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Journalism Culture and Professional Identity in Transit: Technology, Crisis and Opportunity in the Greek Media

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Digital Technology and Journalism

Abstract

This chapter explores the potential transformation of journalism practices under the influence of digital technology in the context of Greece. It seeks to contribute to broader debates regarding the Internet’s universalistic power and the transformation of journalism on a global level by looking beyond Anglo-American traditions and offering evidence from a country that has received little attention so far. The austerity measures implemented in the last 6 years to control public-sector debt have left Greece’s media organizations severely affected, while alternative news platforms, such as news blogs, are on the rise. In this climate of financial uncertainty, online technologies present journalists and audiences with opportunities that put the traditional partisan media culture of Greece to the test. Through interviews with professional journalists, we shed light on questions of journalistic transformation as it happens in the current economic and political context of Greece. The findings from the interviews are discussed against the results of a systematic cross-media computer-assisted qualitative frame analysis of partisan newspapers and independent news blogs. With their capacity to host volumes of information and frame it in unique packages news blogs can provide a channel for authentic expression and political debate that conduces to the Internet’s role in the Greek journalism culture.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

    Maria Touri

  2. Department of Journalism and Mass Media, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Ioanna Kostarella

  3. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Sofia Theodosiadou

Authors
  1. Maria Touri
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  2. Ioanna Kostarella
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  3. Sofia Theodosiadou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Touri .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Brunel University London, London, United Kingdom

    Jingrong Tong

  2. National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi County, Taiwan

    Shih-Hung Lo

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Touri, M., Kostarella, I., Theodosiadou, S. (2017). Journalism Culture and Professional Identity in Transit: Technology, Crisis and Opportunity in the Greek Media. In: Tong, J., Lo, SH. (eds) Digital Technology and Journalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55026-8_6

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