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Media Landscape - Greece

INTRODUCTION

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Greece, officially called Hellenic Republic, is a country situated in Southern Europe, on the Mediterranean, in a strategic location dominating the Aegean Sea and the southern part of Balkans. Greece’s official language is Greek (99%), though a considerable percentage of the Greek population is fluent in English, German and French, and its religion is Christian Orthodox (98% of population).

Its population is estimated 10,688,058 people (age structure: 0-14 years: 14.3%; 15-64 years: 66.7% and 65 years and over 19% of the overall population, urban population 65.7%). The literacy level is considerably high considering that 98.6% of the population can read and write. In 1981 Greece joined the EC and it became the 12th member of the Euro zone in 2001. Greece has a capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about 40% of GDP and with per capita at least 75% of the leading Eurozone economies.


1. WRITTEN PRESS

In Greece today there are a total of 87 newspapers in national circulation. Of these 14 are morning, 14 evening, 24 Sunday and 19 weekly newspapers. In the category of specialised newspapers there are 6 financial papers and 10 sport newspapers. Moreover, there are around 1,450 newspapers in local/regional circulation. In particular, the regional press (all prefectures included apart from Attica) counts for the 51.9% of the national press.

In terms of circulation, Sunday newspapers take the lead with 51.1 % of the sales for 2005, followed by evening newspapers (14.1%), sports (15.4 %), weekly (16.5%), morning (2.7%) and financial (0.1%) newspapers. Among the morning daily newspapers, the market leaders are Kathimerini (29,799) and To Vima (13,504). There is a wide range of evening daily newspapers. The most important of them are: Ta Nea (74,602), Eleftherotypia (70,344) and Ethnos (44,899). The same newspapers mentioned above also dominate the Sunday market (To Vima tis Kyriakis 211,710, Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia 194,491, Proto Thema 210,137).

After the decline lasting from the late 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s, when print and electronic media competition peaked, national newspapers lost approximately 28% of their circulation and many newspapers were forced to close down., the years that followed found the press in a good situation in terms of readership and in particular circulation. From 2000 to 2005 there was an increase in sales of approximately 26%. Today, the press is the second most important source of information for Greeks (after television), and it is highly concentrated in the hands of few publishers (e.g. Lambrakis Publishing Group, Bobolas Publishing Group, Tegopoulos Publishing Group, Alafouzos Publishing Group, Press Institution Apogevmatini Publishing Group). The magazine market is in good shape and segmented. Specialised magazines (e.g. astrology, cooking etc.) take the lead in sales (25.0%), followed by TV magazines (22.9%), women magazines (14.6%) etc.


2. AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA

There are four public channels and nearly 150-160 private channels (most of these are regional/local). Both the public and the private operators maintain satellite channels targeting at the Greeks abroad. The public operators in Greece are: ERT (Hellenic Radio and Television S.A) and the newly established Vouli TV (National network with programming produced by the Hellenic Parliament). ERT is composed of three terrestrial channels (ET-1, NET, ET-3) that have national coverage, one satellite channel ERT-Satellite (worldwide satellite service, broadcasting free to air in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and via subscription in North America), ERT Digital, six national radio stations, two world service radio stations, and 19 regional radio stations. Moreover, ERT’s terrestrial frequencies also rebroadcast satellite channels, for free, such as CNN International, Euronews, Eurosport, TV5 Monde, Cyprus Sat/ RIK 1, RAIUNO, SAT.1.

Private television assumes a dominant position, in terms of advertising revenues and size of audiences, in comparison with the public one. The dominant players in the media landscape are the two private channels, Ant1 (audience share 19.4%) and Mega (audience share 18.5%), which monopolised audience shares and advertisement revenues for 2005 (Mega 30.3%, Ant1 29.7% advertising expenditures). On average, daily TV watching is on the increase. In 2003 average daily viewing time was 233 minutes and in 2004 was 244 minutes a figure that was increased to 245 minutes in 2005. Regarding Pay-TV, it has been expanded in Greece in contrast with the cable television that has not been developed as an important distribution system due to poor infrastructure and high cost. Since 1994, Multichoice Hellas has been providing 3 satellite TV services to Greek viewers, namely: Filmnet (films), Supersport (sports) and Fox Kids/K-TV, (now named Jetix), for children. In 2006, ERT launched a new pay TV channel: ERT Digital. The development of cable television is considered to be very costly, and the cable TV network household penetration is below 1%. In general, Greece has the lowest development not only of cable, but also of satellite television in the EU. Their combined penetration is merely 8.9%.

