8. Independence/Manipulation of the Media

Од Wikibooks

When Greek media deal with minorities, especially the nationally “sensitive” ethnonational Macedonian and Turkish ones, they usually do it to portray them negatively if not challenge the legitimacy of whatever claims they may have and question the motivation of their –naturally “unfounded”- demands. Many times such stories seem to be almost identical in content in all newspapers and they result either from a story published by a state news agency or, less frequently today, by “information” given to the journalists by some state agencies. It is characteristic that, during the heated debate on minorities in July 1999 (see section 1), the state radio and television were among the most hostile to the petition of the minority deputies, and the minority and human rights NGOs. While the state radio’s director, in his weekly column in a newspaper, strongly attacked the initiative and challenged the credibility of those NGOs. While the government spokesman occasionally denies any allegations of minority rights problems in ways that often aim at undermining the credibility of those who made them.