granted to serve the debts’ enormous interests solely, which, unless my English is bad, is not what the reporter supports in the article..  

Public gatherings, in addition, are more and more becoming an expression of democracy: anyone can have a go - as long as they agree with the main ideological positions of the organiser. For example, Greek media where taking sides last month on whether publishing the photos of HIV positive prostitutes was against their fundamental human rights or a prevention of “public health threat”. The Hellenic Police proceeded with arrests of the prostitutes and drag addicts tested – against their will – positive for the virus, and then gave to the media the photos of those dangerous criminal so that those who came to contact with them taking no precaution would be allermed and tested for the virus. The mainstream media attacked them with extreme cruelty with this argument. Blogs, portals and one public gathering that was organized, all supported that the fundamental human rights of privacy and dignity where violated by the authorities of the state. You could choose to enter either side of the conversation, but be aware not argue once you’ve chosen. It would be unthinkable, if, for example, you opposed to the fundamental rights’ argument, when attanding this public gathering: participants would be so loaded angry that would rush to punch you. Same happens with the popular broadcasts: if you’re a right wing politician, be prepared to face interruptions, hostile behavior and disrespect …from the presenter’s side, instead of the authoritarian party representative.

One cannot complaint for luck of democracy hence, all sides have a say. But be aware you need to chose a side and keep your doubts to your self.This is an improvement still, considering the nonsence by which public opinion was governed when entering the crisis. Soon enough Public Opinion in Greece will be able to distinguise and prefer thruth and validity so that these kinds of opinion formers will appear, who'll in turn, make it possible to exersise this power to educate the public instead of making profits for corrupted media owners.