I want to share with you my personal
story my personal story and my wish to
become a journalist and the difficulties
I had during the ongoing economic crisis
in Greece actually I finished my PhD in
the UK in 2008 and then I found a
permanent position in a Greek newspaper
and my obligation was to have a column
on the last page of the newspaper so it
was a good job and I started this job in
the summer of 2009 I was very happy it
was only a few months after I have
finished my PhD in the UK and I thought
that a new career could be ahead for me
three months later
towards the end of 2009 and beginning of
2010 I entered the office of the
director of the managing director of the
newspaper with whom as well as with the
owner we had a very good personal
relationship he told me to close the
door I closed the door and I thought he
wanted to share with me his ideas about
my next article and he said to me look
George
due to the economic crisis we cannot
keep you now or newspaper any longer you
are fired and I’m very sad to tell this
to you but it’s impossible any longer
because the banks are not giving us any
loans and Greece is entering an
unprecedented economic crisis meaning
that also adverts from the public sector
will be reduced I was soaked but I had
to look for an alternative and this is
what made me to look for ways in order
to be able to stay in Greece because
many young men young Greek people want
to stay in the country respective of the
crisis and even if they receive lower
salaries so Greece became the epicenter
of international attention because the
European partners of Greece had to save
the country in order to keep it in the
eurozone and this meant that so many
international media started to
at the Greek crisis I wanted people to
analyze what was going wrong with the
country actually Greek politicians at
the beginning of the crisis were saying
that their current that the budget
deficit was approximately five or six
percent later we found out that it was
fifteen percent so the international
media were shocked they wanted to find
people in Greece with whom they could
talk and we whom they could better
analyze the problem and their
perspective for the future so this is
how it started
I approached various international media
various international media approached
me in order to discuss the Greek crisis
this said in a period of approximately
three or four years I gave interviews to
almost all international media
discussing the Greek problem this
happened in live discussions in very
difficult moment for my country so the
question for me was I had either to say
the truth about Greece or also defend my
country because I wasn’t very happy to
see my country vilified and
international level and especially by
journalists so my job was very difficult
at that time nevertheless what I decided
to do was to say the truth because I
think that my generation is paying a
crisis for which it is not responsible
for and we need to say the truth and
prepare a better generation for
difficult Dame’s to come so this is what
I did but at the same time I also
attempted to explore this opportunity
and see how I could proceed ok talk to
international media was a solution for a
short period of time but then as I had a
PhD in median communication studies I
want it also to look at the future and
find out what else I could do so I
collected all the material from the
personal interviews I had meet with
international media and I also did some
research on how newspapers from all over
the world while looking at Greece and
this is how I arrived at the publication
of my second book on how the world sees
Greece during the crisis obviously this
was an
book but sharing personal experiences
from the talks I had with journalists
writing this book the writing this book
I believe that I can better understand
how practically most journalists want
speaking to so many journalists from all
over the world there is one single
conclusion that I can reads this is that
they are interested in publishing
negative stories they want to publish
negative stories I had talks with them
about positive things in Greece like in
the shipping industry for instance but
they were not interested in that they
were interested in exploring pathogen is
like bureaucracy or tax evasion of
corruption which were problems indeed I
was the first to say that to them but
never never they were interested in
exploring positive things about the
country however as I said to publish a
book would not be the end for me I need
to continue and using all the research I
found out that there were similar
problems not only for Greece but also
for Europe there was a serious
misunderstanding during the Greek crisis
people especially in Germany and other
countries but I’m focusing on Germany
because it is the leading power in the
European Union paying more for the Greek
bailout didn’t understand the Greek
crisis in a fair and correct way on the
other hand Greek media we’re not very
much eager to say the truth and reveal
it and we’re putting the blame for the
crisis for the Greek crisis to Germany
so this created a serious
misunderstanding between journalists and
the media and by looking at some example
of cover pages you see how the problem
can be seen in specific media on the one
hand we are seeing German journalists
seeing Greece as asking for money by the
European Union say Germany on the other
hand we are seeing Greek media blaming
the German Chancellor angular Melchor
and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble a
for the continuous drama
so we had to do something about it is it
Europe I remember even being a student
here at Seif
that the European public sphere was part
of the agenda part of the public on
gender part of our lectures part of our
presentation can we talk about a
European public sphere when you look at
media like that it’s impossible so you
have to do something about it so my next
step was to see how I could cooperate
with some German colleagues and try to
if not fill the gap at least find ways
of cooperation between Greek and German
journalists so I approached some German
