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How the world sees Greece
Saturday, September 7, 2013
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL: 'Sacro GRA' wins Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival
Italian film "Sacro GRA", a documentary from director Gianfranco Rosi, won the Golden Lion for best film at this year’s Venice Film Festival Saturday. The Silver Lion for best director went to Greece’s Alexandros Avranas for "Miss Violence".
Greece sweats at Liechtenstein but catches Bosnia
By George Georgakopoulos Costas Mitroglou redeemed himself and the rest of the national team, scoring ...
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Greece PM predicts end to recession at end of 2014
15/04/2013 17:37 CET Greece will end six years of recession by the end of 2014. That’s the message Antonis Samaras, the Greek Prime Minister gave at the annual trade fair in Thessaloniki. It was a speech brimming with economic confidence and optimism. He told the audience: ';Primary surplus means that the country can stand on it’s feet. It means that after the end of the year, ...
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Greece Did Not Exploit €114B
Commissioner Johannes Hahn announced that the structural budget heading of 1,14 bn euros was not exploited by the Greek Government during the period 2000-2006. This budget heading could be a relief for the hard economic situation in Greece, but the Greek government did not use it without explaining the reason. The business news magazine Wirtschaftswoche will publish all the statements made by ...
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Greeces PM says country on track to economic recovery promises relief to Greeks after years of austerity
Antonis Samaras of Greece seized on new economic data on Saturday that indicated the country was on track to economic recovery and promised relief to Greeks weary of years of punishing ...
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Greece scrape past Liechtenstein
Greece eventually broke through in the 72nd minute when Mitroglou turned in a low cross from Vassilis Torosidis from six metres. Sotiris Ninis hit the post from distance as Greece dominated the closing stages. A frustrating night for Greece turned to joy ...
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Greek PM says recession in 2013 to be less than expected
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said on Saturday the country's economy would contract by less than expected in 2013 before returning to growth next year. "The recession this ...
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We need to talk about Greece and other spendthrifts
We need to talk about Greece and other spendthriftsThought LeaderIn response to my last blog posting a few people raised the following argument in relation to state spending: if you spend more than you consume, at some point you have to cut back and live within your means. After all, as an individual or company, if ...
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The crooked mirror of a media monopoly
by
New Europe
Alie told often enough becomes the truth. We’ve heard this proverb at least a hundredfold. Only, it’s not a proverb. It’s part of the truth machine and was formulated by none other than Joseph Goebbels, Nazi German minister of propaganda and (you guessed it!) information. Let us now return to Bulgaria, a nation under the sway of a “media monopoly”. This claim has been circulating for a number of years by a group of publications and their satellite groupings and nobody seriously questions its veracity.
Defining the problem The media group waving the standard of protection against monopolies is the Ikonomedia group, owned by Bulgarian oligarch Ivo Prokopiev. The accusations are mainly levelled at the NBMG Nova Balgarska Mediyna Grupa managed by Irena Krasteva. The Ikonomedia titles like to air the media monopoly story, hardly ever with any particular arguments in support of their claims. What then is a monopoly? A monopoly is a market arrangement precisely defined as featuring a sole purveyor who sells products that have no close competitor. A monopoly is the complete absence of any competition. The word has Greek roots that mean “selling alone”. This is the definition of the problem. Returning to the media, an Open Society Institute study in May 2012 shows that the number of people deriving their information from printed media has dropped over the past four years. Newspaper circulations are falling and some of them are ceasing to exist in print, going entirely online. The reason is the constant rise in readers who prefer to inform themselves of developments through the internet.
Letting the facts speak Irena Krasteva’s Nova Balgarska Mediyna Grupa, said to be a media market monopolist, actually possesses three dailies (Monitor, Telegraf and Meridian Mach), two weeklies (Politika and Europost) and the Borba regional newspaper. Of these, only two have websites in Bulgarian (monitor.bg and politika.bg), with europost.eu being in English. Only the Monitor website, however, features in the Alexa.com ranking of Bulgaria’s most visited sites, where it ranks 260th, far behind Ikonomedia sites, for one. Alongside the latter sites, Prokopiev’s company also owns karieri.bg, bacchus.bg, odit.info, regal.bg, gradat.bg, foton.bg, foton.bg, sofiaecho.com, stroitelstvo.info, zastrahovamse.com, aiidatapro.com, and seenews.com. All these facts are deliberately concealed, for they show that it is precisely Ikonomedia that owns the most visited business and political information websites in the Bulgarian market. Though Prokopiev’s people might hope of being able to manipulate European bodies, too, any attempt is doomed in advance. Monopolists shouting “Catch monopolist!”
