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Modern Mass Media in Greece
Term Paper ID:27452
Essay Subject:
Reviews the history of mass media in Greece. Examines the rocky relationship between the media & the government. Discusses the diversity of media outlets in the nation.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Reviews the history of mass media in Greece. Examines the rocky relationship between the media & the government. Discusses the diversity of media outlets in the nation.
Paper Introduction:
INTRODUCTION
Every country has a mix of media including the press, television, radio, and today various computer services. The different elements of the media may have different sources and different controls imposed upon them, and the degree of freedom accorded the media will vary from country to country. Greece is a country that has had a complex political development in modern times even as the mass media has become a force for the dissemination of information around the world, and the media has often become the focus for political wrangling among the different factions in Greece. The degree of control imposed on the media in Greece is also a function of the political development of that country since World War II.
The monarchy in Greece was abolished in 1924 and reinstated
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He started anindependent station in Athens, soon followed by hundreds of independentstations throughout the country. Private radio is also addressed in the law in terms of itsnature and function, the criteria to be met, and the programs andadvertisements to be promoted (Heretakis, 1997, 5-6). There are 51primary administrative units. All the major newspapers sell between 5 , and 15 , , and noone title dominates. The new administration devised an institutional responseto growing media power by appointing an American-style governmentspokesperson to handle daily confrontations with the press.Administrations that followed have also made use of a spokesperson.Further evidence of the importance of the media is seen in the 1994 secondreshuffle of the Papandreou government, which included a minister of thepress among the cabinet officials. "Greek TV Duel Sinks in Sea of Voter Apathy." Reuters (September 14, 1996).Murray, Leo. Newspaper ownership is diverse by European standards, but itis becoming more concentrated (Curtis, 1994, 244). CSA Publications, 199 .Curtis, Glenn E. A succession ofconservative governments were in place until 1964, when King Constantinedismissed Papandreou, initiating a series of crises leading to a militaryjunta in 1967. Elements of thepress actively compete for readership and often do so in a highlysensationalistic and partisan manner. The monarchy in Greece was abolished in 1924 and reinstated in 1935.The war saw the royal family abroad while Greece was occupied by the Axispowers, and the monarchy was restored again in 1946. The courts ruled in April 1989 that thestate monopoly of broadcasting violated EC standards, and in October 1989the Assembly legalized private ownership of television stations. Allparticipants indicated that their main objective would be to pave the wayfor the indictment of those involved in wrongdoing under the Papandreouadministration. This unit has correspondents in all thelarger towns in Greece and in some foreign bureaus. Television and radio were entirely statecontrolled since the 193 s and have only recently been freed from thatcontrol. The different elements of themedia may have different sources and different controls imposed upon them,and the degree of freedom accorded the media will vary from country tocountry. However, the finalvestiges of press restriction were removed only in August 1994, which was5 years after restrictions were imposed by the Metaxas dictatorship(Curtis, 1994, 244). Private ownership and control of the mediahas been late in developing in Greece. This seems to be a political problem. State control of radio was neverexplicitly set out in law, but when television was introduced in 1968, theruling military junta passed laws that gave the government exclusivecontrol of the new medium. Greece has morenewspaper and magazine titles per capita than any other country in Europe,with about 12 daily newspapers and some 1, weeklies and fortnightliesproduced. Metaxas was selected by the king because he was a known anti-communistand a strong political force in his own right. Greece has a highly political environmentmarked by two major political parties--the Panhellenic Socialist Movementand New Democracy--and a distant third party in the Communist Party. Under thisconstitution, Greece has a parliamentary system with separation of powers.There is a unicameral legislature that elects the president of the republicas the head of state. The state-owned Greek Radio and Television(Elliniki Radiofonia Tileorasi--ERT) still dominates, however, and in 1989an independent committee was established to administer ERT, to loosen thecontrol exercised since 1975 by the General Secretariat for Press andInformation, and to improve programming (Curtis, 1994, 244-245). Most users started utilizing multimedia