foundations which were interested in
supporting projects of bringing
journalists together like Konrad
Adenauer Steveston for example and what
they did was that they gave me the
responsibility to find journalists in
both Greece and Germany they paid the
expenses and we brought the journalists
together one time in Greece another time
in Germany and they started to discuss
about stereotypes you remember the cover
pages before so through open dialogue
through free dialogue they tried to
solve the problem it was powerful
successful I could say and I’m very
happy about this that I have played a
small role in bringing the two sides
together and what is even more important
is that this happened especially with
young journalists young journalists from
Greece and Germany had nothing like the
one against the other they wanted to
cooperate but due to the stereotypes of
the media themselves they couldn’t
escape from that so what we did was to
create and construct a new website a new
web page where they could publish their
own joint stories so this has played a
role and in 2015 with the refugee crisis
perhaps this was a springboard for an
even more important success seeing the
refugee crisis from a German perspective
meant that there was kind of solidarity
for the Greek case so for the first time
we saw some journal journalists
cooperating with their Greek colleagues
and publish positive stories about
which either had not seen in my book
published in 2013 so I’m very happy to
be part of all these however the main
different for the future is that we
should not any longer focus on Greek
German stereotyping what we should do is
to focus on the future of Europe
so my new efforts are concentrating on
this because when we are talking about
Europe it’s not just Greece and Germany
although the two countries have a
special role during the crisis
it’s about Europe how in understand
Europe and especially how people in
Greece and Germany understand Europe
however as far as myself is concerned
you cannot for your whole life do it
with the thing of the Greek crisis I
consider it I hope at least it is a per
se issue so I need to look towards the
future the Greek crisis open some ways
come doors for me for the future but
it’s not sufficient because even now for
example international media do not pay
attention to Greece it is even of boring
issue especially in Germany they have
covered everything so if there is
another political crisis next summer I
assume German journalists will come to
Greece again but it’s not a new topic
it’s not that topic which can attract
the attention of the international media
any longer so what I tried to do was
that through the contacts I made during
a crisis to approach international media
and tack there as a commentator but not
any longer about the Greek crisis it was
mainly international relations and other
political issues which could be of
interest so we are talking today about
media and transition in the media what
does it mean it means that we need to
need to take into account that the
advancement of technology plays an
important role for journalists
so I started also to cooperate with
Chinese media and yes it’s very simple a
few years ago for example I send them a
message through with shot which is the
network they are using for social media
and I propose them a topic they said to
me yes write about it later I send it
and the mandate would be published as
simple as that you can understand that
although the distance is very big and
very far away China from Europe through
the technology through the internet
through
image this is possible to do it so China
and Chinese media are the new the new
way where I could find a kind of
professional absorption during the
ongoing economic crisis and also I
established my own startup in Greece
named China and griscomb which attempts
to analyse how China is viewed in Europe
and how the relations between the
European Union and China can develop in
the future so this is another lesson
during the crisis on how we can possibly
find ways in order to escape from the
problem instead of complaining it
because the problem is there the thing
is how we can get out of it and how we
can find some better perspective for the
future
last but not least the fake news we are
talking about media and transition in
the media today fake news is a hot issue
in the United States we do not know what
happened with Russia and its
intervention in the American election in
2016 we have breaks it however even in
Greece even in countries where the
probability the problem hasn’t been that
extensive as it happened in the United
States or in the UK for instance there
are there are discussions there are
debates about what we can do about it
and I can tell you that you do the
ongoing crisis the trust of Greek
citizens to traditional media is very
limited this means that people because
they do not trust additional journalists
they are tending on finding alternative
sources of information so they are
looking into social media and they said
they very often are victims of fake news
so what is the way that young Greek
scholars of the media sector can
possibly find ways to cope with the
crisis it is possibly to look for
funding in order to build websites which
can shake the facts this is happening in
the United States this partly happens in
Greece and there are
foundation’s not only in Europe and the
United States but also in Greece which
are interested in financing that kind of
project so innovation even in the median
sector and even in Greece could be
another solution and the solution AIIMS
I myself is considering in order to be
able to stay in Greece but also find
some resources in order to be able to
cover the living expenses last but not
least another issue where young Greek
journalists who are interested in
finding financing can be look at is in
creating websites which can inform
citizens and even children about fake
news and about the quality of education
this is called media literacy this is a
new sector for Europe and for Greece but
very promising thank you very much for
your attention
[Applause]
