Georgia Gioltzidou | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (original) (raw)

Papers by Georgia Gioltzidou

The regional press serves as a fundamental pillar supporting the institution of democratic report... more The regional press serves as a fundamental pillar supporting the institution of democratic reporting in local communities. In Greece, regional development has been and continues to be uneven, resulting in disparities evident within the evolution of regional press across provinces. The financial crisis within the Greek economy, coupled with the prevalence of electronic media and social networks, has placed substantial pressure on the regional press. The objective of this study is to delineate the current situation and recent developments in the structure of Greece's regional press, with a specific focus on daily newspapers. The study's findings have established that the financial crisis, the growth of the internet, and the utilization of social media have brought about significant changes in the structure of publishing companies. However, it is noteworthy that despite their declining sales, there has not been a necessary impact on their readability.

European Journal of Communication and Media Studies, 2023

The "World Press Freedom Index" is published annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and aims... more The "World Press Freedom Index" is published annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and aims to compare 180 countries and territories according to the level of freedom enjoyed by journalists and the media. For 2023, Greece is in position 107 on the list, occupying the last position among the countries of the European Union. As a result of the financial and political crisis, Greek journalists and media faced a deepening lack of trust in the country (Gioltzidou, 2018). In this context, the present study attempts an in-depth study of the potentially problematic aspects of the practice of journalism in Greece, starting from the level of coverage of international news on public television. The theoretical study is based on the research of Lent (1977), who concluded that national interests, censorship (internal or external), and an increasingly shrinking body of correspondents limit international news coverage in the media. In the empirical part, the research results obtained from the study of 66 news bulletins and 1447 separate news topics on the public television ERT3 during September 2021 were presented. The central research question of the study is "What is the role and the position of international news in news bulletins in Greece in cases of global crisis?".

European Journal of Communication and Media Studies

This paper examines the extent to which media and journalists cover European Union issues, both q... more This paper examines the extent to which media and journalists cover European Union issues, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Are the media undermining the EU by the way they report it? How has journalism responded to the transformation of politics resulting from European integration? In order to answer to these research questions, we carried out a survey across four European countries – Germany, Croatia, Belgium, and Greece – searching for elements of convergence and divergence in the coverage of European news. Subsequently, we attempted a comparison of the amount of news produced by the European Union with the corresponding quantity of news produced in the chosen countries. The results show that there is a gap between the news that is produced by the European Union, compared to what is broadcasted at a national level, but also that there is a great difference between how each country chooses to cover issues of European interest.

Envisioning the Future of Communication, 2023

In recent years, there has been a sharply distorted perception of the refugee and migration pheno... more In recent years, there has been a sharply distorted perception of the refugee and migration phenomenon. Due to the media's often skewed presentation of the separate issues of immigration and refugee, many have difficulty even understanding the definitions of these two situations. Citizens cannot perceive the difference between immigration as a choice and being refugee as a one-way street and coercion. As a result, citizens consider the boundaries of the two situations indistinguishable. The present study investigates the way in which refugees and immigrants are represented in the Greek press, in times of crisis. Through a comparative study on the front pages of Greek political newspapers, we seek to analyze how this news is covered and mainly how refugees and immigrants are portrayed by Greek journalists. The research question is whether a newspaper's political positions influence the way it portrays refugees. Methodologically, the study is based on the framing theory, which has become a dominant tool for describing, understanding and evaluating media content. The idea of the research is partly based on Hall's positions (1981: 64, 87) that the media “not only distort reality, but also define it”.

