Eleftherotypia

Eleftherotypia (Greek: Ελευθεροτυπία meaning "free press") is a daily newspaper published in Athens, Greece. It is one of the most widely circulated newspapers in the country. Eleftherotypia also publishes a Sunday edition Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia (Greek: Κυριακάτικη Ελευθεροτυπία). It was first published in 1975. Breaking the trend of Greek press, it was originally owned by its journalists. However, it was eventually taken over by the secretive Tegopoulos brothers. It is now published by businessman Thanasis Tegopoulos and retains its traditional socialist domestic and international stance as well as a sympathetic view of terrorist organisations. It recent editor, Seraphim Fitanides retired only to find a position in the national ERT TV station - thereby imitating what he had condemned others of doing.

Contents

Internal affairs

Eleftherotypia editors often adopt a social-democratic stance on a number of issues, but more radical viewpoints are also frequently represented in the paper, to a notably greater extent than in centre-left daily To Vima. The newspaper is often supportive of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) party, however it has also criticized the party during its time in office. The Saturday and Sunday editions of Eleftherotypia, usually feature articles by a group of journalists, who collectively use the name the "Ios" (Greek "Ιος" meaning "virus"). The Ios are known for targeting and heavily criticizing the Greek far right, the church, the army, the police and United States foreign policy.

Eleftherotypia and radical groups

In April 1977, Revolutionary Organization 17 November sent a manifesto to Eleftherotypia, titled "Reply to the parties and groups" ("Απάντηση στα κόμματα και τις οργανώσεις"). The preface of the manifesto stated that Eleftherotypia was chosen because a) it reported with respect to the facts of the attacks and b) gave voice to the full spectrum of the Left, even when not accepting its causes. This was the beginning of a trend that continued for almost every such action 17 November undertook, up until the organization's capture in 2002. Other Greek left wing radical and terrorist organizations, such as ELA, as well as small militant anarchist groups, also send their communiques exclusively to Eleftherotypia, under the assumption that the newspaper, while unlikely to be directly supportive, would be more likely to publicise their views.

The newspaper became known for its policy of publishing the proclamations of such groups without criticism. Until September 2001, it often tended to avoid criticism of terrorist activities in general.

In November 2005, the Court of Appeals in Athens found the company owning the newspaper (Tegopoulos Publishing), the editor-in-chief Serafeim Fyntanides and another 2 persons guilty of slandering the Public Prosecutor of the trial of the 17N terrorist group, District Attorney Christos Lambrou. They were fined Euro 60,000 each to be paid to Mr. Lambrou.

International affairs

In accordance with the paper's leftist alignment, Eleftherotypia articles are characterized by support of the anti-globalization movement [1] and opposition to United States foreign policy.

The newspaper also once briefly hosted comment pieces that referred to Al Qaeda attacks as "the oppressed people's struggle" against "the real terrorists", "a beast", "a tyrant" and "gangsters".

Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia, the paper's separate Sunday edition, hosts advocacy journalism articles from Le Monde Diplomatique that examine major international issues.

The "9" comics magazine

Every Wednesday, the newspaper features the "9" ("ennea") comics magazine. 9 enjoys high readership of approximately 200,000 readers weekly. The magazine regularly organizes comics exhibitions and every year holds a competition for new talents and new creators, through which many young Greek comic artists have emerged, such as Elias Kyriazis, Tasos Papaioannou, Argyris Mavreas, Katerina Vamvasaki and Vasilis Lolos.

Each issue usually features an ongoing "central story" which usually takes up 4 or 5 consecutive issues, a science fiction short story and various comics, strips and caricatures. Since the beginning of the magazine's publication, in June 2000, there has never been a single issue that does not feature a woman at its cover page.

See also

• Politics of Greece
• List of newspapers in Greece

External links

• Eleftherotypia Website (in Greek)
• Ios Website (in Greek)

A portion of content for this article is credited to Wikipedia. Content under GNU Free Documentation License(GFDL)