Famous Huffington Post launched its Greek edition on Thursday as a latest step of the company’s blobal expansion strategy. The offices of Huffington Post Greece are based in Athens, Editorial Director is Sophia Papaioannou, Nikos Agouros as Editor-in-chief and a team of some ten journalists.
HuffPost Greece came into realization in partnership with digital media publisher 24 MEDIA.
Goal of HuffPost Greece is to provide not only breaking news, news, analysis of major events, but also to be “a platform for bloggers both established and up-and-coming, to start a dialogue about the issues that interest them, with an eye always firmly fixed on the future,” wrote Papaioannou in her editorial.
The website’s kickoff contains the usual news items one can find in all Greek websites, but also reports by HuffPostGR journalists.
The famous Blogs section, that makes Huffington Post unique, contains several blog posts of private bloggers but also established politicians like the Minister of Tourism or the new EU Commissioner for Migration – former Greek Defense Minister-.
According to media, shipowners Marianna Latsi, Evgenia Handri and Petros Pappas participate financially in the project.
Presentation amid Journos’ Protests
While the presentation of Huffington Post Greece was taking place in the Acropolis Museum, the usual “mean Greeks” had launched a protest and raised a banner against the labor conditions in the new website.
They distributed leaflets according to which digital journalists at HuffPostGreece “work 6 days per week but sign contracts for 5 days per week.” Claiming that the highest salary in the “new established media galore” –as they write – is 700 euro, they wonder whether the journalists will be paid for overtime and night-shift work and work over weekends, whether they will be insured at the journalists’ insurance funds.
Opa, Arianna! …
Arianna Huffington, the founder of Huffington Post international, has a very nice editorial “Yassou from Athens – Honey I’m Home” explaining thoroughly the goals and aims of HuffingtonPostGreece.
Unfortunately, she concludes it with the usual Greek Diaspora cliche of Greeks dancing around, smashing plates and challenge the austerity chanting in one voice ..OPA!
“If I had a plate, I’d smash it. Please join me in welcoming Greece to the HuffPost family. Opa!”
PS Opa? What Opa! Smashing plates has been forbidden in Greece since a couple of years…. *sigh*
Let’s wait and see if HuffPost Greece will prove wrong the usual mean Greeks‘ claims that this will be a website of “glam”, “cliche” and “elitism”.
*** Opa! definition in Urban Dictionary