Ετήσιο Ελληνόφωνο Επιστημονικό Συνέδριο Εργαστηρίων Επικοινωνίας, 2022

Η παρούσα μελέτη επιχειρεί να σκιαγραφήσει το επίπεδο άσκησης της περιβαλλοντικής δημοσιογραφίας ... more Η παρούσα μελέτη επιχειρεί να σκιαγραφήσει το επίπεδο άσκησης της περιβαλλοντικής δημοσιογραφίας στην Ελλάδα. Στο πρώτο μέρος, γίνεται μια σύντομη βιβλιογραφική επισκόπηση σε σχέση με την περιβαλλοντική δημοσιογραφία ως ανεξάρτητο επαγγελματικό πεδίο, ενώ αναζητούνται οι σύγχρονες τάσεις, προκλήσεις και απειλές του κλάδου, έτσι όπως αυτές περιγράφονται στο ακαδημαϊκό πεδίο. Στο δεύτερο μέρος, με βάση ποσοτικά αλλά και ποιοτικά στοιχεία, μελετώνται οι δέκα (10) πρώτοι σε αναγνωσιμότητα ειδησεογραφικοί ιστότοποι στην Ελλάδα, σε αναζήτηση του αποτυπώματος της περιβαλλοντικής δημοσιογραφίας, του βαθμού αλλά και των τρόπων κάλυψης των ειδήσεων. Το κεντρικό ερευνητικό ερώτημα είναι, αν, και σε ποιο βαθμό, ασκείται η περιβαλλοντική δημοσιογραφία ως διακριτό δημοσιογραφικό είδος στον ελληνικό ηλεκτρονικό τύπο. Η μελέτη αποκαλύπτει μια σειρά τάσεων, παραλήψεων και στρεβλώσεων που παρατηρούνται στην ελληνική δημοσιογραφία, όσον αφορά τη δημοσίευση και προώθηση ειδήσεων που σχετίζονται με το περιβαλλοντικό ρεπορτάζ. Τόσο τα ποσοτικά, όσο και τα ποιοτικά δεδομένα της έρευνας, αποδεικνύουν ότι στην περίπτωση της Ελλάδας, η περιβαλλοντική δημοσιογραφία δεν είναι μέχρι και σήμερα αρκούντως αναπτυγμένη.

In the current setting of the COVID-19 pandemic people frequently find social media as a convenie... more In the current setting of the COVID-19 pandemic people frequently find social media as a convenient way to express their opinions and concerns as well as either approve or criticize the ongoing reality (τεκτενόμενα). The article tries to investigate the role of the language (greek Vs english) of the Twitter hastags in the dissemination of the information during COVID-19, in Greece. With the use of Node Excel we have extracted official hashtags related to corona virus pandemic in greek(lish) and english, (#menoumespiti #menoumeasfaleis and covid19greece) and we compare the use of them. We proceeded with the construction of the semantic network using textual analysis, in order to reveal the relationships between ideas embedded in text. Visualization of the network reveals the centrality or clustering of certain ideas. This framework of study can prove very useful in opinion mining in social media users' opinion mining.

SafeGreece 2021, 2021

This paper investigates how sustainable development issues are communicated in Greece. Specifical... more This paper investigates how sustainable development issues are communicated in Greece. Specifically, the study focuses on the way in which Social Media users communicate with each other at times sustainable development issues are being put to public consultation. The reasoning of the research is part of the scientific discussion on the use of Social Media as communication tools for sustainable development. The main research question of the study was posed as follows: What are the main issues that appear in the public issues related to sustainable development and who are their main communicators? The conclusions showed that Twitter users in Greece show low participation in discussions related to sustainable development, while the public debate is led more by government agencies than by citizens or politicians.

