Can Social Media Expand Public Discourse in a ‘Captured’ Mediascape?
The Case of Greece
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51480/1899-5101.17.2(36).662Keywords:
Greece, Greek financial crisis, public sphere, social media, media captureAbstract
The Greek public sphere has historically been regarded by scholars as not having developed as robustly as in the West. Instead, it is dominated by patronage, clientelism, and an ‘iron triangle’ between the government, media, and influential oligarchs, shutting ordinary citizens and independent media out of public discourse. Amid the economic crisis of the 2010s and along with an institutional credibility crisis, many new political and media-related initiatives were launched, all heavily relying on and utilizing social media. To what extent did they demonstrate longevity and help expand the Greek public sphere? Based on interviews from two case studies of the Independent Greeks political party and the enikos.gr news portal-blog, the results show the initiatives were ephemeral or were ‘captured’ by incumbent institutions. Accordingly, the institutional credibility crisis in Greece persists. The results contribute to an understanding of how ‘alternative,’ non-traditional and crisis-related media and political initiatives can become subject to the same forces of capture as traditional institutions.
References
Castells, M. (2015). Networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the internet age. Polity.
CNN Greece (2023, March 29) Nea epithesi Polaki kata Chatzinikolaou – Ti apanta o dimosiografos [New Polakis attack against Chatzinikolaou – How the journalist responded]. https://www.cnn.gr/politiki/story/356045/nea-epithesi-polaki-kata-xatzinikolaou-ti-apanta-o-dimosiografos
Corneo, G. (2006). Media capture in a democracy: The role of wealth concentration. Journal of Public Economics, 90(1-2), 37-58.
Dahlgren, P. (1995). Television and the public sphere: Citizenship, democracy and the media. London: Sage.
Dahlgren, P. (2005). The internet, public spheres, and political communication: Dispersion and deliberation. Political Communication, 22(2), 147-162.
Danopoulos, C.P. (2015). Accountability and the Quality of Democracy in Greece. Mediterranean Quarterly, 26(4), 110-131.
DiaNEOsis. (2017). Politismikoi paragontes tis oikonomikis autarkeias kai epiheirimatikotitas, Neoi ilikias 18-35, hristes diadiktuou [Cultural factors in economic independence and entrepreneurship: Youth aged 18-35, internet users] [Data file]. https://www.dianeosis.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ anergia_neoi_17.7.2017_updated_final.pdf
DiaNEOsis. (2024). Ti pistevoun e Ellines – Meros A’ [What Greeks believe – Part 1] [Data file]. https://www.dianeosis.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/TPE2024_Part_A.pdf
Diani, M., & Kousis, M. (2014). The duality of claims and events: The Greek campaign against the troika’s memoranda and austerity, 2010-2012. Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 19(4), 387-404.
Doudaki, V. (2015). Legitimation mechanisms in the bailout discourse. Javnost – The Public, 22(1), 1-17.
Eurobarometer. (2015, Autumn). Media use in the European Union [Data file]. https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/api/deliverable/download/file?deliverableId=53266
Gallup International. (2015). [Data file]. End of year 2014 by country: Greece. https://web.archive.org/web/20150111090526/http://www.wingia.com/web/files/richeditor/filemanager/Greece_Tables_V4_a.pdf
Giovanopoulos, C. (2011). Oi plateies os zontanos organismos: I epanakoinonikopoisi tis agoras [The squares as a live organism: The resocialization of the market]. In Giovanopoulos, C. & Mitropoulos, D. (Eds.), Dimokratia under construction: Apo tous dromous stis plateies [Democracy under construction: From the streets to the squares] (pp. 41-60). Athens: A/Synechia.
Haas, T. (2004). Alternative media, public journalism and the pursuit of democratization. Journalism Studies 5(1), 115-121.
Hallin, D.C., & Mancini, P. (2004). Comparing media systems: Three models of media and politics. Cambridge University Press.
Hallin, D.C., & Mancini, P. (2016). Ten years after Comparing Media Systems: What have we learned? Political Communication, 34(2), 155-171.
Hellman, J., Jones, G., & Kaufmann, D. (2000). Beyond the ‘grabbing hand’ of government in transition: Facing up to ‘state capture’ by the corporate sector. The World Bank, 10.
Ioakeim, S. (2020, July 6). Apokalifthike ti ekrive e Lista Petsa [What the Petsas List was hiding has been revealed]. Efimerida ton Syntakton. https://www.efsyn.gr/politiki/kybernisi/250925_apokalyfthike-ti-ekrybe-i-lista-petsa
Iosifidis, P., & Wheeler, M. (2015). The public sphere and network democracy: Social movements and political change. Global Media Journal, 13(25), 1-17.