It is worth remembering that it was the Ikonomedia group that became Bulgaria’s first proper media monopolist. It acquired its competitor, the Pari newspaper, in rather morally controversial circumstances, becoming a Bulgarian business publications monopolist. Perhaps mixing morality and business is outlandish, yet the deal between Ikonomedia and former Pari publisher Biznes Media Grup remains controversial, even if the most basic criteria for morality are set aside. The formal announcement that Ikonomedia would henceforth be the publisher of Pari came in late September 2011. At the time, the mere hint that new proprietor Ivo Prokopiev actually wished to close down the Pari title where his career had begun and with which he had competed unsuccessfully for years. The acquisition price was never revealed. Immediately after the deal, Lidia Apostolova was appointed executive director. At the same time, she managed Pari. She herself had built a notable career at Ikonomedia and was friends with proprietor Ivo Prokopiev and his wife Galya. The Pari deal is far from the sole example of Ikonomedia attempting to impose control over the Bulgarian media market. The company is part of several “media alliances” involving other influential sites such as mediapool.bg and the Bulgarian version of the Deutsche Welle website, dw.de. Through these alliances, the champion of freedom of speech Prokopiev is able to influence the editorial policies not only of his own titles, but also of a number of “independent” electronic media. The three media companies cooperate editorially, in business, in journalist training, and know-how, and share reporters and databases. Prokopiev is also experienced in other conglomerates. In 2009, he won a communications and publicity tender for the Competitiveness Operational Programme in partnership with Sergey Stanishev’s now-wife Monika Yosifova. The consortium also includes Boryana Dimitrova from the Alfa Risarch sociological agency which is close to Prokopiev. The trio have cemented stable relationships along the media-advertising-opinion polls axis.
Facing bankruptcy But why would the Kapital circle wish to promote the fallacy that the NBMG is a monopolist? The explanation is not hard to discover and comes down to a lack of money. Ikonomedia appears to be in economic difficulties. In 2012, the company reported a rise in negative equity and made year’s end losses of over leva 10 million. This is all in black and white in the company’s annual report, as published by the Commercial Register. In the same report, auditors Zaharinova i Partnyori note that the company’s critically worsened financial indicators threaten to face it with failure. It turns out that debt-ridden publisher Ivo Prokopiev is on the way of driving his company to a deadlock as it suffers from a sustained worsening in its financial indicators. Hence, it is a matter of life or death for him to convincingly don the hat of champion of the interests of ‘civil society’ and ‘media freedom,’ for these areas are subject to funding from foreign governments and ‘non-governmental organisations.’ Ikonomedia, thus, is a favourite of the America for Bulgaria Foundation which has given it a 3 million leva-plus grant to reinforce media freedom. In return, the Foundation has secured a platform of influence and for publicising, under the guise of ‘media partnership’ of all its initiatives and events.
The influence of printed media According to the above Open Society Institute study, Bulgaria’s top-selling and most-read dailies are Trud and 24 Chasa. Until recently, they were owned by pharmaceuticals magnate Ognyan Donev and his partner Lyubomir Pavlov. After being arraigned on prosecution service charges of money laundering, tax evasion and asset stripping of the Obshtinska Banka municipal bank, Donev and Pavlov were forced to sell their equities in the papers. The ranking appended to the study of Bulgaria’s most influential newspapers contains but a single Nova Balgarska Mediyna Grupa title: Telegraf. While its circulation is growing all the time, however, its influence remains far lower than that of the two leaders Trud and 24 Chasa.
Hard figures While Ikonomedia titles cover near the bottom of printed media rankings, online platforms show an entirely different picture. The latest Gemius data on Bulgarian internet traffic show that dnevnik.bg ranks 24th among most visited sites with over 492,000 unique calls. Only 24chasa.bg ranks after the Ikonomedia site among political information portals. Close followers are capital.bg and “partner” sites offnews.bg and mediapool.bg. The Nova Balgarska Mediyna Grupa newspaper sites monitor.bg and politika.bg simply do not make it into the top 300. The Alexa ranking of Bulgaria’s most popular sites (which includes the world’s largest sites like google.com, facebook.com, youtube.com and others) places dnevnik.bg 20th. The Bulgarian traffic analysis system tyxo.bg attributes some 35,000 visits daily to the site. The dnevnik.bg friendly site offnews.bg ranks 34th and capital.bg ranks 65th. Kapital circle media sites are significantly ahead of the internet portals of all leading national television channels like bTV, BNT, ТV7, and Nova Televizia and also those of the largest daily papers like Trud, or Standart. As early as 2004, the Ikonomedia sites announced they were working in alliance with Nova Evropa, the Bulgarian version of the Deutsche Welle site dw.de and with the mediapool.bg electronic edition which attracts some 14,000 calls daily according to tyxo.bg
Business on the media environment If all the above, including data, fails to come across as sufficiently convincing, the Bulgarian periodical publishers’ views on media monopoly might carry more weight. The publishers’ position is that there is no monopoly. “The members of the Bulgarian Media Union categorically oppose attempts to manipulate public opinion and European offices by presenting untrue information about freedom of speech and the state of the media environment in Bulgaria,” says a Bulgarian Media Union statement. Publishers are also concerned about the fact that freelance journalists who represent nobody but themselves are attacking freedom of speech in Bulgaria in a campaign to discredit independent media, with only the Kapital circle media joining in. “These insinuations mostly take the form of manipulations and the dissemination of untrue information about the Bulgarian media environment. Alongside this, the slanderous campaign attempts to bring pressure over Bulgarian business and offices of state, in essence aiming at destabilisation and chaos,” add the publishers. According to them, the Bulgarian media environment needs self regulation and uniform journalistic standards.
