DUBLIN CITY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATIONS
Supervisor: Professor John Horgan
PhD THESIS
Politics, Media and Journalism in Greece
By Antonis Skamnakis I hereby certify that this material, which I haw submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of PkD is entirely my own work and haw not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work
Signed: 4 IDNO-c Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank his daughter Xrena, his son Kyriakos and his wife Joanna for their support. He would like also to thank his colleagues and his supervisor Professor John Horgan. Politics, Media and Journalism in Greece
By Antonis Skamnakis
Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to analyze the relationship between politics and media in
Greece. The relations of the two fields are defined mainly by the underdevelopment of Greek capitalism.
This fact had a decisive contribution in the delay of democratization of the political institutions but also in the delay of development of a massive press.
During its emergence, the Greek press was an instrument for the propagatory of national ideas and supporting the movement for national liberation.
Later it played an important role in the creation of a constitutional state. The press during that phase was not simply political, but a political institution of power.
Even during the period of political divisions of the Greek political system, press functioned inside these divisions, not only by supporting but also by expressing either conservative or liberal political forces.
The appearance of radio and later of television was connected with state interference and state control. Both these media, until recently, comprised an integral ideological mechanism of the state and the political powers.
The de-regulation of the broadcasting field and the upgraded role of media, and especially of television, did not decrease the degree of composition of these relationships.
The entry and the domination of businessmen with main interests in other economic fields expanded the relationship between political power and media on economic level. From the estabIishment of the Modern Greek State untiI today, politics and media not only continue to have a close relationship but one depends on the other. The media supported politically and ideologEcalIy the politicaI power and in turn the political power supported and provided the media with vast subsidies and public contracts.
This thesis supports that in Greece historically, there was developed a reIationship of interdependence between the political power and the media, which reflected difient characteristics at different historical periods. Even nowadays this interdependence continues to exist, taking the .Form of Media ClienteIism. CONTENTS
Introduction ...... p.2-6
Methodology...... p. 6-10
Literatu~Review ...... p. 10-30
Chapter 1: The histoy of the Greek Psess and Politics...... p. 3 1-74
Chapter 2: PoIitics and Media (1940-1961)...... ‘ p .75- 140
Political Context ...... p . 75-107
Media Development...... p 107-140
Chapter 3: Dictatorship and Media (1967- 1974)...... 141- 177
Polrtlcal. . Context ...... p. 14 J -154
Media during Dictatorship ...... p. 154-177
Chapter 4: Politics and Media (1 974-1990)...... p .178-233
Political Context ...... p. 178-203
Media Development ...... p. 203-233
Chapter 5: Politics and Media (1990-2005) ...... p 234-267
PoliticaI Context ...... p. 234-254
Media Development ...... p. 255-267
Conclusions...... p 268-28 1
Appendixes...... 282-326