Despite the pressures from the sales department and advertising agencies, there are certain cases where the media have been boycotted because of their reporting. These can be very critical, especially for smaller organisations.
This was confirmed from the many cases, reported by journalists, where they have experienced boycott or pressures because of the news they reported on. For example, one interviewee described the threats of advertisement sponsors to withdraw their funding: “There is no way that we won’t transmit news that concerns our client. It has happened a number of times […] we have received threats of withdrawal if a piece of news gets out”.
Based on the interview findings, it seems reasonable to say that large media companies in Greece – either for reasons of political and ideological standpoints or for the reasons of journalistic integrity and professionalisation – have enough power to resist outside pressures. Furthermore, another interviewee pointed out that the introduction of new online media organisations has increased the communication nodes of the system, making it harder to conceal uncomfortable information.
However, a participant who works as journalist in one online media outlet reported that they [journalists] were more susceptible to pressures and might not emphasise such information so much:
There are interventions in all companies, but only as long as you have a primary advertiser and there is a piece of news that doesn’t make them look so good. This exists in every [media] organisation. But if we are talking about something very serious, it is very difficult to ensure that it is not written at all [by the journalist]. It can be written and not go up very highly. But, in any case, it will be written, so it is typically there. Even if it can be buried a bit.
This could be the case because these are smaller media outlets that lacked the backing of a strong owner, and therefore depended more on advertising money. As a director of a small media outlet argued, his organisation has been boycotted due to its reporting on big advertisers. Thus, he chose to find alternative means, such as crowd funding.
Most journalists and editors-in-chief claimed that they had no idea regarding which advertisers dominated the Greek market, but one editor-in-chief described the shifting post-crisis situation:
First in the ladder used to be the public businesses and banks. There are no public businesses anymore. Even the banks have cut down on their ads. However, the banking sector remains high, the energy sector, the betting sector, but I do not know specific numbers.
Therefore, we can assume that the market has been further shrunk after the economic crisis, increasing interdependencies and competition.