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Germans fret over eurozone as Cyprus woes deepen
Cyprus is having its worst economic downturn since the 1970s and that's bad news not only for Cypriots but also for Germans and other eurozone members. Fears over what German taxpayers may have to do next to bail out Greece are already an election issue as German ...
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Chobani identifies mold in yogurt, says it's not a risk to most
Greek yogurt maker Chobani has identified the mold responsible for a recall of products from store shelves nationwide, but says that it won't make most people sick. On its Facebook page Friday, the company said extensive testing had detected a mold called Mucor circinelloides in samples of yogurt.
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Wine Making in Greece Through The Centuries
Many fascinating insights into the culture of wine were discovered in the Minoan village of Myrtos near Ierapetra. Several clay wine presses, wine cups, amphorae and wine seeds were discovered throughout the island of Crete and brought to light ...
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Greek Festival celebrates heritage, family
The 78-year-old enjoys selling raffle tickets to visitors at the 23rd annual event held at Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church on Oakridge Ave. Dais, a church member, has volunteered at the festival since its beginning. "You don't ...
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Greek Talent Shines at Greek American Fashion Week 2013
In addition to the runway show, the week includes a high-end silent auction, a cocktail party, an after party at Meli Restaurant, as well as a series of fashion events. The event was started initially by Maria and Taso Pardalis in 2012 ...
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Greece boosts security for PM Samaras Thessaloniki speech
BBC NewsGreece boosts security for PM Samaras Thessaloniki speechBBC NewsFour thousand police have been deployed ahead of union protests in Thessaloniki where the Greek prime minister will give his annual speech on the economy. Antonis Samaras is expected to back a continued austerity programme in his address at a trade ...Greek labor union foresees worse economic future ahead of relaunch of anti ...Xinhuaall 2 news articles »
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Greece comes to Texas at the Kemah Greek Food and Wine Festival
Greece comes to Texas at the Kemah Greek Food and Wine FestivalYour Houston NewsThe seaside community of Kemah will be bursting with the sights, sounds and flavors of Greece during the Kemah Greek Food and Wine Festival, September 13-15. With authentic Greek cuisine, Greek wine from Santorini, and craft and specialty beers, this ...
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Armed Forces Officers Rally in Thessaloniki
On September 6, representatives of the Hellenic Police, the Fire Brigade and Coast Guardhosted a rally in the White Tower of Thessaloniki, the second biggest city in Greece, shouting slogans, to express their opposition to wage and pension cuts. At the meeting point, the White Tower, several representatives of the Pan-Hellenic Federations, deputies of opposition parties, the president of ADEDY ...
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Troika Says Greek Reforms Still Lag
After more than three years of insisting, demanding, pestering, pleading, threatening, cajoling, badgering and negotiating with successive Greek governments to make reforms needed for bailout loans to keep coming – which always have, even when there was a failure to comply – the country’s international lenders have now sent a memo of reminder about how much remains undone. The ...
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IMF Says Greek Gap 46.8B By 2020
The math, already against Greece being able to repay $325 billion in two bailouts from international lenders, got even worse with the news from the International Monetary Fund that there will be a 46.8 billion euro ($61.76 billion) hole in the economy from 2015-2020. The IMF, along with the European Union and European Central Bank, makes up the Troika putting up the monies keeping the Greek ...
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Greece Edges Liechtenstein In Cup Qualifier
Hoping to get into next year’s World Cup in Brazil, Greece advanced in a qualifying game by defeating lowly Lichtenstein, 1-0 off a late winner from Costas Mitroglou to go level on points with Group G leader Bosnia, which lost 1-0 at home against Slovakia. Despite the victory, the Greeks hardly impressed against a team which had no chance of qualifying off its record. Mitroglou missed a ...
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Mold in recalled Chobani doesnt pose a health risk Greek yogurt maker says
The mold that caused the recalled Chobani Greek yogurt to go bad before its expiration date caused explosions in Wisconsin consumers' fridges and lunch boxes, but it won't cause any food-borne illnesses, Chobani said in an email to the Journal Sentinel Friday. As the Journal Sentinel ...
