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Crisis in journalism is a widely discussed and controversial topic in Greece since 2009 when economic recession afflicted the Greek society. However, the last decade of financial hardships and ownership changes in the Greek media sector (2009–2019) gave rise to a widening of perception on the part of journalists of what really crisis stands for when it comes to their profession. Based on 25 in-depth interviews with Greek leading news media professionals from all types of media outlets (press, television, radio and news websites), the present research describes how journalists perceive, assess and manage the crisis of their profession in today's networked media landscape, characterised by unprecedented phenomena such as the rise of churnalism, post truth journalism and fake news in the context of new trends with regard to how the Greek audience is seeking information and consuming news. While existing research on journalism profession has tended to emphasise the conversion of journalist into a multitasked employee towards audience members who treat journalism with suspicion, this chapter focusses on to what extent journalists by themselves are critical of their profession's vulnerabilities such as the lack of genuine investigative journalism, alienation from the actual reporting based on primary material and manipulation of media professionals within an unstable market. The research gives insights into journalists' opinions and attitudes with regard to the symptoms indicating that journalism in Greece is suffering from chronic and acute crises related to the extraction and dissemination of news, the relationship of journalists with media owners as well as the operation of the media market.

This chapter assesses the trauma that media professionals experience as eye-witnesses of the disturbing and intense events associated with their everyday working routine. In particular, this chapter examines recent profession-based reports on journalistic trauma to explore affective labour in media ecosystems of crisis-ridden countries and the impact of covering traumatic events on media professionals. Based on qualitative research, this chapter aims to reconceptualise journalism as a primarily affective profession in the crisis-ridden countries of SE Europe.

This chapter theorises the Internet in Greece by placing it at the centre of Greek media offering a political economy which recasts it in a culturalist fashion. To achieve this, it critically addresses the country's alleged lag in cyberspace and asks why the Internet's hegemonic role in the advance of neoliberal policies and technoliberalism worldwide was never performed in Greece. It places the countrywide disdain for the technoliberal subject at the core of understanding of why the web mediations where so neatly denied over three decades across industry, policy and research. It centres around Internet remediations to argue that the Internet in Greece has been conceptualised as a nonmedia through the idea of lagging behind, essentially a construct veiling neoliberalism at work. It situates the advent of the web in Greece's media boom to argue that media power, as articulated in Greece, necessarily excluded the web, fetishising terrestrial broadcasting on the way to the neoliberal dismantling of culture, the media and everyday life, way before the Troika.

This chapter investigates how alternative digital journalism operates in the broader context of the austerity economy in Greece. Using as a background the historical interweaving of interests between economic power, political power and media, this chapter explores the current state of digital journalism in Greece and whether it can flourish and serve the ideals of independence, objectivity and pluralism. The Internet provides new possibilities for pluralism in journalism and gives rise to alternative media outlets that purport objectivity and independence from vested economic interests (e.g., advertising) and political pressures. However, the financial sustainability of such ventures is questionable and the regulatory framework in a heavily concentrated Greek media ecology weak or nonexisting. In this chapter, we examine the origins and mission statements of selected cases of alternative digital media outlets/projects, as well as their financing sources and business models. We then discuss sustainability issues and the limits to alternative digital journalism. Our empirical data derive from desktop research, short structured interviews with academics and longer semistructured interviews with key actors of alternative digital media.

The concept of participatory journalism draws attention to the shortcomings of established journalism by emphasising the role of the audience for boosting pluralism, transparency, deliberation and media accountability. Drawing on filed theory, the study attempts to shed light on whether the former audience can disrupt the field of journalism. To do so, it investigates the level and preferred forms of participation and provides evidence on how users perceive of the participatory affordances offered through news media websites. Although users assign public discourse functions to participatory avenues, the study confirms the reluctant audience paradigm, and the popularity of tools enabling low editorial capacity. From a field perspective, it is argued that although users' doxa denotes democratising ideas about participation, their behaviour is ultimately driven by their weak habitus (position) in the field. To use Bourdieu's metaphor, the power in the journalistic game still lies in the hands of professionals; users are not willing or capable of disrupting the norms and practices of mainstream journalism.

News, as one of many forms of newspaper output, has long been synonymous with journalism. The “crisis of journalism” is primarily a crisis of the news as a cultural form. Drawing on Carey (2008), this chapter argues that news has lost its monopoly as a source of global experience and everyday drama, and, thus, has lost its commodity value. The decline of traditional forms of news is transforming journalism, and its democratic function as vehicle of public conversation, toward long-form, long-term, and affective narratives.

Purpose – In the chapter, journalistic work ethics on the scene during school shootings and journalists’ psychological stress reactions after such work is studied.

Approach – Findings are based on several qualitative studies carried out separately at different time periods, spanning over a decade. Included cases are one from the United States, Columbine (1999), and two from Finland, Jokela (2007) and Kauhajoki (2008). Similarities and differences between cases are pinpointed, and general conclusions are drawn.

Findings – Results show that while technical equipment and publication platforms have developed between cases, journalists’ ethical issues, response to public criticism, and patterns of postcrisis reactions remain similar.

Practical implications – As implications in the area of journalism ethics and stress reactions, the authors conclude that work in crises will be the rule rather than the exception during a journalist's career. Ethical considerations and individual response patterns to an event interact in complex ways. Personal preparation and knowledge in the area of ethics are of crucial importance for being able to function professionally during assignments.

Social implications – Personal knowledge regarding journalism ethics and psychological stress are of importance, since individual mistakes when informing about a crisis can have long-lasting societal effects.

Value of chapter – In the chapter, the authors underline the need to develop a personal understanding of typical crisis-related journalistic work strategies (autopilot/hyper mode), ethical boundaries, and possible stress reactions, for enabling an adequate work approach during assignments. Also, a number of possible predictors for emotional distress in journalists during crisis-related assignments are proposed.