Syriza and the new economic narrative
Greece’s Syriza party challenges the media narrative on austerity. And, the close ties between journalists and NGOs.
Since Greece’s left-wing Syriza party was elected into power on January 25, 2015, it has received a frosty reception from much of the mainstream European media. Much of the mainstream media are still pushing a pro-austerity line but Syriza’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has been challenging neo-liberal orthodoxy – as well as dress codes – in Europe’s newspapers and on its TV screens.
The headlines in the German media have been especially tough, and some have been accused of scaremongering. Syriza’s plans for Greece represent a political shift, but are journalists too attached to economic binaries to tell this story accurately?
Taking us through the story this week are: media scholar Maria Kyriakidou; Paul Mason, the economics editor of Britain’s Channel 4 News; Christian Rickens, the head of the business desk at Der Spiegel Online; investigative journalist Yiannis Baboulias; and Julian Reichelt, the editor-in-chief of the best-selling German tabloid Bild.
Other media stories on our radar this week: after being dragged through the British courts, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation will not face US prosecution for phone hacking; a new TV news channel launched in Bahrain stopped broadcasting after just 11 hours; and Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, has recruited an army of supporters to effectively troll his detractors.
The ever closer ties between journalists and NGOs
When journalists report on humanitarian crises, they are increasingly reliant on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on the ground. NGOs have access, resources and local knowledge which too often journalists parachuting into a crisis do not. One of the main factors is financial as news organisations continue to shrink their budgets, making it more and more difficult to do international stories justice.
But when a journalist is “embedded” with an NGO, whose involvement could range from distributing information to providing accommodation and protection, there are ethical considerations to bear in mind. So, too, when NGOs begin to produce their own packaged reports to spare news outlets from having to send anyone at all.
The Listening Post‘s Will Yong takes a look at the implications of the symbiotic relationship between NGOs and the news.
“Ideas worth spreading” is the Technology, Education, Design (TED) mantra. But at TEDx New York last month, Will Stephen of College Humour delivered a TED talk containing no ideas at all. Parodying a style that started over 20 years ago in Silicon Valley, that is our endnote video of the week.