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Greece sees rebound after strong tourism season
Greece sees rebound after strong tourism seasonGlobalPostGood news in Greece is in short supply these days but a strong tourism season has raised hopes for an escape from the six-year recession. The country's statistics bureau said Friday that huge tourism revenues had softened the economy's contraction.
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Late relief for Greece in Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein 0-1 Greece Greece moved level with Bosnia and Herzegovina at the top of Group G but were made to work hard by a determined Liechtenstein side.
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Soccer-Greece scrape past Liechtenstein to go joint top
VADUZ, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Greece needed a second-half goal from Kostas Mitroglou to scrape a 1-0 win in Liechtenstein, in a match where both sides finished with 10 men, and go level on points at the top of their World Cup qualifying group on Friday. Greece, who joined Bosnia on 16 points from seven games in Group G, produced a dismal first half and were really struggling when Jose Holebas was ...
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Football
Football - Greece scrape past Liechtenstein to go joint topYahoo! Eurosport UKGreece needed a second-half goal from Kostas Mitroglou to scrape a 1-0 win in Liechtenstein, in a match where both sides finished with 10 men, and go level on points at the top of their World Cup qualifying group on Friday. Reuters – 7 minutes ago ...
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Chobani Announces Greek Yogurt Recall After Illness Reports Surface
Chobani has finally issued an official recall of some of its Greek yogurt cups following reports of illness. The New York-based company asked retailers to start removing the yogurt cups from shelves last week following consumer reports of fizzing yogurt coming from hissing cups. Chobani's chief executive, Hamdi Ulukaya, said a certain kind of ...
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Mitroglou nicks Greece victory in Vaduz
Greece joined Bosnia-Herzegovina at the top of European Group G in 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ qualifying with a hard-fought 1-0 win in Vaduz. Both sides had a man sent off - Jose Holebas for Greece and David Hasler for Liechtenstein - before Kostas ...
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Greece struggles to beat Liechtenstein 1-0
Latinos PostGreece struggles to beat Liechtenstein 1-0MiamiHerald.comATHENS, Greece -- Costas Mitroglou scored a late winner as Greece beat Liechtenstein 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier Friday to go level on points with Group G leader Bosnia. Mitroglou missed a string of chances in Vaduz, but finally defeated in-form ...Liechtenstein vs. Greece World Cup 2014 Qualifiers: Live Stream, Score ...Latinos Postall 8 news articles »
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Greece Democrats announce slate for November
Greece Democrats announce slate for NovemberRochester Democrat and ChroniclePromising to usher in a new era of honest, open government the Greece Democratic Committee on Friday officially unveiled its slate of candidates for November's general elections. Up for grabs Nov. 5 are seven seats in town government, as well as one ...Greece Dems outline open government agendaRochester City Newspaper (blog)all 2 news articles »
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Big Tourism Bucks Slow Recession
With summer ending it won’t last long, but Greece’s record-breaking tourist year has put the brakes on a runaway recession – without stopping it. According to the country’s statistical agency ELSTAT, the economy shrank 3.8 percent during the second quarter, 0.8 percent less than expected. This difference is attributed to data not available in the original evaluation, such ...
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Greece Turkey to resume exploratory talks on Monday
The 55th round of exploratory talks between Turkey and Greece will take place in Istanbul on Monday, according to a statement by the Greek Foreign Ministry ...
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Excess of life sentences puts further strain on prisons
Greece has the highest proportion of inmates serving life sentences in the European Union, putting a further strain on a correctional system that has labored under a dated penal code.According to data seen by Kathimerini, ...
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Olympians won’t be spared from civil service transfers
Greek athletes who were awarded honorary posts in the public sector after performing well at the Olympics and other major sporting events have been told they would not be exempt from the civil service mobility scheme.Administrative Reform Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met on Friday with Hellenic Olympians Association representatives and, according to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, told them ...
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Major increase in arrivals from abroad this August
By Stathis Kousounis This August, thousands more foreign tourists enjoyed the beaches of Corfu and other Greek islands than last year, as the combined total of foreign arrivals at the airports of Corfu, Iraklio, Rhodes, Zakynthos and Cephalonia exceeded that of August 2012 by 14.2 percent, clearing 1.3 million.Corfu added 12.2 percent, Rhodes 12.9 percent, Iraklio 14.9 percent, Zakynthos 16.7 ...
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‘Greek’ Star Amber Stevens Joins Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum in ’22 Jump Street’
Amber Stevens, who starred on ABC Family’s “Greek,” is set to play Jonah Hill’s love interest in Sony’s collegiate comedy “22 Jump Street,” TheWrap has learned. Sequel finds stars Channing Tatum and Ice Cube returning along with filmmakers ...
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