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Turmoil and confusion continue to plague the Greek media sphere. The tempest was set to boiling after the current Greek government attempted to end some of the turmoil and confusion last September by holding an auction for national TV licenses. That went according to plan for about a day.
Digital network provider Digea said it cannot contract with Alter Ego, one of the winning bidders, because of contracts with existing operators, all of which are, technically, illegal, reported real.gr (December 8). Alter Ego is owned by ship owner Evangelos Marinakis, new to broadcasting, and paid its first instalment of the accepted bid. Alter Ego asked Digea to commence broadcasting in the interim before a new auction is held. Digea is jointly owned by the seven currently operating Greek TV broadcasters. (See more about media in Greece here)
Next week, reported typologies.gr (December 9), Digea shareholders will meet to decide what happens to TV channel Mega, which did not prevail in the September auction. Mega is owned by Teletypos, effectively in receivership, and its primary bond holder Alpha Bank has been slow to pay anything, including salaries. Digea is owed €160,000, it says, and might “grey-out” Mega’s coverage in certain areas.
In mid-November the Council of State, the highest administrative court in Greece, decided to accept appeals by TV operators and effectively annulled the September auction. A new auction is planned for January although the Council of State is yet to rule decisively on the constitutionality of TV license auctions that effectively pared down the number of national private-sector channels to four, half being newcomers. The number of national TV licenses will remain four, said State Secretary for Media and Communication Lefteris Kretsos, in late November.
Greek media observed, generally, a 24-hour strike through Thursday morning (December 8), declared by the Panhellenic Federation of Journalists' Unions (POESY). That was followed by doctors, civil servants, railway workers and back-office bank staff walking the picket lines for a day. Radio licenses are expected to be auctioned beginning in early 2017.
A year after the electoral victories by conservative nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) the new Polish government’s assault on critical news media continues. In November Sejm officials directed news media organizations to apply for new accreditations for reporters, editors and technicians to limit the press gaggle’s interaction with politicians. Apparently, a list has been circulated of reporters not welcome.
Journalist union Towarzystwo Dziennikarskie (TD) has asked permission to picket at the Sejm for one hour next week (December 15) to express displeasure at new accreditation requirements, noted press.pl (December 7). The TD has been the most vocal of the four Polish journalist unions in opposing efforts to sideline news organizations that have irritated PiS leaders. The older, more conservative Stowarzyszenie Dziennikarzy Polskich (SDP) union has been generally supportive of the PiS. (See more about media in Poland here)
A public opinion survey published by Newsweek Polska (December 4), often critical of government interventions in press and other freedoms, showed most support for “free movement of journalists” coming from those living in major cities and with higher education. “For some time Sejm speaker Marek Kuchcinski has sent worrying signals about the intention to drastically reduce the rights of journalists working in the Polish parliament,” said TD vice president Jan Ordynski. “I take them seriously because Polish rulers have now implemented their already ambiguous ‘restore order’. I hope that the results of the survey will slow the adoption of this next, democracy defying decision.”
Expert solutions for the plight of news media have become so common it has become difficult to separate reality from sales-pitch. The printed media is disparaged by investors and readers. TV news sinks lower and lower. Online news is a cesspool. Some call for media literacy education to combat fake news and hate speech. Others want punitive steps against technology giants.
"It is time for a pan-European strike of journalists,” offered Croatian journalist, author and documentary producer Barbara Matejcic at a book-signing (of course) this past weekend in Novi Sad, quoted by b92.net (December 3). "Cost cutting, multitasking, censorship, neoconservatism ..., common problems for all journalists in Europe, not only for us here, but also in Slovakia, Poland, Finland …”. Financial concerns of media operators “cannot be an excuse for the lack of investigative journalism.”
Nobody denies that the news media, as generously defined, suffers most from a dearth of attention. A study - yes, more experts - from Microsoft Canada - another technology giant - last year exploring attention spans showed that since the year 2000 humans, on average, lost 25% of their capacity to keep a thought together, from 12 seconds to 8 in 2013. This is important because the average goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds. It’s no surprise, said VentureBeat (December 4) reporting the research, “the power of the reader seems greater than ever.”
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