Who’s reporting the crisis? The state of the media in Greece

Greece has been ranked 84th among 179 countries for freedom of the press, according to the 2013 World Press Freedom Index published in January 2013 by the international NGO “Reporters Without Borders”, with a staggering fall of fourteen positions from the previous year. The report attributes this “dramatic” and “disturbing” slump to the “disastrous social and professional atmosphere” within which Greek journalists work. Undoubtedly, this atmosphere is closely related to the economic crisis in the country, which is also experienced as a deep political and social crisis. At the same time, however, the journalistic sector has extreme difficulties escaping the trap it has created for itself due to its close links to the political establishment. Recent developments in online news media do not give much hope for substantial change in the Greek public sphere.