Radio is an important source of information and entertainment in Greece. Currently, around 1,156 radio stations broadcast regularly in the country. The vast majority of radio stations are private (24 are public), and transmit locally or regionally. Most private stations operate without a license; only 35 of them have permission to operate, while 138 have been considered as eligible to be awarded a license.


3. DIGITAL MEDIA

The digital television in Greece is regulated by the Law 2644/1998. There are two digital television providers, one private ”NOVA” and one public “ERT”. NOVA was the first digital platform in Greece that officially started providing digital satellite services in 1999. The public operator ERT started recently providing digital services through the ERT Digital. ERT Digital is a new terrestrial digital television service, formed by three state-owned national digital television networks i.e. cine plus, sport plus, and prisma plus.


4. ONLINE MEDIA

The majority of the mainstream newspapers, magazines and TV channels have online publications, quite well developed, which are free of charge for their readers. Greece during the last few years has shown progress towards developing on line services and promoting the information society.

Despite the progress made in promoting the information society, the rate of Internet use is low in comparison to the EU average. Today 3.8 million people in Greece use the internet. This represents only 33.7% of the population while the EU average is 51.9%. Despite the country’s lower percentage of internet users, the overall growth of internet usage is estimated to have increased 280.0% over the period spanning 2000-2006.


5. NEWS AGENCIES

The leading news agency is the Athens News Agency (ANA) & Macedonian News Agency (MPA). ANA, founded 1895 and the MPA, founded 1991, were merged in 2006. There are many smaller and specialized news agencies, most of them regionally situated (e.g. Cretian news agency, Aegean News) or covering a specific thematic area and interest.


6. MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS

A considerable number of public and private media unions of journalists and associations of their employers exist in Greece, which are affiliated with other European and International media networks. Even though there are several journalists unions in Greece, with a long history and strong trade action, 52.1% of the Greek journalists does not belong to any of them. Other major industry organizations operate representing advertising, market and opinion research companies, as well as regional private TV and radio channels. In addition to the above, there is also a non-profit, self-regulating organisation for internet content, namely Safenet operating since November 1999.


7. NATIONAL MEDIA POLICIES

The Greek Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and declares the independence of the press from the State. However, the Constitution does not mention the independence of the broadcast media from the State. Article 15 of the Greek Constitution states that the ‘protective provisions for the press are not applicable to films, sound recordings, radio, television or any other similar medium for the transmission of speech or images. Radio and television shall be under the direct control of the State’. The public and private broadcast media are regulated by a number of provisions covering various aspects, set in specific laws, e.g. Law 1092/1938, Law 1730/1987, Law 1866/1989, Law 2328/1995.

The media ownership in print, in broadcasting and in cross media is restricted regarding concentration as well as participation. Regarding cross media ownership, a ‘two out of three’ rule applies, according to which a single company or individual cannot participate in more than two media categories (television, radio, and newspapers). The participation of foreigners outside from the European Union in the ownership of television or radio broadcasting companies cannot exceed 25% of the total capital.

Regarding EU legislation, Greece has adopted the amended 97/36/EC Television Without Frontiers directive with the Presidential Decree 100/2000. There are several provisions in audiovisual and consumer law, as well as the general criminal law, which regulate the online services in Greece and comply with the EU regulations. For issues related to internet crime (hacking, libel or slander) the Criminal Code applies.


8. ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS

The Greek broadcasting media are supervised by an independent authority, the National Council for Radio and Television (NCRTV). The Council is an independent authority; its actions can only be reviewed by courts. It has the power to impose penalties for violations of the relevant laws, for copyright and intellectual property infringements or violations of professional codes. In some cases, it may even suspend or cancel licences. There are codes of Ethics, codes of Conduct and Advertising, which provide for a self-regulating framework of the Greek media

Another self-funded, regulatory body is the National Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT), which supervises and regulates the telecommunications as well as the postal services market. The TV Audience Research Control Committee (TV A.R.C.C.) controls and audits the television audience measurement system. Finally, Safenet aims at promoting self-regulation arrangements for safer use of the internet through combating illegal and offensive content.


9. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND FUTURE TRENDS

Many media companies in Greece envisage a future in which they and other Greek companies from other sectors will benefit greatly from expansion into the Balkans and Eastern Europe, either on their own or through strategic alliances with international business groups. Changes regarding media concentration, ownership and media competition are to take place in the Greek legislation due to the obligation of compliance with EU regulations.

The role and the significance of regulatory bodies in the media industry in general and of NRCTV in particular, is under discussion.


10. SOURCES FOR DETAILED INFORMATION

For more on the period on the liberalisation of Greek media see: Dimitras P. (1992) “Greece”, in Ostergaard, B.S (ed.), The Media in Western Europe, London: Sage; Dimitras P. & Doulkeri T. (1986), “Greece” in Kleinstenber, H, (et al.) (eds.), Electronic Media and Politics in Western Europe, New York: Campus Verlag; Katsoudas D. (1985), “Greece: A Politically Controlled State monopoly Broadcasting System” in Kuhn, R, (ed.), West European Politics: Special Issues on Broadcasting and Politics in Western Europe, London: Cass; Katsoudas D. (1987), “The Media: The State Broadcasting”, in Featherstone, K and Katsoudas, K, (eds.), Political Change in Greece: Before and After the Colonels, London: Croom Helm, Daremas G. & Terzis G. (2000), “Televisualisation of Politics in Greece”, Gazette, 62.2, pp. 117-132.

For more on the Greek television programming in the 90s, see: Tsaliki L. (1995), The Role of Greek Television in the Construction of National Identity Since Broadcast Deregulation, Unpublished PhD. Thesis, Sussex: University of Sussex, Kontochristou M. (2004), 'The role of public and private media in constructing a European identity', Review of Public Administration, Athens: Papazisis, pp. 219-244 (in Greek), Paschalides G. (2005), 'The Greek Television', in Vernikos (et.al) (eds) Cultural Industries:Porcesses, Services and Goods (in Greek), Athens: Kritiki. Furthermore, for the early days of the Greek programming, see Manthoulis R (1981), The State of Television (in Greek), Athens: Themelio.

For more information regarding the code of ethics, see the ESIEA, the biggest journalist union in Greece (http://www. esiea.gr/gr/index.html) For more regarding the audiovisual sector in Greece, visit the Hellenic Audiovisual Institute (IOM) at http://www.iom.gr as well as the Secretaria General of Communication, available at: http://www. minpress.gr For statistical information on the Greek media see, National Statistical Service of Greece: http://www.statistics.gr, Athens Daily Newspaper Publishing Association (A.A.D.N.P), available at: http://www.eihea.gr, Secretaria General of Communication, available at: http://www.minpress.gr, the Greek Statistical and Economic Data Service: http://www.hellastat.gr

The trade press includes the magazines: Advertising Week, Contemporary Advertising, Ad Business and Media Weekly and Marketing Age. Detailed annual media guides are published by the company Infopublica (Publicity Guide) and by the audience rating company AGB. Finally, the Association of Athens Daily Newspaper Publishers and the National Statistical Service of Greece, provide statistical information about the media in Greece.


11. AUTHORS

Dr. Maria Kontochristou teaches cultural policy and management at the Greek Open University. She holds a PhD in European and Media Studies from the London School of Economics & Political Science and studied politics, cultural policy and media in Greece, Germany and the UK. ()

Dr. Georgios Terzis is an assistant professor at Vesalius College, Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. He received his Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the Katholieke Universiteit Brussel and he also studied Journalism and Mass Communication in Greece, U.K., USA and The Netherlands. ()


12. MEDIA RESOURCES

Newspapers

Audio/Visual Media

Television

Radio

Media Institutions

Blogs/Civil Media

Excerpt from EUROPEAN MEDIA GOVERNANCE: THE NATIONAL AND REGIONAL DIMENSIONS, published by Intellect (http://www.intellectbooks.com).

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