Dark Ages: Greek gov’t spoxwoman lashes out against the Internet

It’s a fact Greek style: “The internet will never replace the newspapers!” Government spokeswoman Sofia Voultepsi, a …journalist, discovered the future of information and how it will be spread around the world. That is the Greek world of the Greek government, apparently, because the rest of the world is up to believe otherwise.

“The meaning of the newspapers press is very important. As it is [the importance]of the internet in our days. However, the internet will never replace the paper.”

Speaking at the General Assembly of the Union District Newspaper Owners, Nea Dimokratia MP Voultepsi lashed out against the internet claiming that

“whatever is printed, is being checked, double-checked and it has consequences. On internet, the most nonexistent fact, the most fragmentary report can be reproduced in a heartbeat and everybody thins that it is a fact.”

…obviously and deliberately forgetting not only case of yellow press reports but also mainstream daily TO VIMA “reporting” in June 2009 of a meeting between then prime ministers of Greece and Turkey, Karamanlis and Erdogan. A report that described in detail the agenda of the two PMs, “the cold atmosphere” and “the tough negotiations”. Too bad that Turkish PM never arrived in Athens having to cancel his visit due to health problems.

Or even the recent example of “newspapers and the truth”, where the majority of Greece’s mainstream newspapers did not spent a word about the 9 company’s of Greek interest that were listed in LuxemburgLeaks of tax avoidance.

But that was already five years ago and as we all know Greeks in general and government official sin particular have the memory of a gold fish.

Nowadays, the problems are different and all Greeks care about is the dead of the ancient tomb of Amphipolis. therefore spokeswoman Voultepsi could not but refer in her speech to the news about the mysterious dead and the archaeological excavation.

“Just think that a while ago, some said that something very important happened in Amphipolis, which was not true, it was fabricated. They said that an inscription was discovered in Amphipolis, as it was our desire to find an inscription there. Within five minutes, the internet was full  with ‘inscription found in  Amphipolis.’ If you ask the average Greek now he will tell you that an inscription was found in Amphipolis. In this logic, the printed paper will always play a very important role,” Voultepsi concluded her striking argumentation “printed media vs internet” implying that the internet spreads lies.

One could claim that, Sofia Voultepsi, 64, a  journalist by profession, was speaking to the class of old-style publishers of local and national newspapers who have been overrun by the speed of internet and the necessary frequency of updates. But that’s not true. I know quite a number of local newspapers with print edition and websites that can be very competitive or even better to mainstream dailies.

Αnyway it is not the first time Sofia Voultepsi attacks the internet to which she seems to have a love-hate obsession and thus despite the fact that she was the owner of a website!

“I will tell you that the internet will never replace the reading, neither the Television will do so. In any case, there are 6 billion people n the planet, and only 200,000,000 have access to internet.Until we reach a higher percentage, the newspaper will never been replaced by the internet.” (October 2000)

Of course, speaking to District Publishers, Voultepsi could also mention the problems of journalists and their wages, the unpaid internships, the lay-offs and other labor problems of the sector.

But the government spokesman, appointed by Samaras in June 2014, is being apparently annoyed by the internet that she cannot control.

In the world of 2014,  citizens can double-check and cross-check information and facts and not just sit on the state propaganda that comes outdated on print media editions in a world of information that moves much faster than our brain can absorb.

The practice of deliberately preventing the facts or the full details of some matter from becoming known  has been known as “obscurantism” since the 16-century.