From the 7th to the 10th of April the Greek mainstream Media is on strike. This means that almost all journalists, reporters, technical staff and other people involved in the production and presentation of the news are not at their desks.
Greek Journalists on Strike |
It's the first time, since I remember, that the Media strike lasts for longer than a day. When I first heard of the strike, I remembered writing this post back in June of 2010, explaining why the Greek Media is at a crucial point. "Greek media crisis". Nothing much has changed since that post. The situation in the Greek Media is going from dire to ridiculous.
Most of the traditional Greek Media do not want to know what is happening online. An explosion of News Blogs, and News Portals, that are independently owned, are not taking part in the strike. Not to mention that some people get their news from twitter and facebook.
Many Greek News Blogs keep posting updates, and most of the people I talked to are informed on what is happening with national news in Greece. People that used to read newspapers and watch their news on TV are discovering the value of the Internet and learning to search, filter and let the news come to them, instead of being served to them.
So people are being informed! People are not being told the news, people search and discover the news that are relevant and interesting to them. It is a really interesting case study, on a country level, to understand the role of the internet in keeping people up to date with news and developments. I will definitely come back and write extensively on the subject (maybe I'll do one of my Greek articles) in trying to debunk the myth of mainstream media in Greece.
The main difference in a country with no mass media is that: All people are informed of the news, but not collectively.
Can New Media break the picket line?
When a journalist maintains a profile in Social Media, should he/she refrain from updating his/her followers or friends during a Media strike?
When a journalist maintains a profile in Social Media, should he/she refrain from updating his/her followers or friends during a Media strike?
A facebook friend of mine, a Greek TV Journalist, posted a status update on facebook saying: "Normally we shouldn't even write on facebook (During the strike)". A really interesting reply was: "In facebook you don't write as a journalist, but as one of our "friend".
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