products, butmore and more are using these tools for professional purposes, such as forinformation/reservation packages, education and training programs, andpublishing and printing programs. The government that was then formed was an unusualconservative-leftist coalition which included a Eurocommunist as justiceminister and an independent socialist as interior minister. Washington, D.C.: The American University, 1986. That person in turn appoints the prime minister asthe head of the government, representing a majority of the legislature.Government must maintain the confidence of the legislature. CENSORSHIP The Metaxas era in Greece came about when King George chose GeorgeMetaxas to head the government in 1936, and his dictatorial regime restoredpublic order after the National Schism had divided the society. Media liberalization during the 198 s was evident in the role themedia took in the downfall of the Papandreou government after the Koskotasscandal in 1989. CONCLUSION Greece is a nation with a strong and healthy competitive atmospherefor the various media outlets. Within each province there aremunicipalities and smaller communes, each with elected officials. Television news has the biggest share inadvertising in Greece, though advertising revenues are considerable fornewspapers, radio, and magazines as well (Murray, 1994). The introduction of privately ownedradio and television stations has produced a new attitude on the part ofgovernment toward the mass media. While censorship has been outlawed, the media in Greece has mostrecently been dominated by the controversial new Anti-Terrorist Law banningthe publication of statements by groups such as the November 17Revolutionary Organization. Works CitedBanks, Arthur S., Political Handbook of the World: 199 . Evert has continued to be a leader inexpanding the reach of television and was most recently part of a televiseddebate between himself and the Socialist Prime Minister Costas Simitis,though the debate did not attract much attention (Kyriakidou, 1996). New Democracy finished first in the popularvote, but in part because of a change in the system of proportionalrepresentation the party failed to obtain a majority of seats. Advertising on television has increased in Greece with the advent ofprivate television channels. The national radio network was first established under the Metaxasdictatorship, and it remained under government control in the era afterWorld War II. The election of June 1989 created a stand-off between the majorplayers in Greek politics. The governmentis highly centralized, and efforts have been made since 1981 todecentralize decision making. The first private channels to broadcast wereMega Channel and Antenna TV in 1989, and this was a decisive factor inpromoting the incremental trend in television advertising. State-controlled media outlets are nowfaced with severe criticism and competition from other media, and as aresult, the state has consistently attempted to impose the image portrayedby the independent networks. Video and sound cards along with CD ROMS have become the mostpopular products. Competition is thus fierce. The state-owned channels (ET-1, ET-2, and ET-3) and a few private ones today have broadcasting licenses, while manyothers do not. ThePanhellenic party lost the election, and the two major Communist groupsfinished better than expected and more than doubled their formerrepresentation. The law also includes a series ofprinciples for programs and advertisements in line with directives of theEuropean Union. Civilian control was reinstated in 1974, and the presentrepublican constitution was created in 1975 (Banks, 199 , 245). Most governments have tried tocreate an attitude of balance as they continually strive to counterbalancepressures from media owners with significant financial interests in otherbusiness sectors. Thestate is divided into nine regions of geographic and historicalsignificance but of little administrative significance. The state had a monopoly on radioand television until 1987, and since that time the number of independentradio and television stations and channels has increased rapidly.Censorship is prohibited by the constitution, as are all other governmentalpractices that would hinder the freedom of the press. VARIETY OF MEDIA The main source of printed news in Greece is the Athens News Agency,also known as Athenagence or ANA. As noted,the new constitution also outlawed censorship for the first time since theMetaxas era (Curtis, 1994, 244-245). The NationalBroadcasting Council (NBC) was founded with a sense of limited power. The system was used to promote the strongly conservative andanticommunist views of the state. However,the central government continues to wield strong influence even at thelocal government level (Shinn, 1985, xx). The proliferation of private radio and television has already beennoted, and much of Europe is becoming a media battleground today as mediaowners scramble for access to cable and satellite systems to reach morepeople in more countries. THE GOVERNMENT AND THE MEDIA The Greek press is a highly politicized institution. Journalists see the law as unconstitutionalbecause it is an infringement of press freedom. The Greek market for multimedia and computer services is currentlybooming. What has resulted is thebiggest fight over censorship in Greece since the military dictatorship of1967 to 1974 barred free reporting (Galliner, 1992). The Internet has become a communicationsplatform for multimedia applications, and there is an increasing demand forInternet services (National Trade Data Bank and Economic Bulletin Board,1997, 2). Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1994.Galliner, P. INTRODUCTION Every country has a mix of media including the press, television,radio, and today various computer services. The law on private television now addresses the prerequisitesconcerning the granting and renewal of licenses and the criteria to be metrelated to the granting of licenses. MEDIA REGULATION Television and radio are controlled in terms of licensing and licenserenewals. The degree of control imposed on the media in Greece is also afunction of the political development of that country since World War II. Whatresulted was a one-party government and the repression of human rights,setting the stage for more bitter political divisiveness after World WarII. All legal politicalparties have at least one newspaper that spreads their views toconstituents. He abolishedpolitical parties and trade unions, made strikes illegal, arrestedpolitical opponents, and instituted censorship of the press (Curtis, 1994,54-55). Newspapers have been independentfor some time but have long been controlled by censorship over what theycould and could not print. In time, though, this led to an "anarchy" of theairwaves as a number of would-be media owners who otherwise had nosignificant power proceeded with actually seizing a frequency and thenusing political pressure for the eventual legalization of the piratefrequency. In 1987, the mayor of Athens, Miltiadis Evert, an oppositioncandidate newly elected in an upset election, became the first to explorethe legal possibility of opposition radio broadcasting. The outcome of this battle has been that except for thenational radio and television channels and a small number of private radioand television channels with a broadcasting license, there exists a host ofradio stations (more than 1,6 ) and television stations (about 16 ),mostly regional and local stations, with no license to broadcast(Heretakis, 1997, 7-8). Thisbody was given responsibility primarily for making the initialrecommendation concerning the granting of broadcasting licenses, with thefinal decision resting with the government. The government still has radio and television stations and makesuse of them to produce quality programming on the one hand and to get itsmessage out on the other, but the government-owned stations are no longerthe only, or even the dominant, voices in the political and socialstructure of Greece. It alsoattempts to regulate the radio and television frequencies, the penetrationof major television stations, and such problems as media ownership, controland concentration, and so on. "How Free Is the Press?" World Press Review (February 1, 1992).Heretakis, Emmanuel. Censorship continued through this era. "Europe's Newspapers." Contemporary Review (June 1, 1994).National Trade Data Bank and Economic Bulletin Board, "Greece-TV Purchase- IMI9612 9." Media Research Reports (ntdb electronic database), 1997.Shinn, Rinn S., Greece: a country study. A recent attempt has been made to create a legal framework forprivate radio and television and to regulate matters concerning theelectronic market. A newlydemocratic climate prevailed after the fall of the junta in 1974, and thepublic's thirst for political discussion became a powerful weapon used bygoverning parties. Prime-time news on all three television networks wasthen dominated by positive depictions of the government and partyactivities. Labor unrest and massivestrikes threatened public order, and Metaxas used this as an excuse todeclare a state of emergency, dissolve parliament for an indefinite period,and suspend human rights articles of the constitution. Greece: a country study. These actions madeMetaxas dictator of Greece, and he modeled his regime on the fascistgovernments of Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy. Advertising isgoverned by a 1995 law incorporating the provisions of Law 236/1992, whichaccurately reflects the EU directive on television advertising. Greece is a country that has had a complex political developmentin modern times even as the mass media has become a force for thedissemination of information around the world, and the media has oftenbecome the focus for political wrangling among the different factions inGreece. This is an attempt to create a new operationalframework concerning private television, local radio, and the advertisingmarket. The Greek economy is faced with severe inflationarypressures that must also be brought under control by the new government,and these pressures are by far the highest within the European Community(Banks, 199 , 245-248). "The Greek Media Landscape." America Online, 1997.Kyriakidou, Dina.
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