ΤΟ ΒΗΜΑ ΤΩΝ ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΩΝ, 2022

Το παρόν άρθρο εξετάζει την Επικοινωνία για την Ανάπτυξη και την Κοινωνική Αλλαγή (ΕΑΚΑ) και την ... more Το παρόν άρθρο εξετάζει την Επικοινωνία για την Ανάπτυξη και την Κοινωνική Αλλαγή (ΕΑΚΑ) και την προοπτική εφαρμογής της στην Ελλάδα. Η ΕΑΚΑ αποτελεί ένα διεπιστημονικό πεδίο που αφορά στη χρήση της επικοινωνίας με στόχο την ανάπτυξη. Παρότι είναι συνυφασμένη με τον αναπτυσσόμενο κόσμο, στις μέρες μας η ΕΑΚΑ βιώνει εσωτερικές ανακατατάξεις. Παγκόσμιες προκλήσεις, όπως η οικονομική κρίση, έχουν προκαλέσει μια σειρά συζητήσεων για την αναθεώρηση του πεδίου αναφορικά με την εννοιολόγηση της ανάπτυξης και με τη διεύρυνση της γεωγραφικής του εμβέλειας. Εξετάζοντας την εφαρμογή της ΕΑΚΑ στην Ελλάδα, το παρόν άρθρο επιδιώκει να συμβάλλει σε αυτόν τον διεθνή διάλογο.

SHS Web of Conferences, 2022

Although everything is running extremely fast in today's age, is undoubtedly interesting the ... more Although everything is running extremely fast in today's age, is undoubtedly interesting the fact that people are always able to maneuver, adapt and adjust to new situations, one way or another. The same applies for the journalistic field. Amidst the rapidly ongoing developments and the evolution progress of technology, the traditional journalists observe enormous changes, often frightening, in front of their eyes. Their professional lives have undergone great changes and adaptations. Generations come and go, facing at the same time elements of convergence and divergence. How have these journalists managed to balance between the past and the future of journalism? What helped them to adapt in a world that is quite unidentified to them? What are the big differences that lay between today's and yesterday's field of journalism? What are the positive and the negative effects of the technological and educational revolution in the field of journalism? And finally, how do the di...

SafeKozani 2018 ‐ Civil Protection & New Technology , 2019

In the last few years, social media have been found to play an important role as additional media... more In the last few years, social media have been found to play an important role as additional media for many-to-many crisis communication. Additionally, as a rich source of social data, there has been growing interest in using Twitter for situational awareness. The purpose of the study, is to examine the relationship between mainstream media and Twitter agendas, during natural disasters in Greece. This paper has collected Twitter data during natural disasters in Greece, using prominent hashtags. The study also traces media coverage during the same period, to test the hypothesis that the mainstream media agenda has an influence on the social media discussion. It aims to answer a series of research questions about information dissemination and the role of social media. The material was analysed on the basis of contents of tweets and popularity in terms of retweets. The paper applies two theoretical frameworks: Bourdieu's (1991) analytical concept of habitus and field theory, and Castells' (2009) theory of power in the network society. The preliminary findings suggest that while mainstream media define the news agenda, Twitter help communicate the news to a large mass of people. In addition, our analysis provides insights on how Twitter may be challenging the dominant position of mainstream media during periods of crisis in Greece.

Crisis Reporting, 2019

In the last few years, Greece has been characterized by periods of mass mobilization and protest,... more In the last few years, Greece has been characterized by periods of mass mobilization and protest, which affected deeply all areas of life. One field that has changed dramatically is that of political journalism. The paper seeks to map some of the changes that have affected the Greek political news landscape, as a result of the deepening crisis and the rise of social media. Starting at 2010, a wave of social mobilisation and general strikes against austerity measures took place across Greece. New politicians entered the scene while some of the traditional parties lost their political legitimacy. As a result of the financial and political crisis, Greek journalists and media faced a deepening lack of trust. In this context, social media have evolved into powerful tools for communication and a significant form of engagement for many Greeks. It was at this level, that especially through Twitter, political communication players altered the way of their interaction with the public. This paper, taking the Greek national elections in 2012 as its starting point, has collected Twitter data from ten different periods of crisis that caused social mobilisation in Greece. How many journalists responded to the wave of participatory and social media? What do they do on Twitter? What is the content of their tweets? Did journalists alter the way they tell stories or they tend to normalisation? How are their contributions received by the Twittersphere?