Kalogeropoulos, A. (2019). Greece. In Reuters Institute digital news report 2019 [data file]. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/inline-files/DNR_2019_FINAL.pdf
Kalogeropoulos, A. (2022, July 6). Greece. In Reuters Institute digital news report 2022 [data file]. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-06/Digital_News-Report_2022.pdf
Kalogeropoulos, A. (2023, June). Greece. In Reuters Institute digital news report 2023 [data file]. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2023-06/Digital_News_Report_2023.pdf
Kalogeropoulos, A., Panagiotou, N., & Dimitrakopoulou, D. Reuters Institute erevna gia tis psifiakes eidiseis 2016 (Ellada) [Reuters Institute survey on digital news 2016 (Greece)]. (2016). Athens: iwrite.gr Publications.
Kapa Research. (2016, October 25). I krisi ton thesmon kai i apohi [The crisis of the institutions and abstention] [Data file]. https://kaparesearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/KapaVima_Oct16_GR.pdf
Komninou, M. (2001). Apo tin agora sto theama: Meleti gia ti sigrotisi tis dimosias sfairas kai tou kinimatografou sti sighroni Ellada, 1950-2000 [From the market to spectacle: A study on the formation of the public sphere and cinema in modern Greece, 1950-2000]. Athens: Ekdoseis Papazizi
McGuire, J. (2019). Let’s clear the air about public service announcements. PSA Research Center. https://www.psaresearch.com/lets-clear-the-air-about-public-service-announcements/
Mungiu‑Pippidi, A. (2013). Freedom without impartiality. The vicious circle of media capture. In: P. Gross & K. Jakubowicz (eds.), Media Transformations in the Post-communist World: Eastern Europe’s Tortured Path to Change (pp. 33–48). Rowman & Littlefield.
Nevradakis, M. (2018). From the polis to Facebook: Social media and the development of a new Greek public sphere (Ph.D. thesis). The University of Texas.
Nevradakis, M. (2022). Radio’s role as an alternative online medium and site of activism during a time of crisis: The case of Greece’s Radiobubble. Journal of Radio and Audio Media, 29(2), 430-456.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2017). [Data file]. Government at a glance 2017: Country fact sheet. https://www.oecd.org/gov/gov-at-a-glance-2017-greece.pdf
Panagiotopoulou, R. (2013). www.real-democracy.gr: Oi epikoinoniakes praktikes tou kinimatos ton Aganaktismenon [www.real-democracy.gr: The communications practices of the movement of the Indignants]. In Pleios, G. (Ed.), I krisi kai ta MME [Crisis and the mass media] (pp. 422-461). Athens: Ekdoseis Papazizi.
Papathanassopoulos, S. Giannouli, I., & Andreadis, I. (2016). Greece: Populism between left and right. In: T. Aalberg, F. Esser, C. Reinemann, J. Strömbäck, & C. de Vreese (eds.), Populist Political Communication in Europe (pp. 195-206). Routledge.
Pappas, T.S., & Aslanidis, P. (2015). Greek populism: A political drama in five acts. In H. Kreisi & T.S. Pappas (eds.), European populism in the shadow of the great recession (pp. 181-196). Colchester: ECPR Press.
Pleios, G. (2013). Ta MME apenanti stin krisi: Entoni yiothetisi tis logikis ton elite [The mass media in the face of the crisis: The intense adoption of the logic of the elite]. In Pleios, G. (Ed.), I krisi kai ta MME [Crisis and the mass media] (pp. 87-134). Athens: Ekdoseis Papazizi.
Rauch, J. (2015). Exploring the alternative-mainstream dialectic: What “alternative Media” means to a hybrid audience. Communication, Culture & Critique, 8(1), 124-143.
Sims, J.R. (2003). Politicians and media owners in Greek radio: Pluralism as diaploki. Journal of Radio Studies, 10(2), 202-215.
Transparency International Greece (2012). National Integrity System Assessment Greece, February 2012.
Typologies.gr (2023, June 30) Adiafaneia logo tis katargisis tou Mitrou Online Media [Lack of transparency due to abolition of Online Media Registry]. https://typologies.gr/adiafaneia-logo-tis-katargisis-toy-mitrooy-online-media/
Voria.gr (2022, January 14) Porisma ND gia kratiki diafimisi se MME: Ola eginan nomima [New Democracy investigation for state subsidies to media: Everything was done legally]. https://www.voria.gr/article/porisma-nd-gia-kratiki-diafimisi-se-mme-ola-eginan-nomima
Ypovoli Koinonikon Minimaton [Submission of public service announcements]. (n.d.). Ethniko Symvoulio Radiotileorasis. https://www.esr.gr/υποβολή-κοινωνικών-μηνυμάτων/
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Polish Communication Association
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