story my personal story and my wish to
become a journalist and the difficulties
I had during the ongoing economic crisis
in Greece actually I finished my PhD in
the UK in 2008 and then I found a
permanent position in a Greek newspaper
and my obligation was to have a column
on the last page of the newspaper so it
was a good job and I started this job in
the summer of 2009 I was very happy it
was only a few months after I have
finished my PhD in the UK and I thought
that a new career could be ahead for me
three months later
towards the end of 2009 and beginning of
2010 I entered the office of the
director of the managing director of the
newspaper with whom as well as with the
owner we had a very good personal
relationship he told me to close the
door I closed the door and I thought he
wanted to share with me his ideas about
my next article and he said to me look
George
due to the economic crisis we cannot
keep you now or newspaper any longer you
are fired and I’m very sad to tell this
to you but it’s impossible any longer
because the banks are not giving us any
loans and Greece is entering an
unprecedented economic crisis meaning
that also adverts from the public sector
will be reduced I was soaked but I had
to look for an alternative and this is
what made me to look for ways in order
to be able to stay in Greece because
many young men young Greek people want
to stay in the country respective of the
crisis and even if they receive lower
salaries so Greece became the epicenter
of international attention because the
European partners of Greece had to save
the country in order to keep it in the
eurozone and this meant that so many
international media started to
at the Greek crisis I wanted people to
analyze what was going wrong with the
country actually Greek politicians at
the beginning of the crisis were saying
that their current that the budget
deficit was approximately five or six
percent later we found out that it was
fifteen percent so the international
media were shocked they wanted to find
people in Greece with whom they could
talk and we whom they could better
analyze the problem and their
perspective for the future so this is
how it started
I approached various international media
various international media approached
me in order to discuss the Greek crisis
this said in a period of approximately
three or four years I gave interviews to
almost all international media
discussing the Greek problem this
happened in live discussions in very
difficult moment for my country so the
question for me was I had either to say
the truth about Greece or also defend my
country because I wasn’t very happy to
see my country vilified and
international level and especially by
journalists so my job was very difficult
at that time nevertheless what I decided
to do was to say the truth because I
think that my generation is paying a
crisis for which it is not responsible
for and we need to say the truth and
prepare a better generation for
difficult Dame’s to come so this is what
I did but at the same time I also
attempted to explore this opportunity
and see how I could proceed ok talk to
international media was a solution for a
short period of time but then as I had a
PhD in median communication studies I
want it also to look at the future and
find out what else I could do so I
collected all the material from the
personal interviews I had meet with
international media and I also did some
research on how newspapers from all over
the world while looking at Greece and
this is how I arrived at the publication
of my second book on how the world sees
Greece during the crisis obviously this
was an
book but sharing personal experiences
from the talks I had with journalists
writing this book the writing this book
I believe that I can better understand
how practically most journalists want
speaking to so many journalists from all
over the world there is one single
conclusion that I can reads this is that
they are interested in publishing
negative stories they want to publish
negative stories I had talks with them
about positive things in Greece like in
the shipping industry for instance but
they were not interested in that they
were interested in exploring pathogen is
like bureaucracy or tax evasion of
corruption which were problems indeed I
was the first to say that to them but
never never they were interested in
exploring positive things about the
country however as I said to publish a
book would not be the end for me I need
to continue and using all the research I
found out that there were similar
problems not only for Greece but also
for Europe there was a serious
misunderstanding during the Greek crisis
people especially in Germany and other
countries but I’m focusing on Germany
because it is the leading power in the
European Union paying more for the Greek
bailout didn’t understand the Greek
crisis in a fair and correct way on the
other hand Greek media we’re not very
much eager to say the truth and reveal
it and we’re putting the blame for the
crisis for the Greek crisis to Germany
so this created a serious
misunderstanding between journalists and
the media and by looking at some example
of cover pages you see how the problem
can be seen in specific media on the one
hand we are seeing German journalists
seeing Greece as asking for money by the
European Union say Germany on the other
hand we are seeing Greek media blaming
the German Chancellor angular Melchor
and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble a
for the continuous drama
so we had to do something about it is it
Europe I remember even being a student
here at Seif
that the European public sphere was part
of the agenda part of the public on
gender part of our lectures part of our
presentation can we talk about a
European public sphere when you look at
media like that it’s impossible so you
have to do something about it so my next
step was to see how I could cooperate
with some German colleagues and try to
if not fill the gap at least find ways
of cooperation between Greek and German
journalists so I approached some German
foundations which were interested in
