Galery

2

1

Society is not sympathetic to the journalists as well. The fact that many journalists are susceptible to influence by political parties and openly support the strong ones of the day or tomorrow's leaders, puts their credibility at a very low level in the eyes of people. Pressure from employers, who want to pressure or to flatter those in power to win government contracts in order to satisfy their own interests, forces journalists to censor themselves. This was admitted by a news broadcast head in a big TV station and added that "I self-censor myself every day and this is the price I have to pay in order to be in the position I am. If I am saying this, imagine what happens on the lower floors.” Financial uncertainty and risk of losing their job for a "professional misconduct" are the main reasons that compel journalists to turn a blind eye to many things and support the leadership. On the other hand there are many cases of journalists who receive bribes in the form of monetary support from businessmen and even political parties in order to maintain their positions. It is abundantly clear that despite the remarks of this kind of corruption, their names are not disclosed until today. 

While some time ago Greece was rarely included in foreign news broadcasts, for the last two years it has almost monopolized the TV screen. International media have always been perceived positively, but after the first occurrence of critical articles in print, western foreign correspondents became "persona non grata" and are perceived as outsiders who seek to dishonor the name of the country and its inhabitants. 

The left without jobs media experts are heading towards opportunities offered by new technologies. They create their own websites – the so-called blogs, which in some cases are used as a means of pressure, defamation and even extortion. From news point of view, in most cases they transcribe the announcement by the National News Agency ANA news, without even mentioning the source. The lack of any legislation on electronic media provides the possibility for such actions. The crisis of mistrust in traditional media has led many Greeks to turn to the so-called "civic journalism", which in turn breeds complete anarchy in the electronic space. 

Meanwhile, according to journalists, police do not only tap their phones, but also monitors almost daily their e-mails and messages on social networks. The organization calls on the Greek authorities to discontinue the practice and to ensure unhindered access to all their sources of information, the police - to stop persecution of reporters who show their ID cards and the judiciary - to carefully consider complaint reports from media professionals of police violence.