OPINION

The most superficial medium of them all

The old saying that journalists are quick to speak out on matters about which they are completely ignorant may seem excessive, but I fear that anyone watching so-called news bulletins on Greek television would be hard pushed to draw a different conclusion. It is quite clear that print journalism, despite all its oversights and imperfections, is the most responsible and serious in the field of the media today. Television, meanwhile, is by its very nature more superficial because it is based upon informing viewers by way of images; it is a medium which cannot «hold» words and as such is not conducive to in-depth analysis. In our country of excesses and warped imitation, the advantages of TV as an informative medium are limited while its disadvantages are overwhelming. And the fiercer the competition gets in the private sector, the worse things will become. The practice of broadcasting debates with guest speakers pictured in «windows» on the TV screen can also be seen on many foreign TV channels, but in most cases these guests are experts in their fields. In Greece, however, this practice is abused, with the same old journalists featured in the windows of TV debates, spouting their theories and, more often than not, arguing with their interlocutors – a spectacle that, channel heads are convinced, boosts their ratings.

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