supporting projects of bringing
journalists together like Konrad
Adenauer Steveston for example and what
they did was that they gave me the
responsibility to find journalists in
both Greece and Germany they paid the
expenses and we brought the journalists
together one time in Greece another time
in Germany and they started to discuss
about stereotypes you remember the cover
pages before so through open dialogue
through free dialogue they tried to
solve the problem it was powerful
successful I could say and I’m very
happy about this that I have played a
small role in bringing the two sides
together and what is even more important
is that this happened especially with
young journalists young journalists from
Greece and Germany had nothing like the
one against the other they wanted to
cooperate but due to the stereotypes of
the media themselves they couldn’t
escape from that so what we did was to
create and construct a new website a new
web page where they could publish their
own joint stories so this has played a
role and in 2015 with the refugee crisis
perhaps this was a springboard for an
even more important success seeing the
refugee crisis from a German perspective
meant that there was kind of solidarity
for the Greek case so for the first time
we saw some journal journalists
cooperating with their Greek colleagues
and publish positive stories about
which either had not seen in my book
published in 2013 so I’m very happy to
be part of all these however the main
different for the future is that we
should not any longer focus on Greek
German stereotyping what we should do is
to focus on the future of Europe
so my new efforts are concentrating on
this because when we are talking about
Europe it’s not just Greece and Germany
although the two countries have a
special role during the crisis
it’s about Europe how in understand
Europe and especially how people in
Greece and Germany understand Europe
however as far as myself is concerned
you cannot for your whole life do it
with the thing of the Greek crisis I
consider it I hope at least it is a per
se issue so I need to look towards the
future the Greek crisis open some ways
come doors for me for the future but
it’s not sufficient because even now for
example international media do not pay
attention to Greece it is even of boring
issue especially in Germany they have
covered everything so if there is
another political crisis next summer I
assume German journalists will come to
Greece again but it’s not a new topic
it’s not that topic which can attract
the attention of the international media
any longer so what I tried to do was
that through the contacts I made during
a crisis to approach international media
and tack there as a commentator but not
any longer about the Greek crisis it was
mainly international relations and other
political issues which could be of
interest so we are talking today about
media and transition in the media what
does it mean it means that we need to
need to take into account that the
advancement of technology plays an
important role for journalists
so I started also to cooperate with
Chinese media and yes it’s very simple a
few years ago for example I send them a
message through with shot which is the
network they are using for social media
and I propose them a topic they said to
me yes write about it later I send it
and the mandate would be published as
simple as that you can understand that
although the distance is very big and
very far away China from Europe through
the technology through the internet
through
image this is possible to do it so China
and Chinese media are the new the new
way where I could find a kind of
professional absorption during the
ongoing economic crisis and also I
established my own startup in Greece
named China and griscomb which attempts
to analyse how China is viewed in Europe
and how the relations between the
European Union and China can develop in
the future so this is another lesson
during the crisis on how we can possibly
find ways in order to escape from the
problem instead of complaining it
because the problem is there the thing
is how we can get out of it and how we
can find some better perspective for the
future
last but not least the fake news we are
talking about media and transition in
the media today fake news is a hot issue
in the United States we do not know what
happened with Russia and its
intervention in the American election in
2016 we have breaks it however even in
Greece even in countries where the
probability the problem hasn’t been that
extensive as it happened in the United
States or in the UK for instance there
are there are discussions there are
debates about what we can do about it
and I can tell you that you do the
ongoing crisis the trust of Greek
citizens to traditional media is very
limited this means that people because
they do not trust additional journalists
they are tending on finding alternative
sources of information so they are
looking into social media and they said
they very often are victims of fake news
so what is the way that young Greek
scholars of the media sector can
possibly find ways to cope with the
crisis it is possibly to look for
funding in order to build websites which
can shake the facts this is happening in
the United States this partly happens in
Greece and there are
foundation’s not only in Europe and the
United States but also in Greece which
are interested in financing that kind of
project so innovation even in the median
sector and even in Greece could be
another solution and the solution AIIMS
I myself is considering in order to be
able to stay in Greece but also find
some resources in order to be able to
cover the living expenses last but not
least another issue where young Greek
journalists who are interested in
finding financing can be look at is in
creating websites which can inform
citizens and even children about fake
news and about the quality of education
this is called media literacy this is a
new sector for Europe and for Greece but
very promising thank you very much for
your attention
[Applause]
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